Our Activities :them.

Hokkaido Special District

group once it is gone. However, if active
groups find out their values and pay

which means that I have two-and-half years

attention to harmony, they can pass theleft to serve as president with six months
hasbeenbaton to future generations.

no

Unfortunately, I cannot write any concrete

opportunity for the officers of each church toideas to that end now because I have not hadmeet after the last assembly, I have a little

a chance to meet others since the assembly.

difficulty knowing what ideas they may

As you well know, the Hokkaido district ishave for the future.

supported greatly by the entire Lutheran

To be honest, in Hokkaido, the membership
isnotgrowingbutthedoI think it is difficult to restart a women’s

Hokkaido holds its Assembly in November,therecangroup may also be outdated.

Beginning with this fiscal year, the CW’s inAschurches

that every church should have a women’s

Masako Kondo, District President

me.

some

without women’s organized work. The idea

Hopes for the Next Three YearsbehindMaybe,societyChurch in Japan through the sale ofiskelp.

aging. Therefore, first of all, I hope toThis is evidence that CW’s areneeded. For the kelp project, many church

maintain the status quo as much as

members, some of who have no association

possible.

with a women’s group (because theirs isinactive), take part. I am sure that they are
all aware of and grateful to those who buy
the kelp. Even if the membership is few in
Hokkaido as a whole, we are united.

Against recent, dramatic societal changes,

I have an impression that residents ofwomen’s groups in churches are clearly

Hokkaido feel closer to nature than togoing through various changes. What weclosely-knit, urban ways of life, maybe

have seen in Hokkaido was that the failure

because cities are distant from one another.

in changeover of CW’s officers has madeI hope that we could somehow show oursome people serve indefinitely, which ledpresence, even if we may not stand out inrelationships to break and caused doubts interms of registered membership numbers.

the raison d’etre of CW’s, and eventually,broke up the group.
I

wouldsay,therefore,thatsomecongregations are happy with women’sgroups while others are better off without

3

Our Activities：East District

organizations and outside groups. We will
also make use of various media. Especially,“Sing a new Song to the Lord” into thewe will focus on the following three ministry

Futureopportunities;
Kumi Yagi, District President

1. The Next Generation ProjectThis refers to the ministry to subsequent

We are crossing the "rainbow bridge” (thegenerations.

theme of the previous term for East District),standing and assist the project. We willknowing that the bridge was created andthink about how to make it known widely notsustained by many prayers and helping

only to new CW members at home but also tohands. Now we are moving forward to thethose abroad and put new ideas into practice.

future to “sing a new song to the Lord.” We

2. Support to the Seminary

may encounter problems on our way, but I

The aid to the Seminary and divinity

am sure we can overcome them with ourstudents is the first step of mission; mission

heartfelt hope and joy that we will be united

to the next generation and the society atin Christ’s love and trust in the Lord.

large.

At the first District Women’s Meeting, we3. Healing through Linking

learnedandIf a dot is joined to another, it will make a

expectations through group discussions and aline. If a line is joined to another, it willquestionnaire. That is the starting point tomake a plane. In this way, we can begin withconsider what is needed to continue ourour own healing, then reach out to ouractions into the future. We also feel theneighbors for their healing, and finally, caremembers’offor society. We should be concerned withresponsibility for passing on the history ofpeople in society who are marginalized

the JELCW. As we live in a world andbecause of age, gender or ethnicity and seek

society that the Lord has created, we need todirect contact with them as we also engage inface the present and future with new insightministry to children or senior citizens.

about

member’s

strongwill

ideasandsense

for understanding. Let us attend to thoseissues and walk together, singing a new song
to the Lord with prayer and joy.
Wewilltry

communication
relationshipdifferent

toandwithage

representatives

have
build

every

face-to-faceahorizontal

church,CW’s,

thechurch,groups

into

other

Christian

4We

will

promoteunder-The first meeting this term was held in

Our Activities : Tokai District

May. In the morning, Ms. Keiko Ooki,
member of Oshika Church, played several

Made to Live by God’s Love

organ and piano pieces that soothed ourKunie Sakurai, District President

hearts, and then played the hymn. In theafternoon, Ms. Haga explained JELCWI hope to have a district league that “isgeneral meeting agenda to us and held

made to live by God’s love (main theme fordiscussions.

this term) and strive to improve ourselves

Tama Catholic Church as lecturer. The

followed by those in their 60's and thenmeeting starts in a worship service andthose in their 80's. 20% of our membershipends in a worship service. All of us areis under 60. The main workforce are thoselooking forward to joining in giving praisein their 70's.

and listening to a sermon that weThe final year of this three-year term falls
anniversary

Reformation by Luther.

ofnormally have little chance to listen to.

theWe have long taken care of the social

Study groups

welfare complex “Fukushi-mura” throughand seminars have already begun in

our prayers and support. In May, several

churches locally and nationally. Our
districtleaguewould

liketowellinvite Father Masahide Haresaku fromgreatest number of members in their 70's

500thwas

For the October meeting, we are going to

Our district women's league has thethemeeting

received by the participants.

(sub-theme).”onThemembers of the CW’s opened a shop for its

foster“Green’s Fair.” In July, its special elderly

relevant studies through newsletters andnursing home “Diakonia” had a summermeetings.

festival and many CW’s in the district
donated various goods for its yard sale.
Yard sale at

The yard sale drew many visitors andthe nursing

made the home very happy.

homegrateful to announce that the profit from

"Diakonia"

thetwosales

weredirected

Fukushi-mura.

CW newsletter will be published twice ayear. The first one was already issued
the end of June. The opening messagewas written by our rector, Rev. Tomoo
Miura on the scriptural theme fromRomans 12:2. Next, Rev. Fumiko Naito
will report on “Women in the Bible,” thenRev. Koji Saito on “Luther Seen through
Women’s Eyes.” We are glad hearing thatchurchwomen are looking forward to the

Churchwomen's Meeting

consecutive message.

5We aretoOur Activities : West District
each church’s events for members to pray
for them, and if possible, to participate.
In addition to these commitments, wehave changed the name, ‘Presidents
Meeting’ to ‘Liaison Meeting’, hoping thenew name will draw more attendees to themeeting and make it more transparent.
If we can have more reliable and effective
communication, we may easily think ofour sisters, give thanks together, pray andbe joined to one another. Hopefully, wewill feel power welling up inside of us tovisit others.
We need members’ help to makeinformation come and go. Needless to say,internet
communication
isnot‘face-to-face.’
So we have serious
concerns. Yet, if this challenge could
expand our link to be more fruitful, thatmay strengthen us and something funmay come out one day.
We should not forget that there are small
churches where women and men work
together for any organized effort. In suchcases, we should not cling to a gendered,‘female’ group but rather, we should beinclusive. We should also reflect uponourselves if we behave as role models forthebusy,
hard-working
youngergenerations, who barely manage to attend
worship services. There are many moreissues for us to think about. We would
like to keep listening, discussing, andpraying to move forward.
Finally, we would like to extend oursupport for our representative to thenational league, and walk together
hand-in-hand with our sisters acrossJapan, with trust in the Lord who is next
to us.

Search for a Link

Nami Matsumoto, District President
Following the district assembly, the West

District Churchwomen’s league has
started with a focus on furtheringinter-CWs links as its first step. We want
to do so by considering the methods andputting them into practice.
This is because we often hear frommembers that they want to keep in touch,although they are too busy with their ownchurch to visit others, have no humanresource or power left, or the distance
between churches is too far for them.
As we are weak and frail, we havedifficulty remembering the love that God
has given us, keeping it for ourselves, orpraying for ourselves. We cannot spread
His word, either. But, we know throughour experiences that God shows hisconcern through people, to heal us,
encourage us and empower us beyond
expectations. I think this is why we feel“a link is important.”
So, the following are the actions that wewill take in order to further ourconnections.
● To use Internet to send more reports
timely, in addition to the newsletter thathas been distributed via email since thelast term.
● To nominate more than one person asreceiver of such messages so as not to missthem but, instead, to share information
easily with anyone, anytime.
● To facilitate comments, requests, orquestions from each CW● To encourage two-way communication
between the board and each CW● To make a bimonthly announcement of8

result in their own sub-region and ask
members to write a ‘Her-story.’
This project is in line with WICAS’s
Her-story initiative. I would like toissue a collection of witnesses in thenext three years. For those who havetrouble writing by themselves, I will
provide someone who will take notes
for them. Consequently, this may help
establish an interchange, thereby
creating a spiritual place-to-be for ourelderly.
When they witness, the seniors willrecognize once again the blessings byGod, while we, the listeners, will beblessed by learning God’s love in a realcontext.
Ifwe,infusedwithenthusiasm,
cangivewitness
ourselves powerfully, we may be able
to give subsequent generations a hopein God.
As society has changed, our way of life
has also changed. Now, a majority ofwomen have jobs outside home. Mostof the board members juggle theobligations of both CW and work. I will
ask the Lord what I can do with mylimited time. I hope we can move
forward, helping and praying for one
another as a team.

Our Activities : Kyushu District
God and IMari Hara, District President
Praise the Lord!
The General Meeting and Rally inJunehas
given
me
much
encouragement and questions for God
at the same time. After that, the19th-term
Kyushudistrict
churchwomen’s league commenced.
We have discussed and concluded that
we will take a close look at theimportant relationship, ‘God and I,’
and include our ‘neighbors.’ In doing so,
we think we must understand thecurrent situation we find ourselves inand do what we can step-by-step.
Thanks to the previous-term officers
and the Silver Project Committee, abooklet for our seniors, ‘Beside StillWaters,’ was published. This will helpsus visit those who cannot attend
church and join in communion withthem.
It is certain that our members are
aging and the concern about thisdiffers by community. However, I
believe everyone has a fervent
dedication toward God. I hope thebooklet will help us step forward, pray
for the one next to us, listen to their
voice, develop better relationships, andcontinue to walk forward.
To start the first year of this term, I
would like to have a retreat this fall togain deeper understanding of therelationship between ‘God and I.’ I
want the participants to share the9