During great cultural shifts, when the conventional supports of religion slip away, those who would engage in Christian ministry face unaccustomed challenges. For the last two decades in the life become uncommonly difficult for many who in earlier times might have easily settled into the places assigned them in the Christian community. At such times ministries of the Word often feel like foreign missionaries in their own land, speaking to people who can either no longer hear or have ceased to listen. So it is not surprising that help should come from a missionary. John Walsh's experience in Japan forced him to ask the really basic questions that often elude those who serve established churches.