Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel
Emily Sheddan • Jul 18, 2024
TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan.
In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan.
TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word.
“People Need to Come to Japan!”
Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!”
The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry.
God’s Guiding Hand
In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.”
The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan.
Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”
God has opened incredible doors for Gospel impact in Japan through the gifts He’s given to talented musicians.
When Two Worlds Collide
The Lord has orchestrated so many other opportunities, too. To date, Luke has worked on fifteen or more Japanese TV series and movies, with some of the biggest actors in the country and some of the most beloved franchises. He has been asked to produce multiple music albums - just from his living room with a single microphone and very minimal equipment.
Time and circumstances have also produced a “very cool kind of cross-pollination where the Christian community in Japan gets to collaborate on these secular projects as well,” says Luke. This is huge. The avenues that develop when these two worlds collide is vast and effective in a country like Japan.
“I gave up [my pursuit of] music to come back to Japan and to pursue missions or whatever the Lord was going to allow. I gave it up and then God gave it all back in an amazing way,” Luke says. “I wouldn’t call it revival, but it is almost like the future here is a first kind of Christian awakening. It’s exciting!”
The outlook for Creative Art Ministries is bright in Japan. Luke and his family plan to continue serving and hope to raise funds for upgraded equipment and access to appropriate recording spaces to level the playing field across the country. Recording studios in Japan have multiple limitations that make it inaccessible to many who have this God-given talent and a testimony to share through music.
“Because music is so big here and everyone loves it, having a Gospel-centered conversation can take years, but handing an album or CD to an unbelieving neighbor is a very easy thing to do,” says Luke. His work can help churches and other Christian groups to produce those CDs as an outreach tool.
Ministering to the Hearts of Believers
Luke also has a heart to minister to his fellow believers. Christians in Japan can feel very isolated. There is a darkness from the shrines and idols that is heavy. Luke’s goal for the believers he works with is not just for them to get a recording of their music, but also to have a renewed fire in their souls. He desires for them to have a sense of energy and passion to take back and reach their communities for the Lord’s glory.
While Luke and his wife serve in Japan, TEAM is embracing and celebrating the creative activity of God through His people around the world. Celebrate with us but also pray for workers like Luke. Your prayers and support create doorways for the Lord’s hand to move in powerful ways.
“Who can name the many ways a heart might be moved? We were created in God’s image, and thus, creating is part of who we are at the deepest level. I wondered, when we are creating or responding to the creation of others, is this then when we are most like our heavenly Creator?” (The High Calling series, Visual and Creative Arts as Ministry, Theology of Work)
Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.
As we engage with others, we need the Lord to guide us with wisdom in walking out Christ-like love that truly displays His heart to the world. Last month on the blog we began to look at what it means to love like Jesus in a cross-cultural setting. We unpacked three facets of Jesus’ love that we tend to overlook when serving others in a context and background very different from our own. (Be sure to check that article out here .) Today we look at three more aspects of Jesus’ love that can transform us and others even more into His likeness: 4. Jesus loved by teaching hard things: Let’s read a quick excerpt from Matthew 24. “As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.” “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:1-14) How is this an example of loving others well? Jesus didn’t avoid hard topics and even warnings of what was to come. What He shared came from the intense love He had for them. He wanted them to be fully prepared for what they would experience. He cared so much that he took the time needed to explain difficult things while also giving hope for the result. Have you shared with anyone lately what is to come when this life is over? Do those you spend time with know how to prepare to walk out a victorious life in God’s kingdom amid increasing darkness? Consider what hard topics you may be avoiding and ask the Lord to bring revelation in how you might approach discussion with others. In a cross-cultural setting, remember to be mindful of teaching the Scriptures out of our own cultural norms and pre-conceptions of what we know to be true. Engage in these topics carefully and with great prayer and discernment. And always remain a learner, realizing we can take away new knowledge and insights from others as well. 5. Jesus loved by complete obedience: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 9:42-44) We see in Scripture that Jesus was in anguish, with drops of sweat like blood, as He fully surrendered to God’s will over his. Jesus’ obedience to the Father set the stage for all that would come; His death and resurrection, our forgiveness of sins, redemption, deliverance, and ultimate gift of eternal life. In the same way, our complete obedience to the Father’s will over our own desires sets things into motion for the Kingdom of God and can literally be life or death to those He is sending us to and the things He has purposed for us to do. This level of surrender comes with a cost that most aren’t willing to pay. However, Jesus set a painful yet beautiful example of what can happen if we are fully given over to God’s purposes. You might say, “I am already living an obedient life.” Perhaps you have sold everything and followed Jesus to the nations. Or maybe you are putting your hands to local mission work daily in a cross-cultural setting. Isn’t that enough? Think of the rich, young ruler. Is there an area of your life that you still have a tight grip on and aren’t fully ready to let go? Maybe there is an even bolder step that God has been calling you into, and it’s time to give your “all-in-yes.” What awaits on the other side of your complete surrender is more beautiful and rewarding than you could ever imagine. 6. Jesus loved by healing all who came to Him: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” (Matt. 4:23) When we have the resurrected Christ living inside of us, we can offer hope to all who we encounter. What we carry within us is no small matter. It is the Kingdom of God and should impact all those around us 100% of the time. Sure, we have tough days or difficult situations that can cause hindrances. But more often than not, we should see a Heavenly difference in every environment we step into as carriers of God’s presence and glory. One practical way to prepare ourselves to steward well the relationships God gives us is to start thanking Him now for each person you will encounter as you go. Ask Him to reveal the truth of what you carry inside, for specific strategies on how to apply it practically when He brings someone into your path, and for your display of His kingdom to be honoring and beautiful to the culture around you––for His glory. Why is it important to consider the more difficult facets of how Jesus loved? Because we often connect with and choose to apply those that make us least uncomfortable. The challenge is we only lead people into the parts of Jesus’ love that we find the easiest to walk in. But this approach is a barrier to a full transformation into the likeness of Christ, for both us and for them. As you engage in relationships, ask the Lord to show you any areas of His heart that you’ve been withholding from others in how you love them. Then, as He reveals, ask Him to guide you with wisdom as you walk out applying these new displays of His heart to the world around you.
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