Japan
Evangelical
Association

Japan Update

Spring 2019 Number 76"Mission & U" Youth Gathering at JEA Mission Forum @ Tokai (photo provided by Christian Shimbun)

History of Mission Collaborationin the Tokai area

InsideHistory of Mission

Collaboration in the
Tokai area

Cultivating Organic
Connections

Report of Seki City
Ethnic Churches in the

1-2

3
4

Tokai Region

5

News and notes

6-7

Prayer/Editorial

8

SamuelUchimura
Pastor,Nagoya Shinsho
Christ Church

In 1951, a mission-da for a 10-day crusade. But the results wereary and I joined thenot very good despite our efforts. Nagoya

Nagoya Christianwas said to be “the valley of the gospel” be-Council (NCC), which

tween Tokyo and Osaka, and that was true.

was birthed out of theNonetheless, through those crusades some

Stanley Jones Minis-of the key leaders of following years weretry. Most of the NCC

saved. The numbers were small but the Holymembers were United

Spirit worked to save souls.

Church of Christ inJapan (UCCJ) pastors,

Two decades after thebut they welcomed us saying, “We thank you

Nagoya area crusades

for coming here. Please do your best.” I wasof the 50s, throughencouraged by those predecessors to havethe Revival Crusadea bigger vision to evangelize this region. Inof 1975 and the Billy

1955, I started church planting with the mis-

Graham Internationalsionary who had joined the NCC with me.

C r u s a d e w i t h D r.

Four pastors including myself had started

Leighton Ford in 1980,

a missional prayer meeting, and we jointly

an important legacy

invited crusade messenger Rev. T. L. Osbone

was left behind—pas-

to Nagoya. Later we invited Rev. Koji Hon-tors prayer meetings were formed in each

YuichiKawanoPastor,Midori Baptist
Christ Church(continued on page 2)

https://jeanet.org/

History(continued from page 1)
region and this served as an infrastructure for mission col-Level twolaboration. In 1987, the first Tokai Congress on Mission andEngage in activities with a common objective, such as theEvangelism was held, and in 1989 a regional fellowship

Tokai Evangelical Broadcasting Network, Tokai Holinessorganization for Evangelicals called the Tokai Evangelical

Fellowship, and TEF Earthquake Committee.

Fellowship (TEF) was established.

Level three

The formation of the TEF was a significant event for

Engage in activities that require a common theologicalchurches in Tokai area. For one thing, we realized that thebackground, such as Tokai Bible Theological Institute.

Tokai region really is “the valley of the gospel.” There is

Tokai Bible Theological Institute is the crystallization of

only one church per 20,000 people in Gifu, Aichi, and Mie

prayers that we want to raise pastors directly out of thisprefectures. That is far below the national average. We can-region. When the Institute was established, many pastors,

not get good results by imitating ministries in the Kanto or

including me, came from outside, but we wanted to raise up

Kansai areas. We learned to value realistic collaboration

local pastors from our local congregations who know thein daily church activities that aims towards multiplying

area well. This spirit is starting to soak in.

churches rather than throwing large amounts of money and

The yuruyakana (gentle) mission collaboration that has

manpower toward hosting big crusades.

been birthed in the Tokai region through the TEF has con-

One of the key concepts in Tokai-style mission collabora-

tributed much to the advancement of the gospel in this area,tion is being aware of commitment levels.

but I also feel that we are in need of change now. We should

Level onenot restrict ourselves to just the Tokai area. We need to seek

Engage in activities with almost no commitment—justto grow and find other collaborative relationships.

gather regularly and network. Get to know each other. This

Christian Shimbun, October 7, 2018

includes regional pastors’ prayer meetings, and regionaltranslated by Kenichi Shinagawa

Christmas and Easter events.

photos provide by Christian Shimbun

Cultivating organic connections
Atsuko Tateishi Assistant Editor of Japan Update
Three student ministry organizations in the Tokai region

assigned to work here in September 2005.

joined hands in 2017 to plan and execute Mission & U, aAi (A): I’m Ai Umezawa, I’ve been a part-time staff

gathering to network local youth. In September 2018, a

member of hi-b.a. since January 2017.

second Mission & U was held in conjunction with the 2018

Yūya (Y): I’m Yūya Kawano of Kirisutosha Gakusei Kai

JEA Mission Forum @ Tokai (Mission Forum 2018). A(KGK). This is my fifth year since having been assigned to

few weeks after the event, Japan Update connected with

KGK’s work in the Tokai region.

the three executive staff members on a conference call, to

JU: How did the collaboration among your three

explore how the collaboration worked.

organizations come about?
T: It started when we began planning for the 6th Tokai

Atsuko (JU): Please tell us who you are and what

Conference of Mission and Evangelism (TOCOME6),

organization you belong to.

which was held in September 2017. Our three organizations

Takeshi (T): I’m Takeshi Moriyama of Japan Campus

were represented in the executive committee. As part of

Crusade for Christ. I’ve been living in Nagoya since I wasan effort to increase momentum toward TOCOME6 and in

2

InTerview
particular to attract the youth, our three organizations were

logistical issues. For example, we had to figure out how

commissioned to organize a pre-event in July 2017, which

to serve dinner to everyone within the limited space of thebecame the first Mission & U. When we were hoping tovenue. The final count of attendees was 113, ranging fromcontinue our collaboration, the JEA Mission Commission

junior high students to the late thirties. People in their 20s

approached us and asked us to organize a youth gathering as

and 30s accounted for 50% of those in attendance. I sensed

part of Mission Forum 2018. I was involved in the planning

great needs among these age groups, and felt challenged

process for both Mission & U and Mission Forum 2018.

about how to meet their needs.

Y: I helped with Mission & U a little and was involved in

JU: Is there anything God is teaching you or anything
you’ve learned through working together?
Y: One of the meanings of “U” in Mission & U is unity. We
are one large family of God, united in Christ. That is themessage we wanted to get across. I believe we had modest
success in that regard. I hope the connections that weremade through the event will produce more connections, andbear fruit in the years ahead.

the preparation and planning in 2018.

T: We assigned each attendee to a small group formed of

A: I also helped a little in 2017 and sometime after theeight or nine persons with varying ages and backgrounds.

planning for the 2018 event had begun became involved in

People stayed together in the same group from thethe preparation process.

icebreaker, to the meal, and to the sharing. We received

JU: What joys and challenges did you experience throughsome positive feedback about how they felt it was likeworking together for the last several months?

being in a family.

Y: I guess we had to coordinate the differences in each of

A: I believe such a small group is something that you

our organizational cultures in an effort to keep a balanceamong the three organizations.
T: In the meantime, we were grateful that the JEA prettymuch gave us a free hand to organize this year’s Mission &U. The three of us come from three different organizations,with different styles and methods. We tried not to impose
one organization's style on Mission & U. It was both achallenge and joy to work through our differences. It had
more to do with not knowing each other well than our
coming from different organizations.

cannot usually experience within your own church. I would

A: As the three of us got to know each other, the initiallike to see collaborative events like this in other areas of

awkwardness faded. I suppose it was hard at times toJapan as well.

coordinate our schedule to meet together.

T: I want to continue this collaborative partnership. Events

Y: We had to be willing to do some hard work, as thelike this are a good way to reach out to the entire local

Mission & U event was in addition to our ongoing

community. Yes, it’s hard work, but we managed to work

assignments.

with joy.

T: It was a definite challenge to work out some of the3

ReportReport of Seki City
Masamichi Murakami The Chairman of Relief Commission, JEA
As a result of information about torrential rains in westernJapan I received from Toshio Nagai of CRASH Japan, I went
to Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, to research on behalf of the
JEA Relief Committee.
In the northern part of Seki City, Tsuhogawa Riverflooding before dawn on July 8 resulted in severe damage inthe Kaminoho and Toyaichi districts. As soon as Reverend
Hidenori Hashitani and his wife (Seki Christ Church,
Reformed Church in Japan) saw the actual damage, they

they again visited those who had suffered from the flood andstarted support activities.

delivered Christmas cakes. The people were very welcoming
to the Hashitanis. Looking to the future, I hope their regularFirst they went door-to-door to determine the needs ofvisits to the devastated areas will make it possible for themeach family, as many of the residents could not get to theto have continued relationships with residents. Althoughevacuation center to share information about what they

it is already more than half a year since Western Japanneeded. Providing practical help, such as getting a cane forexperienced the torrential rains, many people still deal with

an elderly woman with walking difficulties who had lost her

serious difficulties in their daily life in the devastated areas

own cane, or providing information about photo restorationof Seki City. We should pray even more for the restoration ofservices to people whose photos had been soaked in muddy

their daily lives.

water, made the people in trouble happy. They were evenable to help some families with mud removal from under

Concerning support for sufferers, I was given sometheir floors. Some volunteers also came from neighboring

insights through my involvement with Reverend Hashitani.

congregations of the Reformed Church in Japan and theWhen governments respond to disasters, they make shelters,

Tokai Evangelical Fellowship.

send relief supplies, or provide volunteers to meet various
needs. However, it is hard to meet each individual need. I

On the second day of my research trip, Reverend

could not imagine the trouble experienced by the woman

Hashitani and his wife took me to visit houses where they

with walking difficulties because she had lost her cane.

had been involved in support activities. I was impressed that

Moreover, only people who are able to get to where relief

most of the people we met expressed great appreciation to

supplies are distributed can receive help. This means people

the Hashitanis. During the course of our visits, we met an

who cannot get there cannot get anything. This suggests toelderly woman who had learned dressmaking skills from ame that as Christians, we are asked to go to places where

Christian teacher who had told her stories from the Bible. As

governments cannot reach, ask people about their needs,a result, we were able to talk about faith for a while. Anotherreport on those needs, and then provide for those needs.

afternoon, I was able to help with cleaning out mud fromunder floors. Rev. Hashitani commented about our work, “It’smeaningful to be able to support people in small villages
in the mountains where no young workers are available tohelp.”
By the end of October the Hashitanis had completed theirregular support activities, but during the Christmas season

4Perspective

Ethnic Churches in the Tokai Region
Toshio Nagai A Cooperative Staff of Missions Commission, JEA
Usually, those who have come to Japan from overseas are

Japanese national who came to faith through an Indonesiancalled "foreigners." However, at JEA, we use the term “ethnic

Christian. A Japanese pastor shared his vision to startpeople” to describe this demographic in Japan. About

worship services that would include interpretation into

twenty years ago, the population of ethnic people was about

multiple languages.

1.6 million. Their number has grown significantly since thattime, and now it is about 2.6 million. This number is more

This January, another small gathering took place atthan the population of Nagoya, and is getting closer to that

Nagoya Grace House. We listened to a minister from anof Osaka. Currently one in fifty people in Japan are fromEnglish-speaking church. He told us about several Asians

outside of the country. The top five countries represented

who were coming to his church regularly.

by ethnic people in Japan are China, Korea, the Philippines,
Vietnam and Brazil. Among the top ten countries, eight arein Asia. The exceptions are Brazil (5th) and the USA (7th),.

Last year I came in contact with a Japanese man who
has a heart for Vietnamese people in Japan. He has sent
Vietnamese Bibles to about 35 local churches in Japan.

In the Tokai region, foreign workers have traditionallyThis man has a dream of seeing more Bibles (not only

been from China and Brazil. These days, however, theVietnamese, but also other Asian languages) distributed toVietnamese and Nepali populations are increasing rapidly.

more Japanese churches. He sent a copy of a Vietnamese

According to one statistic (Weekly Toyo Keizai, Feb. 3,

Bible and Vietnamese translations of two books by Ayako

2018), in the past four and a half years, 12,559 ethnic peoples

Miura to friend of mine. That friend showed the books tohave moved to Nagoya either for work or study. This means

those of us who were at the gathering.

that an average of 234 ethnic people have moved to Nagoya
each month. In particular, there has been a sharp increase in

When we think of churches in Japan, we should notstudents and technical interns (part-time contract workers)

forget to include believers who are non-Japanese speakers asfrom Vietnam.

well. They get together at various locations, such as homes
and community centers, to praise the Lord Jesus Christ in

Last September there was a gathering in Nagoya forthe same way we do at more established churches.

ethnic ministers from foreign countries. This included
ministers from Brazil, the Philippines, Belgium, Indonesia,

We often hear of ethnic Christians having a very difficult

Canada, and Korea. Everyone enjoyed sharing meals astime finding a venue to hold worship gatherings. We mustwell as each other's presence. The gathering was held at a

ask the question, “How does God want us to serve them?”

share-house (community living space) called Nagoya Grace
House. Participants were deeply encouraged as they shared(continued on page 6)

their hearts and their prayer requests with each another.
One couple who attended the gathering used to teachEnglish in Belgium to stay-at-home Japanese moms whose
husbands were staff members of a Japanese automobile
company. This couple eventually felt the need to follow up
with their former students, which led to their decision toleave Europe. Now in Japan, they are reaching out to more
stay-at-home moms from the same company all around
Japan. An Indonesian pastor in attendance shared about a5Perspective(continued from page 5)
Of course, there are many stories of churches sharing
their blessings and hospitality with non-Japanese brothers
and sisters in Christ by opening up their church buildings tothem. We celebrate the fellowship and welcoming posture ofthose churches. Perhaps we can say that foreign Christians
are instrumental in bringing the fervent passion of God’s
love and peace to local Japanese churches.
There are no statistics about ethnic Christians in the
Tokai region, nor nationwide. There are two main reasonsfor this. Most local churches have not focused on ethnic
ministries in Japan—yet. Ethnic churches are born, change

locations, or die out before we are aware of their existence.
In closing, I want to share one final thought. There wasa session focusing on ethnic ministries at JCE6 in Kobe.
There was also a gathering in Tokyo last November inwhich about 100 ethnic participants gathered to praise theLord. Local churches have space available to worship theLord. At the same time, ethnic Christians are looking forvenues where they can worship the same Lord as ours.
The question we can all ponder is this: What kind of cooperation might God want to see in the churches of Japan?

NEWS and NOTESHow Experiencing A Natural Disaster Made Me
Optimistic: The Fourth Machida/Sagamihara
Disaster Prevention Festa
On the July 15, 2018, a week after the peak of the ““Heavyrain of July, Heisei 30” (a historic series of rainstorms thatbegan in late June 2018 in western Japan and resulted indevastating flooding and over 200 deaths—Ed.), the fourth
Machida/Sagamihara Disaster Prevention Festa took place
at Keihin Christ Church, situated in Sagamihara, Kanagawa.
The main speaker was Akira Sato, pastor of First Bible Baptist Church, who gave a talk on how to prepare oneself for anatural disaster and how to take care of one’s mental healthwhen experiencing one.
Pastor Sato named a number of natural disasters that occurred in Japan in the last century, and said that “it wouldn’t
be surprising if another occurred anytime soon.”
Based upon his own experience of the Great Tōhoku
Earthquake, he said that before experiencing the earthquake
he was extremely pessimistic, whereas after experiencing
it he became optimistic. “Before the earthquake occurred,
I made a manual for the
church of how to act inworst case scenar ios,
such as where to gather
and which methods oftransport to take should
an earthquake occur. Old
buildings had to be reinforced so they would be earthquake-resistant. Even if it wasin vain, protecting one’s life was first priority.”“But after the earthquake, I started thinking optimistically and told myself ‘It’s going to be all right.’ At first we hadto think quickly and take action at full speed, then gradually
we changed gear to long-run mode. We just dove in without

6

preparat ion.
We need to bereminded thateven in a disastrous situation
God loves us,
and throughHim we can doanything.”“It is also important not to focus on the things we havelost, but rather on the things that we have gained. We need toswitch to our ‘new’ self.”
Staff of the Sagamihara Fire Department were also present at the meeting to give a demonstration on how to use an
AED (automated external defibrillator) and how to makecandles that can be used in times of disaster.
Christian Shimbun, August 5, 2018
Translated by Grace Koshino

Holding on to the Promises for the Next Generation
The 3rd National Conference of the 4/14 Window Movement Japan, an international evangelism movement focusing on children between the ages of 4 and 14, was held on
September 8, 2018 in Chiba. Various facets of its work
were introduced through performances, projects, andbreakout sessions. Participants raised their awareness ofthe coming generation and engaged in deepened exchanges
with each other.
The meeting opened with gospel hip-hop performances
and worship led by teams from Shin-Matsudo Revival
Church and Good Samaritan Church.
Iwao Tanabe, pastor of I m manuel Chiba Chu rch,preached from Hebrews 11:11–12, relating the situation of
today’s Japanese churches to that of Abraham and Sarah,

NEWS and NOTES
who for years weren’t blessed with a child. “It may seem
we are out of everything due to aging congregations—nokids, nobody to dance or perform music. But Abraham believed God’s Word to the end, and that’s the key. God is always searching for those who trust His Word and walk according to His will. So let us hold on to the Word and pray
to be given one ‘Isaac,’ from whom everything starts.”
Then, Yukimasa Otomo, pastor of Shiogama Bible Baptist Church (SBBC) and chair of the Japan Conservative
Baptist Association, gave a lecture on the same issues ofaging churches with fewer children. Based on the results of
the association’s 2016 survey “Efforts to Cultivate the Next
Generation” and SBBC’s programs, he shared five proposals—that churches:1) discover the needs of their community and respond tothem, such as provide weekday programs like English
classes and a “children’s cafeteria” (which provides
meals to children living in poverty or those eating alone),2) not cut off connections—especially with middle- andhigh-school students, such as have evening meetings
once a month and connect through LINE (a social networking service),3) pray for and build up Christian homes, such as married
couples providing good examples of loving each other toyouth and young couples,4) increase funding for the coming generation, such as
having bake sales and supporting part of homestay costs,
and5) join denominational/interdenominational church networks and participate in their activities.
Otomo concluded: “If you imagine churches will no longer exist in 50 years, that’s not evangelical thinking at all.
We will exist to
the end of theage, and serving the children
i n f ront of u s
w i l l re s u lt i nbuilding thefuture Church.”
Next ye a r,
the 4/14 Window Movement’s Global Summit will be heldin New York from September 25 to 29.
Christian Shimbun, September 23, 2018translated by Nobue Tachiki

Embracing and Living Out Our Faith from a
Kingdom Mindset

took place from November 21 to 23, 2018 in Tokyo. The
three day event consited of three parts - the first day focused on youth mission collaboration, the second day was a
festa for youth and young adult Christians featuring manydifferent topics such as music, dance, sports, relationship,career and so forth, and on the third day participants weredivided into each generation - junior and senior high school
students, college students, and young adults.
The theme, “Embracing and Living Out Our Faith froma Kingdom Mindset” (「神の国マインドに生きる」) cameout of a long term effort of JEA Youth Commission to rebuild trust between church and mission organization inyouth ministry
context. In thef i rst session
fo c u si n g
on mission
collaboration,Rev. Ke n ich i
Shinagawa,the generalsecretary of JEA, said, "We need to have a Kingdom
mindset in order to overcome the wall between church andmission organization and pursue the common goal thatthe reign of God's love (Kingdom) reaching every youth inJapan."T he t he me of " K i ngdom m i nd e s e t" wa s f u r t he r
expanded throughout the congress to encourage youths
and young adults to embrace and live out their faith intheir community outside of church. Shinagawa continued,"The image of Kingdom is not a land sur rounded byborder, but rather a reign spreading from the king in thecenter. According to Mark 1:14-15, the Kingdom of God
is preceeding our ministry. We experienced this throughserving people in devastated areas of 3.11 East Japan Great
Earthquake and Tsunami disaster. God is already at workin our local community, our school, our workplace. The
Kingdom starts in the center of our hearts when Jesus' love
touched and transformed our hearts and it spreads aroundus as we live out our faith in the community."
Among the six hundred participants, 38% were young
adults, many of whom came from outside of Kanto area.
Rev. Yasumichi Sano, the Executive Director of NSD2,
said, "The most important message we received through
NSD2 was that there are so many commited young adult
Christians all over Japan who are isolated from fellow
young adult Christians and longing for network among
their generations. We really need to support them."
Christian Shimbun, December 9, 2018
Translated by Kenichi Shinagawa

The 2nd Youth Mission Congress (NSD2 = Nihon Seinen
Dendokaigi 2nd) organized by JEA Youth Commission* article images and photos provided by Christian Shimbun

7

Please pray for Japan
1. That the local church network in the Tokai region will be
encouraged and strengthened by the Holy Spirit and thatthe name of Jesus will be glorified through the churches in
the Tokai area.
2. That all Christian youth will be empowered by the gospel
to reach out to their friends and every young person in
Japan will be touched by the Holy Spirit and get to know
Jesus as their personal Savior.
3. That God will raise up the next generation of Christcentered, gospel-driven leaders among young Christians inJapan.
4. That God’s love will touch the hearts of those who are
suffering from recent natural disasters in different areas ofJapan through the Christian disaster response.

JEA-related schedule
DATE		

EVENT

PLACE

May 20		

Mission Research Summit

Tokyo

June 3-5

JEA Annual Plenary

Kakegawa

June 24-26

Women’s Retreat

Kobe

June 25		JEA Disaster Reduction ForumTokyo

July 5		JEA Young Adult Meeting

Tokyo

Editorial
As of this April I have been assigned to be
General Secretary of the Japan Evangelical
Association. I have taken over the post ofchief editor from Rev. Kenichi Shinagawa,the former General Secretary and chief editor of Japan Update.
First of all I would like to thank Rev. Shinagawa for faithfully
serving the Lord and working hard on Japan Update for eight
years. I also would like to thank Ms. Tomoko Kato for her work
as a translator. Because of their commitment and efficient work,
Japan Update has been issued and sent to our readers two times
every year. Please pray for the new chief editor (me) so that I
might be able to serve the Lord as they did, even though I’m inexperienced in this field.
Takahito Iwagami, Editor in Chief

https://jeanet.org/

Japan Update
Spring 2019 - Number 76
English Newsletter of theJapan Evangelical Association (JEA)
Chairman :Kaoru Hirose
General Secretary : Takahito Iwagami
Japan Update is pub­lished biannuallyby the JEA. Through Japan Update, the
JEA seeks to communicate how God is
at work in Japan and to foster prayer
and collaborative work for the advancement of God’s kingdom in Japan. Views
expressed by in­di­vi­dual auth­ors do notneces­sarily reflect offi­cial JEA posi­tions.
Japanese names appear in Wes­tern order(sur­name last).
Per­m is­s ion to reprint is gran­t ed, butplease give cre­dit and send one copy of
any pub­li­ca­tion con­tain­ing reprin­ted material to the edi­tor.

Japan Update Staff
Editor in Chief
Takahito Iwagami
Asst. Editor
Atsuko Tateishi
Translation Editor
Gary Bauman
Translation Staff             Tomoko Kato		Grace Koshino
Nobue Tachiki
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c/o JEA, OCC Building
2-1 Kanda Surugadai
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0062, Japan
telephone 03-3295-1765
fax
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website https://jeanet.org/
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