Paul Nagano

Sharing God’s Inclusive Love: Paul Makoto Nagano
by Lloyd K. Wake

I first met Paul Nagano when he was a student at the City College of Los Angeles, and I was a junior
in high school in Reedley, California. Our church youth group advisors, caring persons from the
Reedley Mennonite Brethren Church, bought us to the Japanese Methodist Church in the
neighboring town of Dinuba. The Reverend Keichi Imai, pastor of the Dinuba church, was hosting
two young Nisei (2nd generation Japanese Americans), David Nakagawa and Paul Nagano, to speak
in his church and had invited our youth group to attend. Paul’s message was about God’s ever-
present love for us. He used the illustration of a stern father’s unknown but loving presence with
his son who was fulfilling a dangerous and scary task requested by the father.

The other youth and I were impressed with the whole experience--the spoken messages of David and
Paul, as well as the unspoken messages conveyed by the presence of two young Nisei Christian
leaders. All of our church pastors or lay leaders were Issei (1st generation Japanese
Americans/immigrants). That day we began to see the Christian Church in a new light--with youth
who could be a vital part of the church and be leaders! Paul’s theology and ministry has grown and
developed through the years, but at its basis has been what he preached years ago to our youth
group, “God’s ever-present love” for all people.

The next significant experience I had with Paul was in the Poston III concentration camp in Arizona
where he served as my pastor from 1942 to 1943. Paul and John Miyabe, both candidates for the
Christian ministry, were assigned by the ecumenical ministerial association of Poston I (first camp
to be opened and finished by internees) to serve as pastors in Poston III. Even though they were still
college students, their youthful energy and enthusiasm were contagious and their ministry provided
gifts of love, hope, and joy which were cherished by us internees.

They also served as “parole officers” to troubled camp youth, and their oversight included playing
on basketball and softball teams with them. In a story he wrote about the camp experience, Paul
shared, “Imagine a prayer meeting on the dirt basketball court to keep their tempers down. But out
of this ministry in camp, several became Christians and in later life contributed to positive good of
society.”

Even before he had any training in a theological seminary, the most significant affirmation of Paul’
s ministry occurred when he was ordained on February 22, 1943. On that date, after receiving
clearance to leave the camp for one day, Paul joined his mentors Dr. Ralph Mayberry, longtime
friend of the Japanese and Executive Secretary of the Los Angeles Baptist Missionary Society, Rev.
Jitsuo Morikawa, and Rev. Kichitaro Yamamoto, to meet with an examining committee for his
ordination in Tempe, Arizona. Paul still remembers one of the questions asked by an examiner,
“Do you believe that children and infants go to heaven?” Paul’s answer was, “I really do not know,
however, I believe that our God is a God of love and includes children and infants in his love.” The
committee recommended Paul for ordination. From the very beginning until today, God’s inclusive
love” has been the essence of Paul’s theology and ministry. He says it and lives it!

On September 13, 1943 Paul was married to Poston Church member Florence Wake, my sister, who
had impressed him with her life and faith, while she had used her musical talent to contribute to the
camp ministry. The wedding ceremony continues to be well-remembered by Paul and Florence.
The officiant was Paul’s role model and mentor Jitsuo Morikawa, who proved his calmness in a
“panic” situation. Paul had misplaced his wedding ring and was trying to fashion one from a piece
of wire. Seeing Paul’s desperate and feeble efforts, Jitsuo quickly borrowed a woman’s ring for the
ceremony. No one else knew about the substitute ring. Such a beginning did not have any negative
consequences on their marriage of over sixty years!

Soon after Paul volunteered to be a chaplain for the famed 442nd Infantry Battalion composed of
Japanese American soldiers. He was rejected by the U.S. Army because he lacked seminary
training. Paul and Florence therefore left Poston to attend Bethel Seminary in Minneapolis
Minnesota. While attending seminary he organized and ministered to two congregations of
primarily Japanese American soldiers in training in the Military Intelligence Schools at Camp
Savage and Fort Snelling.

His post-seminary life included a variety of ministries which challenged his abilities and stimulated
his growth. Following the end of W.W.II and the closing of the camps in 1945, Dr, Mayberry urged
Paul to come to Los Angeles to minister to the returning evacuees. Along with ministering to a
needy people, Paul took on the task of finding housing and engaging in the resettlement process for
his church family. In March of 1946 he began a postwar ministry in the Japanese Baptist Church,
which in 1947 became the Evergreen Baptist Church.

From that time on he answered the call to minister in various challenging places, which have
included pastorates and interim pastorates in Hawaii, Seattle, Washington, and the Californian
cities of Sacramento, Oakland, El Cerrito, and San Diego. Paul’s history of work with
organizations has included:

Originator and Executive Director of the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society, Los
Angeles, California
Director of Asian Ministries of the National Ministries of the American Baptist Churches
Minister-At-Large, Northern California Japanese Christian Church Federation, El Cerrito, CA
Executive Director of the Council for Pacific Asian Theology, Alhambra, California

Paul’s early religious and spiritual influences were ecumenical and interfaith. Paul’s father
George was a Christian born in Canada, and his mother, Seki, was a Buddhist who immigrated to
Canada from Japan. They were married in a Methodist church in Victoria, B.C. in 1910. Four years
later they moved to Los Angeles. Paul, the last of four children, was born on June 17th, 1920.

Early in life Paul attended the All Nations Methodist Church (next door to the All Nations Boys
Club in which he participated), the Los Angeles Free Methodist Church, and the Higashi Hongwanji
Buddhist Church in Little Tokyo. At the age of 17, in an evangelistic meeting at the Japanese
Baptist Church, he declared his faith in Christ, and two years later answered the call and challenge
to begin his church ministry.

Although Paul is a loyal member of the American Baptist Churches, USA, and has given impressive
service to the denomination, he has always been committed to building bridges of friendship that
reach out to all regardless of their religious affiliation or lifestyle. During his ordination, he was
also asked the question, “Why do you want to be a Christian minister?” His answer then, and
surely is today, “God’s love is too good to keep to myself. What can be a greater vocation than to
serve God and persons in bringing about a world of love and righteousness--peace, justice, care for
one another, and a universal community of love and mutuality?”

Lastly, Paul’s Japanese name is Makoto, which means, “true-hearted.” In naming him his parents
were both wise and prophetic.

More of the festschrift on Paul Nagano:

Paul Nagano: A Sansei’s Perspective
By Rev. Grant Hagiya

Paul Nagano: Theology on a Mission
by Dr. William L. Malcomson

Paul Nagano: A Cross between Billy Graham and James Shigeta
by The Reverend Dr. Warren Lee