Sowing in Tears, Reaping in Joy: The Life Story of Florence Miller, Missionary to Japan

Meet Florence Miller! For almost four decades, Florence served as a missionary in Japan under the North American Baptist Conference. She was raised in a strong Christian home in Benton Harbor, Michigan, and felt an affinity for Japan at a very early age through studying about the country in grade school. Florence felt God’s call upon her life when hearing of a dream had by Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, and she determined to go to a country where Jesus was not well known. This country was Japan, having just been defeated in World War II and open to receive missionaries at General Douglas MacArthur’s urging. Florence was faced with the challenge of being one of the first North American Baptist missionaries to Japan, blazing a trail for those who would follow. From 1951 to her retirement in 1989, she sought to sow the seed of God’s Word in the lives of people who had been steeped for centuries in Buddhist and Shintoist traditions. She is credited with planting several churches in Japan, frequently encountering situations that took her far beyond her comfort zone. She spent several years doing university student evangelism, which proved very fruitful in the salvation of a number of students and in inspiring them to share the gospel with others. This led to her teaching at the Osaka Biblical Seminary to train those who felt called of God to places of Christian service. After retirement, she returned to her home in Benton Harbor, Michigan, where she attended Napier Parkview Baptist Church and participated in outreach activities there. During her retirements years, she went back to Japan 10 times to serve in various capacities at the request of Japanese friends and missionaries. She now lives in The Willows, a retirement home in St. Joseph, Michigan.