Church Not Anxious to Have Visitors

The Japanese goverment plans to register a group of 20 Christian sites as a candidate for UNESCO World Heritage listing.

The churches are located on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, where Catholicism first made inroads into the country and then stopped.

However, some priests aren't comfortable with the notion of a bunch of badly behaved tourists coming to their church building.

Didn't Jesus say, "It's not those who are well that need a physician?" And we wonder why the church has never grown in Japan.

Other priest welcome the opportunity to increase donations to keep the buildings and other sites in good repair.

Doesn't the Bible say something about the "Love of money is the root of all evil?"  And we wonder why the church has never grown in Japan.

What about seeing the opportunity to have more people step inside a house of worship that might not do otherwise…and then let God do the rest?

Why do you think the church in Japan never grew?