Several years ago, God began placing a dream on our hearts.

What if people across Japan could access God’s Word not only in the formal written Japanese, but in the language closest to their hearts—the language they grew up speaking with their parents, grandparents, neighbors, and closest friends?

That question became the beginning of our Oral Mother Tongue (OMT) ministry.

Through OMT, we work together with local speakers to create oral Bible translations in Japan’s regional dialects. These translations are not meant to replace the written Bible. Rather, they are another way of helping people engage with Scripture in a language that feels natural and personal.

During one of our recent pilot projects in Shiga Prefecture, we invited people to listen to portions of the Gospel of Luke in their local dialect. Their responses deeply encouraged us.

People told us, “It felt like a friend was talking to me.” “It felt close.”

One person beautifully described it as feeling “like people sitting around a village well telling stories.”

Our vision is for this resource to become an important bridge for evangelism. One young pastor from Shiga shared with us, how many people who are unfamiliar with Christianity find the language of the Bible intimidating, but listening feels much more approachable. He told us he would gladly use resources like these to help people take their first steps into God’s Word.

These conversations confirmed what God had already been placing on our hearts.

A Home for the Vision

As this ministry grows, we have realized that we need more than recording equipment—we need a place where this work can happen.

Many of you already know that we purchased an old abandoned house next to our YWAM Osaka base. Although it has been empty for many years and is currently filled with years of accumulated belongings and trash, we don’t simply see an abandoned house. We see a future home for Oral Mother Tongue ministry in Japan.

We envision it becoming a place where:

1. Local translators can stay while working on Bible translation projects.
2. Scripture can be recorded in a quiet and welcoming environment.
3. New translators can be trained.
4. Teams from different regions of Japan can work together to bring God’s Word into many more local dialects.

Our prayer is that this house will become a place from which God’s Word will be carried to communities all across Japan.

The First Step

Before any rebuilding can begin, the house must first be completely emptied. Years of accumulated furniture, belongings, and trash need to be removed before restoration can begin. In Japan, disposing of large amounts of waste is both carefully regulated and surprisingly expensive.

To make this possible, our first fundraising goal is:

1. US$6,000 to purchase a dependable used kei truck (Japan’s small utility truck). Rather than renting one repeatedly, owning a truck will not only allow us to clear the house but will also serve the renovation project and other YWAM construction projects for the next several years.
2. US$4,000 to cover the cost of clearing the house and disposing of the accumulated waste.

Once the house has been emptied, the next stage will include connecting it to the city sewer system, strengthening the foundation, repairing the floors and walls, and making it safe and functional for ministry. As we receive estimates for those phases, we will share additional updates.

Looking Beyond the Renovation

When we look at this house, we don’t simply see walls that need repairing.

We see translators gathered around a table, wrestling together with how best to communicate God’s Word in the language of their own communities. We hear voices recording Scripture so that someone, somewhere in Japan, can hear Jesus speak in the language that feels most like home. We see people discovering that God is not distant—that He speaks to them in a language that reaches their hearts.

That is the vision we are inviting you to build with us.

Your gift is not simply helping renovate a building. It is helping create a home where future Bible translation projects will begin, where translators will be trained, where recordings will be made, and where people will be equipped to bring God’s Word to their communities in meaningful and accessible ways.

Whether your gift helps purchase the truck, clear the house, or simply moves us one step closer to making this vision a reality, we are deeply grateful. Thank you for believing in this ministry and for partnering with us.

Together, we pray that this place will become a home from which God’s Word reaches every corner of Japan—one region, one community, and one heart language at a time.