Lutheran Church in America. Board of World Missions. Secretary for East Asia.

When the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was organized in 1962, three of its predecessor bodies had missions in Japan. These three predecessor bodies were: the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran church, the Suomi Synod, and the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA). The missionaries in Japan of these three churches had been working with the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church and continued to do so.

Various Protestant mission agencies in North America as well as Lutheran and Protestant mission groups in Japan often formed new organizations through which the JELC and the LCA could engage in ministries that they were unable to undertake alone. One such cooperative venture was related primarily to the JELC, but also to the LCA and Protestants in Brazil. This was the Bazil Mission of the JELC begun in 1958.