In 1890, the Universalist Church of America sent three missionaries to Japan. Within 18 months, the missionaries had established a theological school with ten pupils, a girls school with native teachers and fifty students in Shizuoka, a school in Tokyo with ten pupils, two churches, with two pastors, five preaching stations and six evangelists, and a monthly magazine printed in Japanese with contributions largely by Japanese authors.

By 1920, though, Nelson L. Lobdell, the Secretary/Treasurer of the mission in Shizuoka, Japan, was reaching out to Universalist churches in America for financial support. Universalist Church of Urbana Clerk, Louis H. Smith, received a letter dated May 5, 1920, requesting a contribution to support the construction of “proper buildings for our work.” Mr. Lobdell stated that “while your church has been loyal in its support of the [General] Convention, it has failed to do anything during the past two years at least toward the support of the Mission.” He goes on to express the hope that the Urbana church does not lack interest in what he “one of the most important enterprises of the Universalist Church.” 

We do not know whether Mr. Lobdell’s pleas were answered by our church or others, but by 1935 the Shizuoka church closed and the congregation moved to Tokyo, where it became the Central Dojin Christian Church.

According to a UUA history, an interesting unintended effect of the Universalist mission, according to Meadville/Lombard Theological School Professor David Bumbaugh was that “Universalists, who were accustomed to proclaiming a gospel centered upon correcting the teachings of the Christian church regarding eternal punishment, found themselves dealing with a population not tainted by that particular error. The Japanese had no attachment to the doctrine of hellfire and damnation. While the Japan mission had minimal impact upon Japanese society as a whole, it did impact Universalism in the United States. It forced Universalists to confront the question of whether Universalism had any mission beyond that of correcting the teachings of other Christians. And if so, what might be the content of that mission, the peculiar message of Universalism?”