Cover Letter for Orientation Plan and Script #10 (E), #11 (J), and #12 (R)

The term "orientation" is used on the advice of an elderly Japanese minister active in wedding evangelism for many years.  He urges that the term "counseling" be avoided because Japanese people are much more likely to be relaxed about meeting the minister and to be more open to what he has to say if they are told that the time is to be "orientation."

I am convinced that it is the orientation time that offers the greatest potential for evangelism in chapel weddings.  I am grateful for the few minutes available in the ceremony itself to present a portion of the Gospel, but the ceremony is much too constricted both in time and in the potential for audience relaxation to enable our "message" to be heard adequately.

But the couple is open to receive "preparation" for their wedding.  In this time, I prayerfully attempt to create in them an awareness of the Living God who made them and who has a wonderful plan for their lives.  My concern is not to explain the entire plan of salvation.  Rather it is to declare the nature of God and the fact that we can know Him. 

I am convinced that evangelism in Japan must begin with a clear explanation of who God is.  Without this, Japanese people will merely persist in their idea of "one god among many," or, "just another religion," whenever the word "God" is used.

For those desiring practical suggestions for implementing an orientation policy, including how to arrange times to meet the couples, I offer separately suggestions from my own experience and those of various colleagues.

This orientation plan is designed for a period of two hours.  This includes 25 minutes for a short break and a rehearsal in the chapel.  It is doubtful that all the material here can be covered in the remaining l hour and 35 minutes.  Nor is it intended to be.  The reader is free to leave out sentences that might seem less urgent than others are.

Please forgive my mixing words and sentences directly to the couple with directions to myself. And please overlook my indiscriminate use of punctuation and the omission of words, especially articles, for the sake of brevity.

Doyle C. Book                                Revised November 1998