Japan Evangelistic Band

Buxton and Wilkes were joined by a small group of friends at the Keswick Convention who shared their concern for evangelism.

Wilkes imagined "a band of men ... who detaching themselves from the responsibilities and entanglements of ecclesiastical organisation, would give themselves to prayer and ministry of the Word...".

The JEB was set up as a non-denominational fellowship of Japanese and expatriate missionaries who came from North America, South Africa and Australia as well as the British Isles.

In October 1903, Wilkes led the first missionary party to Japan, serving briefly in Yokohama and Tokyo, before moving to Kobe, which became the centre of JEB activity.

In 1905 the Kobe Mission Hall and the JEB Kansai Bible College were initiated to train an indigenous ministry to carry on the work in the long term.

Small teams comprising an overseas missionary with a Japanese worker would participate in pioneer evangelism.

JEB missionaries returned to Japan in late 1947 and started work on the new housing estates that were growing up on the outskirts of cities.

Conventions were held regularly at the Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick, Derbyshire in June, and at Southbourne, Dorset in August.

In May 1962, it purchased property at 26 Woodside Park Road, North Finchley, London as the British headquarters and office.