Pacific Broadcasting Association Celebrates 75 Years of Proclaiming the Gospel to Japan

In partnership with TEAM, the Pacific Broadcasting Association launches a new initiative to equip local pastors to produce radio programs in Japan and share the Gospel with their communities.

TOKYO, JAPAN — August 31, 2026 — In the aftermath of World War II, Japan was a ruined country, its people adrift following the catastrophic failure of everything they had been taught was true.

During the U.S. Occupation, General Douglas MacArthur spoke of a “spiritual vacuum” in Japan and called for 1,000 missionaries to come and serve the Japanese people. “We need one thousand young missionaries for the instruction of Japan.”

And they came.

Six of those missionaries—three from The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) and three from the Far Eastern Gospel Crusade (FEGC, now SEND International)—saw a great opportunity to share the Light of the World. At the same time, postwar reforms opened the door to a new era of commercial broadcasting.

The missionaries purchased airtime on the new radio stations appearing around the country, broadcasting the Gospel by using a medium that had previously been strictly controlled for wartime propaganda.

In this way, 75 years ago, the Pacific Broadcasting Association (PBA) was born on August 31, 1951. Since 1952, its radio program “Light of the World” has been heard across Japan.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” — Isaiah 9:2

A uniquely Japanese model of broadcast evangelism

Because religious organizations have not been permitted to own broadcast stations in Japan, broadcast evangelism has developed in a distinctive, local-church-centered form.

Broadcasting is too expensive for most of Japan’s small churches to undertake on their own. Yet churches across the country are using this powerful medium to reach their communities.

Today, 31 interdenominational groups of churches have organized themselves into local “Broadcast Associations.” These churches cooperate and pool their resources to purchase local airtime, while local churches handle follow-up with listeners.

PBA produces the radio and television programs used by these associations. The main program is shared across the country, but each broadcast is customized with the local association’s name and contact information, announcements of local events, and other material relevant to its community.

In this way, it is the local church—the body of Christ—that is evangelizing its own towns and cities.

Taking the next step: Making radio even more local

As PBA looks toward the next 75 years of evangelism in Japan, it is launching a new initiative to make its radio outreach even more local and more connected to listeners.

Technology has advanced to the point where broadcast-quality radio programs can be produced outside a professional studio—even in a pastor’s study.

PBA will train pastors in local Broadcast Associations to produce their own Gospel radio programs.

Some communities in Japan are especially influenced by Buddhism. Others have distinctive local dialects and accents that may be difficult for people elsewhere in the country to understand.

PBA wants to help lower Japan’s extraordinarily high barriers to the Gospel, by helping pastors communicate in the language of their own communities and present the truth of God’s Word in ways that can be understood by everyone—from a committed Buddhist in a rural community to a skeptical urban atheist.

We are thankful for your prayers and support

PBA is grateful for the prayers and support of those who have helped carry the Gospel across Japan for the past 75 years. As the organization looks toward the next 75 years, PBA is asking God for new opportunities to reach people who have never heard the Gospel.

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