Reiji Oyama (pastor)

Soon after Oyama was saved, he began to share the gospel with his classmates and later founded the KGK, the "Christian Student Association," as a ministry to college students on campus. The KGK is now a nationwide Christian organization in Japan and a member association of IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). In 1949, with his five friends, he held a three-day evangelical meeting for students in an auditorium at Waseda University. Fifty to one hundred students were saved each day, and it turned into a three-day revival for college students.

On March 15, 1953, Oyama stood on a street near Takadanobaba Station in Tokyo and started to preach the gospel to people. As people came to the Lord, he planted Tkadanobaba Church (later renamed The Biblical Church Tkadanobaba). In the following year, the first baptism service was held, and seven newly saved believers were baptized. In 1966, Oyama planted another church in Kumegawa, Tokyo. New believers were added every year, and as of 2015, the Biblical Church has 23 branch churches.

Serving as the senior pastor at Takadanobaba Church, Oyama began to have a heart for other nations. In 1956, Oyama together with others who had a burden for overseas ministries got together from all over the country, and they decided their first overseas missionary work would be to go to these other Asian countries, who were attacked by Japan during World War II, and apologize and make reparations for the destruction and for any atrocities that occurred. He visited North Korea, South Korea, Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries and apologized for what Japan had done during World War II.

From 1962 to 1966, Oyama shared the gospel on a radio station called Nippon Broadcasting System, Incorporated (ニッポン放送). It was a midnight program and was the top-rated radio program of the time.

In 1969, he founded a seminary, Tokyo Graduate School of Theology.

Seeing the importance of the unity among local churches, from the 1990s Oyama began a mediating ministry between denominations and local churches. He saw the conflicts among the body of Christ is one of the biggest hindrances to yet-seen revivals. In 1998, during a nationwide meeting (Tokyo Revival Mission), serving as the executive chairman, he encouraged Charismatic churches and Non-Charismatic churches to reconcile to each other.

During his career, he wrote over 160 books. In 1960, he translated the Japanese version of the Epistle to Philemon[2] and, in 1983, he also translated the Bible into modern Japanese and published the Modern Japanese Bible.