Jason and Anna Reedy
Building biblical counseling training for Japanese Christians through Christ Bible Institute Japan.
Eight years in Japan. The same mission, now at a distance.
Jason and his wife Anna moved to Japan in October 2016 and served with Christ Bible Institute Japan for eight years before returning to the United States in late 2024 — a temporary transition shaped by their daughters' high school years and a season of family and health needs.
He has not stepped away from the work. He remains full-time with CBI Japan in a remote role. The geography changed; the mission did not.
CBI Japan serves Christ Bible Seminary (CBS) in Nagoya. Jason's focus is expanding CBS's biblical counseling curriculum from a classroom-based program into an online education platform, putting formal counseling training within reach of Japanese Christians across the country who have no realistic path to it otherwise.
His role spans three areas:Building and producing the CBS online biblical counseling curriculum — video editing, instructional design, and course delivery.
Exploring AI voice tools to produce devotionals and theological material in Japanese for people who engage better through listening.
Through Reliant, he walks international missionary candidates through their first support-raising efforts, drawing on his own Japan experience.
Where the gospel meets Japan's deepest resistance
The CBS online program is built for the long work — equipping Japanese church leaders and counselors to serve their own communities without requiring a foreigner in the room.
That's nice for you, because you're American. But it can't be true for me, because I'm Japanese.A common response Jason heard when sharing the gospel in Japan
A full biblical counseling program. Online. In Japanese.
Two courses are complete and delivered to CBS, with a third nearing completion. These form the core of CBS's online Biblical Counseling Certificate, a credential built to stand alone or to layer onto the MDiv. Once finished, it will be the first fully online path to formal counseling training for Japanese Christians who have no other realistic way to access it.
From there, the next phase moves beyond counseling into the wider seminary curriculum, courses like Theology II and III and Old Testament II, building toward a fully online degree program that reaches Japanese Christians who cannot access classroom-based theological training, and the church relationships that program will require.
Finishing the remaining courses for the Biblical Counseling Certificate, with two already complete and a third nearing completion.
The CBS Biblical Counseling Certificate goes live, putting formal training within reach of Japanese Christians who have no other path to it.
Conferences and gatherings for pastors that build a lasting network of trained leaders and counselors across Japan.
Exploring AI voice tools to produce devotionals and theological material for people who engage through listening.
Pray with Jason and Anna
Jason's work happens at the intersection of theological education, technology, and one of the most resistant mission fields in the world. Here's how to pray specifically.
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1
Completion of the remaining coursesPray that the remaining courses for the Biblical Counseling Certificate are completed and delivered to CBS. The certificate launch depends on this work landing well.
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2
Japanese Christians who receive itPray that the CBS online program reaches church leaders, pastors, and counselors across Japan who have had no access to this kind of training, and that God uses it to equip them for real ministry in their communities.
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3
A growing network of pastorsPray for the conferences and gatherings building a network of trained pastors and counselors across Japan, that they would produce relational trust and connection that sustains gospel work for years to come.
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4
Their family's transitionBoth daughters grew up in Japan and consider it home. Pray for Avi and Willa Joy as they adjust to life in the US, and for Jason and Anna as they walk through it alongside them.
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Gospel traction in JapanPray against the cultural and spiritual forces that make Japan so resistant to the gospel. Pray for Japanese Christians who bear the real social cost of following Christ, and for the church that has been small and faithful for generations.
