1The 24th JELCW NewsletterNo. 160 April 15, 2020
Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church Women
1-14-14 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0072
Publisher: Michie Nakahara, Editor: Saeko Sawada
Overall theme: “Living Together in the Grace of God”
Subtheme: “Encouraging Each Other in Hope and Joy, We Work Together for Peace on Earth.”
Scriptural Theme: “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him”
—Romans Chapter 6: 8Lord, what is next?

Rev. Hirotaka Tokuhiro
Pastor, Gifu ChurchŌgaki Church
A year has passed since I came back to Japan from Brazil where I served for 10 years.
I appreciate all the prayers and support I received from the JELCW during those years.
It was a great relief when the Japanese-language congregation in Brazil grew enough to be
independent and self-sufficient, which was only the beginning of another struggle of mine: to tackle
various problems in the slums. I preached to children and parents, and though I sometimes
quarreled with them, we forgave and helped each other. We shared laughter and tears and became
an irreplaceable family. They taught me, healed me and helped me to grow.
Since ‘we are the ones who have died with Christ and believe that we will also live with him,’
we are expected to learn the life of Christ and follow it. Each one of us has a special ability andinterest different from those of others. When all of our various lives are combined and united, wecan be closer to the life of Christ as a whole.
In addition, your existence and the work you do is important part of it and precious. When you
think to yourself ‘Why do I have to face all these difficulties?’/ ‘Why does my church confront one
hardship after another?’ why don’t you ask God ‘Do I have a mission here?’The difficulties I faced in Brazil crushed me, then released me and helped me grow. I evencould enjoy all these hardships. I think God is now preparing some new assignments for me to solve.
None of us can see our lives accomplished before we die. Life is a repetition of difficulties, which I
think should be called blessings.
It is April now; time to start something new. Let us walk together by asking ‘God what comesnext?’

2

East District Women’s Group/EDWG- Hitherto and hereafter-

Naomi Ichikawa, President
After I started to work as the president of EDWG, I clearly realized that every activity done up
until today was handed down by our sister members’ sincere works and prayers. I had often heard
about the past activities in our district, but I have to admit I did not know what was exactly done.
When I appealed to the members for goods for events, a lot of handicrafts made with great care andtime were offered. I thought I could hear their prayers inside the offerings. I strongly felt anecessity to let all the members know of our fellow volunteers’ heartfelt activities so that we canbetter develop a circle of voluntary works.
At the autumnal district meeting, we discussed how to connect all the districts’ events so thateach district regards them as its own. Due to theshortage of time to discuss, we sent out a questionnaire
to collect the members’ opinions and distributed themeeting minutes. We were grateful to have JELCW
president Ms. Nakahara till the end of the meeting.
We have started to be connected and walk together
believing that the Lord is always with us.
We would like to make a step forward to answer
the theme ‘Turn our eyes more to society’.

Tokai (East Pacific Coast) District Women’s Group/TDWG-Joy of having sisters in faith-

Shigeko Sakai, President
The first meeting of the 22nd TDWG was held at Kakegawa-Kikukawa Church on November
16th, 2019. There were 48 attendants from 19 churches in the Tokai District.
After the opening worship, Pastor Hiromichi Yokota gave a speech on his experience ofrefugee support in the Republic of Burundi. It was such a touching story that we were inspired to dosomething. The attendants were divided into three groups to discuss our future vision and also totalk about how to choose the next executive members.
At the beginning of the discussion, I said that thedeclining number of members is unavoidable and common
to all churches, but I hoped the discussion would be a
productive one, which it turned out to be. It was very
encouraging to hear some members mention that we in our60s, 70s or 80s still have energy to do voluntary work
instead of the young people who are busy with work orraising children.
Receiving the blessings from God, we are ready to go
forward with the joy of having sisters in faith.

3West District Women’s Group/WDWG-Dogwood Gathering-Shigeko Sakai, President
On September 23rd, the Autumnal Equinox, we held a retreat called ‘Dogwood Gathering’ atSaijo Church.
Dr. Urara Masaki from the Kobe Lutheran Seminary and Kansai Bible Seminary was thespeaker. She spoke on the theme ‘We live with Christ in the power of God’ and the subtheme ‘To
Mary, Martha and You’. She earnestly interpreted how we should be as Christian women.
We, who live for the moment in communities, athome, church, and in the workplace, are Mary as well asMartha. We would like to move ahead with the powerof God to return the blessings.
The number of WDWG members is very small but
we are trying to do our very best. We will keep onmarching together with Dr. Masaki’s message in ourmind.
Pastor Suzuki and our brothers helped us prepare
for the retreat amidst a typhoon, and we were able tohold it on a sunny day just after its passing.

Kyushu District Women’s Group/KDWG-Sharing the blessings-

Miho Hirayama, President
In the morning of September 26th, the chairpersons of KDWG had a meeting where activity
reports from each district were shared and later in the afternoon, a joint retreat with the Kumamoto
Area’s ‘Autumnal Gathering’ was held.
We have been supporting the ‘District Summer Camp for Junior and Senior High SchoolStudents’ for years. A mother whose son attended the camp gladly talked about her son’s growththrough the camp and also the blessing of providing a church as a camp site in return. It was lucky
for us to be able to hear this mother’s feelings and thoughts in person, not in a written form. We
also shared the reports from the Fukuoka Area and the Chikugo
Area. Hoping that the 25th JELCW meeting will be successful,both the former and the current executive members spoke.
In the afternoon, Ms. Kazuko Matsuzawa, a representativeof ‘Tomoni-ikiru (Live Life Together)’ spoke of its educational
support in a northernmost prefecture of Bangladesh. We hopedthat we could put our prayers into action.
As a flock praying together, we had the opportunity toshare in our blessings. And now, we will leave for tomorrow
full of energy.

4

Our Neighbor Minorities
There are people trying to find a place and time where they can be themselves struggling withinternal conflicts and feeling difficulties to lead everyday lives. Hard to be understood, they are also
exposed to the bias against them among ordinary people.
Though, the issue of minorities might be a very delicate and difficult theme to discuss, let us
just listen very carefully to the voices of the contributors. May there be a society where eachindividual is respected!

Living in church as a Christian with a diversity of genders and sexualities

Mio Aoki
Kengun Church

For the past half century, I have been suffering from living as my true self. I am a transgenderwoman, a so-called ‘sexual minority’ in Japan.
“Repent! Otherwise evil destroys you.”
Haunted by these words, I tried not to disclose my situation even after I was baptized. I
thought my very existence went against the Bible and my parents’ wishes. “Am I an evil Christianattending worship in church, who will not repent for the rest of my life?” I prayed and prayedseeking an answer to my identity.
I had no one to whom I could express my anguish or consult with except a friend I’ve hadsince my childhood, who suggested that I keep it to myself.
Badly depressed, I attempted suicide. I entered a rehabilitation facility and transcribed theBible like a child in starvation, day after day. I did not tell anybody about my agony. I kept praying
so that I could get over it. A pastor visited me, but I could not confess.
“Will I be forgiven? Where should I go for help if I am expelled from church?” With aresolute determination, I visited a pastor to tell him that I am transgender.
He most calmly responded to me. I learned later that he had a deep understanding of people
like me. I was awfully grateful that I had been baptized in a Lutheran church. At that time, I did notwant anybody to know about my identity, but a huge natural disaster made me disclose it.
A horrible earthquake occurred in Kumamoto in 2016. I evacuated to a designated shelter, butI could not bring myself to share a room or take a bath with men because of my gender identity.
My body shape had started to change due to a long estrogen administration. I hesitated to use either
the men’s or women’s restroom. I was practically kicked out of the shelter. Having nowhere elseto go, I visited my church to survive. I had no choice but tell the people there that I am transgender.
Later on, the pastor suggested to me that I join the Women’s Group of the church and I
followed his advice.
Some say that it is a distinction, not discrimination. I think both are the same in a sense ofcolor coding. I am engaged in LGBT enlightenment activities. A lot of people listen to me withgreat interest. What makes me sad is that most of them feel sorry for us and show us a pitiful look.
We are not pitiful souls. All we want is to be treated normally just like others.
In Japan, LGBT is thought of as a gender identity disorder, a kind of illness. The WHO
declares that a gender identity disorder is not an illness and denying it is a violation of human rights.
Outsiders even called me ‘rotten apples hanging around a church’ last year, but I strongly
believe that Jesus loves people like me as well.
I am leading my life as a queer person with resolution and pride just like Jesus was in ancientdays.

5

Introducing Minority Mission Center

Rev. Li Minseng
Pastor, Den’enchofu Church

In 1977, the UN Human Rights Subcommittee expressed the view that ‘minority’ does not
only mean a group of small number of people but also those who are in a vulnerable position andrarely have an opportunity to express themselves. In that sense, a society that listens to minorities
may be ‘the one where people in a powerless position are not excluded but a variety of individuals’
voices echo one another.’ The four pillars that support ourconcept are ‘A Fight against Racism’, ‘Education Program forYouth’, ‘Development of Spirituality for Conciliation andPeace’ and ‘Spreading the Concepts Both Domestically andInternationally,’ aiming at achieving a peaceful society richly
based on a multiethnic and multicultural co-existence.
It may sound a little contradictory, but staying close tominorities means being aware of ‘how seldom we listen tothem.’ That means ‘to face our own human frailties’ unable tobe the one we wish to be. Only when we acknowledge ourweaknesses, we can respect the diversity in our society.
We started a program in the autumn of 2017 named“Colorful Café.” We listen to life stories of people who haveroots in foreign countries and compile them into manga (comicbook.) We issued two volumes named “Our Colorful Friends.”
We distributed one of each, so please have a look at it.
(NCC Human Rights Committee for Foreign Residents in Japan)

In order to raise public awareness of and interest in the preservation and utilization of culturalproperties, historical buildings over 50 years old are registered by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
With Kurume Church and Kumamoto Church now having been registered, the JELC currently
has six registered churches. The following is the introduction of them in order of the registration.

=Ogi Church (Ogi City, Saga Prefecture) =Constructed 1938
Registered
December 11, 1998
Ogi Church is a wooden architecture with a gableroof (kirizuma-yane). The western side of a onestoried chapel is semi-circular where the altar is. The
eastern side of the church has a two-storied hallconnected to a rectory. The site area is 247 square
meters.

6=Ichikawa Church (Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture) =Constructed 1955
RegisteredOctober 23, 2008
The beginning of Ichikawa Church wasbrought about by Missionary A. Paulus whostarted a worship gathering at her residence in
Kōnodai, Ichikawa City. Later, a building in
the area that used to be a military barrack wasused as a place for worship. In 1955, Ichikawa
Church was constructed near a river. In 2012 it
underwent a thirteen month-long renovationand is loved by the people in the community.

=Fukkatsu (Resurrection) Church (Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture) =Constructed 1953
Registered
August 13, 2012
‘The church itself, as a piece of architecture, preaches the gospel’- that is what I learned when
our church was registered. God has been leading more people to the church than we thought. We
can see the architect Mr. William Merrell Vories’ way of living and his philosophy based on faith
here and there in church. We are pretty sure God deems our church to be good.

=Okazaki Church (Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture) =Constructed 1953
Registered
December 24, 2013
Designed by Mr. Vories, it has rough white walls and its roof ismade of salt-grilled red bricks. There is a small steeple with a crosson the roof. On the ceiling inside, we see a wooden king-post truss
which gives us a sense ofascending. Sunrays from slit
windows on either side of thealtar light up a communion
table and a cross above andbehind the altar.

7=Kurume Church (Kurume City, Fukuoka prefecture) =Constructed
Registered1918
March 18, 2019
We gratefully celebrated a centennial dedication anniversary inNovember of 2018. Our joy was doubled by the registration of ourchurch as a tangible cultural property next year. Actually, it has been
119 years since Kurume Church started its missionary work. Nichizen
Kindergarten, located on the same site, is 105 years old. Surroundedby tall modern buildings, the red-bricked church exudes an aura offaith.

=Kumamoto Church (Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture) =Constructed 1950
Registered
December 5, 2019
Every morning, the radio broadcasts traffic information around
Suido-cho crossing, which is very close to where Kumamoto
Church is located. It will say, for example, ‘Suido-cho crossing iscongested for so-and-so kilometers.’ Almost everyone in
Kumamoto City knows where our church is. It was burnt down by
air raids in 1945 but wasrestored in 1950.
In 2016, a big earthquake
badly damaged the church,
but thanks to the sincere
prayers by many people, it
returned to the goodcondition it was in before.
(The history of 122 years’
missionary work was notinterrupted)

8Inside a BulbAi Miyashita
Kengun Church

Two children of mine were raised in the Sunday school of Hiyoshi Church. We moved toKumamoto one year after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.
My daughter belonged to an art club in her junior and senior high school days, and she goes toan art college in Kyoto now. When she came back to Kumamoto for the coming-of-age day, Pastor
Yasui blessed my daughter in a kimono. Pastor Yasui chose the hymn ‘Inside a Bulb’ for her which
has been sung by the church choir a lot after the 2016 earthquake. The words of the hymn seemed
to fit her feelings, for she looked deeply moved. She was given time to talk to the people in churchfrom the altar. She told what it had been like to have a noticeable birthmark and to be raised in asingle-parent family, but still connected to church and she now understood they were all part ofGod’s plans.
My son was always nice and kind to his sister, trying to protect her from her fears. He caused
me a lot of worries and grief but now goes to Japan Lutheran College in Mitaka City, Tokyo.
The 2020 spring is filled with joy thanks to the prayers and the supports of many people myfamily and I have met in Kumamoto.

Bell of Love—donated by the then-president Kennedy
Saijo Church Women’s GroupThe ‘Gathering of Dogwood’ of the West District Women’sGroup was held at Saijo Church last fall. It was our first time to holdsuch a big gathering, but with great help of from the male members,
cooperative spirits among the church members seemed to bestrengthened. The gathering was also an opportunity to introduce ourchurch bell donated by J.F. Kennedy in 1962. When Pastor Olsen
went back to America temporarily, he told his friends it was a pitythat a church in Japan did not have a church bell. Hearing this, a boy
wrote to President Kennedy asking him to send a bell to the church
and the president did send one responding to the boy’s innocent
request.
We have been ringing the bell at the beginning of worship for
58 years, always remembering the boy’s faith.

<Good News!>
On March 20, 2020, there was an ordination at Hakata Church. Ms. Maho Morishita, whovisited Sabah Theological Seminary with the JELCW’s executive members in 2019, was ordained
as a pastor. It is our great joy to have a new pastor.
May she be richly blessed, guided, and helped by God!!