Japan
Evangelical
Association

Japan Update

Summer 2017 Number 73

English conversation class at a partner church in Michigan

Missional cooperation between
Detroit and Toyota churches

InsideMission cooperation Detroit and Toyota

1&3Japanese ministry in Europe		Diaspora in yourneighborhood

2-3

4

Philippine churches in Japan 5
News and notes

6-7

Prayer/Editorial

8

In the spring of 2011 I began my assignment at Toyota East Christ Church, a Mennonite Brethren church in Toyota City, Aichi
prefecture, an area famous for its large concentration of automobile-related companies.
In October of that same year, Setsu Shimizu,
a leader in Japanese Christian Fellowship
Network (JCFN) and a long-time friend, unexpectedly showed up at our church. JCFN
is a ministry to follow up those who become
Christians overseas and then return to Japan.
During this visit she exclaimed, “Pastor Nozomu, God has been doing something exciting in Michigan!”A large number of Japanese people live inand around the cities of Detroit, Novi, and
Ann Arbor as employees in the automobile
industry. Area churches have built a cooperative interdenominational network andhave been offering English conversation
classes for these employees and their family
members. According to Setsu, this missional
effort has been going on for some time. As
a result, many Japanese people, especially
wives, have heard the gospel. Moreover,most of these people return to Aichi prefecture after their stint in Michigan.
As I heard Setsu talk about what God has
been doing in Detroit, I got so excited that

NozomuKashima
Pastor,Toyota East
Christ Church

I shared the story with the other pastors in
our Toyota City pastors fellowship. They responded positively. And thus began a collaborative effort among our member churchesin Toyota to welcome returnees from Michigan. In addition to my church, members of
our fellowship include Toyota Hope Chapel(Pastor Koji Yamamoto), Toyota Kamiike
Christ Church (Pastor Kei Sano, and sinceApril 2017, Tsugeru Irie), Toyota Christ
Church (Pastor Kiyokazu Takayama), Toyota
Gospel Church (Pastor Yoshinobu Sasaki),Toyota Bible Church (Pastor Sang Jun Park),
and Toyota Minori Christ Church (Pastor
Ryuji Imori).
Our collaboration with JCFN opened away for Pastor Kei and me to go to Michigan October 26 to November 2, 2015. We
visited Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church,
St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Oak Pointe(continue to page 3)

http://jeanet.org/

Perspective

Japanese ministry and church formation in Europe
Challenge and Vision: from “Mission cooperation in an age of crisis” to “Re-vision”
Nobuyuki Uchimura, Pastor of Japanese Christian Church in Milano
Effect of the European economic crisis and terrorist
threat on Japanese churches
It has been 14 years since I was sent as a missionary to
Milan, Italy, to share the gospel with the local Japanese.
During this period, I have had the privilege to return to Japan for both the 5th and 6th Japan Congress on Evangelism
gatherings (in Sapporo and Kobe respectively) as a memberof the diaspora mission project. Looking back, much haschanged in Europe since 2003
when I began mytime in Milan.
One of the major
turning points
was the European
economic crisis
that followed thebankruptcy of
Milano Praise Church
Lehman Brothersin the fall of 2008. In such a social context, the JCE5 gathering in 2009 was held with the theme “Mission Cooperation in an Age of Crisis.” In Europe, however, even before
2008 a major paradigm shift for Japanese manufacturers
had already been taking place. The European market shareof Japanese household electrical goods and automobiles
was gradually being eroded by manufacturers of other Asian
countries. This phenomenon significantly affected the manner and mode of Japanese ministry in Europe. The membership profile of Japanese churches in Europe also went
through a major change. Most significant was the departureof many Japanese business people who had been dispatched
by Japanese businesses to work in Europe. These were people who had played financial and spiritual leadership roles
in Japanese churches. This resulted in difficulties in runningchurches in the same way as before. In some churches, thepastor returned to Japan without a successor. More recently,
Europe has seen the growth of religiously motivated terrorism and the spread of discrimination brought about by a risein nationalism and hopeless feelings of being besieged.
But as an attendee at JCE5 in 2009, God gave me a vision
for the future of missions in Europe. I envisioned ministryleaders of the future collaborating in effective teamwork, on
the lookout for networking opportunities, and being wellprepared to deal with problems.
Number of Japanese in Europe on the rise, more people
with whom to share the gospel
Even during this process, the number of Japanese living
in Europe has been increasing. According to the statisticsof the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, some 200,000
Japanese people currently live throughout Europe.
As I said earlier, the number of Japanese business people
who are sent to posts in Europe with their families has

2been decreasing. Meanwhile, thenumber has been on the rise forJapanese who are single or married without children and are sentby their Japanese company to apost in Europe. The number has
also been on the increase for theJapanese in their 30s and 40s whochoose to work in Europe, or who
Pastor Uchimura
quit their jobs in Japan to engage
in professional study in Europe.
Many of these Japanese come to Europe with a positiveand glamorous image of Europe. Many, however, have toaccept the hard reality that their initial goal is not achievable. Some stumble when they encounter difficulties thattrigger mental problems. Through such hardships, quite afew Japanese people in Europe come to question the meaning of life or develop an interest in the Bible, because theysee it as the underlying basis of European thought.
An urgent need for leaders to share the gospel and to
take care of the sheep
An effective network is in place among the Japanese
Christians and churches in Europe. In fact, as a whole weshare a sense of building a single Japanese church in Europe. The sense of unity is best attested to by the Japanese
Christian Convention in Europe, which to date has been
held annually for 33 years. Also, in 2006 we launched theannual Japanese Pastors Workshop in Europe. Some 30
pastors gather to build mutual trust and to engage in interdenominational missional work as one unified body.

European Servant Leaders Retreat (SLIM)

Obviously, our group of pastors is far too small to minister to and share the gospel with all 200,000 Japanese people
in Europe. As was advocated in the theme of JCE6 in 2016,
we need “Re-Vision” or the casting of a new vision. In
recent days, the following words of Jesus keep running
through my mind:“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into hisharvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Perspective(continued from page 2)
To my knowledge, none of the Japanese churches in Europe have their own place of worship. Each congregation
has figured out different ways of getting together. Some
gather in the sanctuary of a local church, while others meetin a rented space or a member’s home.
The facilities may be different, but the same Holy Spirit
works within each congregation to build up the body of
Christ. Most Japanese churches in Europe were typicallybegun by a homemaker who opened up her house for Bible
study, and invited Japanese people in the neighborhood.

A number of people met Jesus Christ through these Bible
studies, and were led to a profession of Christian faith.
During the past few years, we have seen some Japanesebusinessmen and homemakers enroll in correspondence
or online seminary courses. It is our priority to ensure thatthese Christians will be equipped to maturity, for the building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12).
It is my sincere hope that the network of Christians within and outside Europe be further strengthened, so that they
will share the burden of ministry to the Japanese people
through both prayer and collaboration.

(continued from page 1)
Church, Crossroads Community Baptist Church (Japanesecongregation), and Faith Covenant Church. In each of thesechurches, we observed the wives of Japanese businessmenin the automobile industry cheerfully attending English
conversation
classes andBible studies.
We saw that the
English classes
were so popular that hostchurches had toput people onmembers of Michigan Bridge Builders 2017
waiting lists.
While some of the churches employed paid staff to teachthese classes, others had unpaid volunteers who were effectively building friendly relationships with Japanese businesspeople and their family members. We also witnessed thefaithful offering of fervent intercessory prayer for Japanesepeople behind the scenes—especially for business people
and their families by local church members and volunteer
staff.
To be honest, until I saw how God was at work in Michigan, I had my doubts. It’s good to see Japanese people
showered by love in the USA in a cultural context quite different from that in Japan. However, I felt it quite impossiblethat these people, once back in Japan, would get connected
to a local church. What I witnessed during the Michigan
tour gradually affected my perception. God had provided
Japanese people with a natural exposure to the gospel. God
so loved Japan that he had moved people in Michigan toevangelize and bring salvation to the Japanese. Furthermore, God was already sending Japanese people back toJapan who had become Christians in Michigan. I clearly
saw God at work in ways beyond my comprehension andimagination.
Building on our years of cooperation, this summer weare expecting Michigan Bridge Builders, a mission teamfrom the cities of Detroit and Novi, to visit Toyota City
from July 19 to August 2. The team consists of ten English

conversation class teachers who are involved in ministries
to Japanese people at four churches. The goal of this mission trip is to build bridges between returnees and Jesus,
between returnees and churches in Japan, and between
churches in Michigan and Toyota City. During their stayin Toyota, various events are being planned in an effort toconnect returnees with local churches. There will be a reunion of returnees, and teens and kids English club events.
The team members will experience homestays and attend
worship services at different Toyota churches. The trip will
culminate in a Motor City Summit on July 31. Attendees
at the summit will share about their current situations andthe historical and religious backgrounds of their respective
churches in Michigan and Toyota City. They will also discuss challenges and difficulties in incorporating returnees
into a church, and will pray for each other. Both groups,
Michigan Bridge Builders and the Toyota pastors fellowship, are eagerly looking forward to the summit. We havebeen holding regular Skype meetings in preparation.
I can’t foresee how God
will guideour collaborative efforts.
It might beshort-lived. A
new churchof returnees
might beToyota pastors visiting Michigan
launched outof the cooperation among the Michigan and Toyota churches. God might have other plans to promote the integrationof returnees into churches in Japan. Whatever happens in
the long run, the Toyota churches have been greatly encouraged by their connections with the Michigan churches. Our
partnerships have been growing stronger. I accept in faith
all that God has been doing, even if it is beyond my understanding and experience.
As we navigate new uncharted waters of this trans-Pacificpartnership, I want to move ahead step by step with expectation as to how God will work.

3

Interview

Diaspora in your neighborhood
Atsuko Tateishi, Assistant Editor of Japan Update
How can the members of a local church in Japan reachout and collaborate with people of the diaspora? They
probably don't have to look far. One spring afternoon
in early 2017, at a pleasant cafe in the suburban city ofTokorozawa on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan Update
interviewed Erika, a Christian woman in her early 20s withan international family background. To respect her privacy,
we will only identify her by her first name.
Atsuko: Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Erika: My father is Japanese and my mother is Filipino.
My parents divorced when I was in the fourth grade. My
mother thenwent to live in
the U.S., andtook my little
sister with her.
I chose to livewith my father,because I wanted
to stay in Japan,
and because I
didn't like my mother. She used to beat me in the name ofdiscipline. She was not a motherly type, either.
Atsuko: Do you have any significant memories from yourchildhood?
Erika: To be honest, I was glad when my parents divorced,
as I no longer had to live with my mother. Up to junior highschool, my memories are rather vague. My childhood was
not much fun. Kids would bully me at school. It got so badthat I stopped going to school in the middle of my second
year in junior high.
Atsuko: How did you get to know the church you havebeen attending?
Erika: We would go to church as a family, because mymother was a Christian. But soon after my parents divorced,
I stopped going to church. Then during my junior highschool days, my father started going to church again when
he was in the middle of some financial difficulties. I went
along with him. We alternated between two neighborhood
churches my father found.
I appreciated both churches. One of them was aninternational church with an English worship service.
However, eventually I settled into the other church, where
they worshiped in Japanese and had an active Sunday
school program.
Atsuko: I understand that’s the church where you were4

baptized and still attend. Why did you keep going tochurch?
Erika: Because I felt comfortable and accepted. I met anumber of kids from international marriages there. You see,
I had been bullied at school and was not going to schoolat that time. So at least I had a regular place to go to on
Sundays. I even tutored a boy at the church for awhile.
He was a little younger than I, and also the child of aninternational marriage.
Atsuko: How did you come to believe in Jesus?
Erika: I began to pray to God on my own around the timeleading up to the entrance exam for high school. I was
accepted into an evening high school. Then a Christianfriend at the church invited me to the activities of hi-b.a., aministry to high school students.
I went to the hi-b.a. summer camp during my second yearof high school, in 2012. Part of me knew that it was time
to commit myself to Jesus, but the other part of me wanted
to leave one foot in this world. By the end of the camp,
however, God gently led me to profess in front of all thecampers my desire to get baptized. I was baptized around
Christmas later that year.
Atsuko: What has changed since you began to walk with
Jesus?
Erika: I have no relatives I can turn to, but now I candepend on God who never lets me down. I also have myfamily of God at the church, which gives me a sense of
security. I am happy now with my life.
Atsuko: What are some reasons you continue to follow
Jesus?
Erika: I suppose I could choose to walk away from him at
any time, but I won't make that choice. Without God, I don't
know how I could overcome
life's difficulties.
In fact, I went through thegreatest challenge in my life
when I was about to becomea senior in high school. I was
put in a situation where I'dhave to quit school. I was indespair, and couldn't even pray
for a few months. I asked myfriends to pray for me. God eventually opened a way toresolve the situation, and I was able to finish high school.
Looking back, that was a test I had to overcome at thatparticular time in my life. Because I know it was God who
opened a way for me, I will keep following him.

ReportJapan Council of Philippine Churches advances vision to Bless Japan
Ana Megumi Gamez, Vice-President of JCPCThe Japan Council of Philippine Churches (JCPC) is afellowship of Filipino pastors and missionaries who havethe same vision and doctrine and voluntarily associatethemselves for the purpose of fellowship, edification,equipping, and the expansion of God’s kingdom in Japanand beyond. JCPC provides a structure and context throughwhich meaningful relationships can be cultivated andmembers can care for each other. Its vision is to makedisciples, serve the church, and bless the world, which
includes Japan. It has about 40 member churches in Tokyoand nearby prefectures, and is a member of the Philippine
Missions Association (PMA).
JCPC meets six times a year. Regular meetings for mutual
edification, fellowship, and prayer are held in January,
May, July, and September and usually take place at Shalom
Christian Fellowship in Shinjuku, Tokyo. JCPC also holds
two annual events: the Bless Japan Prayer & Worship
Summit in March and the Annual Thanksgiving Celebrationin November.
The Bless Japan Prayer & Worship Summit
JCPC has held the Bless Japan Prayer & Worship Summit
every March since 2014. This year it took place at the
Kitano Shimin Center in Hachioji with the theme “Engage
in the Harvest.” It was attended by 230 people from JCPC
churches and other churches in the Kanto area.
The guest speakers were Rev. Lalano Jr. Badoy, National
Director of the Philippine Missions Association (PMA) andBishop Noel Pantoja, National Director of the Philippine
Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC). Rev. Badoy
challenged attendees to participate in the global harvest,
especially in Japan. Bishop Pantoja’s message focused on“Unity: Working Together to Bless Japan.”This year’s event was indeed momentous with theparticipation of not only two guest speakers from thePhilippines, but
a l s o w i t h R e v.
Shinagawa,
JEA General
Secretary, and Mr.
A r m i n M e s s e r,
missionary toJapan with OMFInternational. A
Rev. Noel Pantoja of PCEC
prayer time forJapan was led by Rev. Shinagawa and Mr. Messer. Rev.
Shinagawa also led in the induction of JCPC executive
officers, who will serve for three years, from 2017 to 2019.
Follow-up events
After the Bless Japan event in Tokyo, JCPC held thefirst Bless Japan Missions Conference in Manila on
April 8 at Union Church of Manila (UCM). This meeting

Bless Japan Prayer & Worship Summit in Hachioji

took place in partnership with Overseas Missionary
Fellowship (OMF)–Philippines, SEND– Philippines, UCM,
Operation Mobilisation (OM)–Philippines, and Worldwide
Evangelization for Christ (WEC).
It was attended by 300 people from different churches andmission organizations. In October of next year, JCPC plans
to hold a Bless Japan Missions Conference 2 in Manila andalso in Davao City in Mindanao.
Vision for the future
JCPC envisions accomplishing the following projects inthe coming years:
1. Equip the JCPC churches. To make this happen theexecutive officers will serve as an equipping team forchurches that are in need of such a ministry. We will also
hold seminars addressing our specific challenges in theJapan context.
2. Establish deeper relationships with Japan-basedorganizations. We desire to deepen our engagementwith the Japan Evangelical Association (JEA) andOverseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF)–Japan in theevangelization and discipleship of this nation.
3. Forge healthier partnerships between JCPC churches
that will improve both ministerial ethics and theresultant synergistic effect. This will be accomplished byscheduling regular meetings and increasing engagementin our annual events, the Bless Japan Prayer & Worship
Summit in March, and the Annual Thanksgiving
Celebration in November.
4. Continue to bless the world through our global internet
radio broadcasts in partnership with the Far East
Broadcasting Company (FEBC)–Philippines.
5. Do collaborative missions whenever possible inpartnership with various kingdom-minded andharvest-focused churches, ethnic groups and mission
organizations.

5NEWS and NOTESHow to engage young people in religious liberty discussion

Among a number of meetings on religious liberty annually held on and around National Foundation Day on
February 11, “the 51st Tokyo Meeting on February 11”—
Abolish National Foundation Day! Stop the Nationalizationof Yasukuni Shrine! meeting featured Shigenori Ōshima,
the general secretary of KGK (Kirisutosha Gakusei Kai), as
the keynote speaker.
Generally, religious liberty events hosted by Christians
on National Foundation Day are not well attended by young
people. Although there is ongoing discussion on the cabinet
level of a constitutional change that could affect religious
liberty, a higher percentage of people in their 20s support
the current cabinet than other age brackets. Ōshima offeredsome suggestions on how to engage young believers in religious liberty discussions.
Ōshima first listed some of the characteristics of today’s
youth:• Rather than newspapers, young people now obtain theirnews from the internet, where conservative media sources
have a stronger influence.
• In postmodern society, young people tend to be guided
more by subjective feelings than by objective truth.
• They tend to fear wounding others to the extent that they
avoid getting into discussions with people of differing
opinions.
H o w e v e r, Ō s h i m a t h e npointed out that youth are notentirely uninterested in politics.
He recalled that in 2013 the“Declaration of Hope Evening2” ( K i b o o K o k u h a k u S u r u
Yoru, abbreviated to Kibokoku)
attracted 200 people on-site and
1,000 through the internet. He
also noted that some young Christians have been meeting
regularly for prayer in front of the Diet building.
In order to effectively involve youth in religious liberty
discussions, Ōshima suggested three things. First, eventsand meetings should be designed in such a way that youth
feel comfortable. They appreciate a safe place to open up
with questions and an inviting atmosphere to learn. Second,Ōshima encouraged communicating with passion. He notedthat titles and big names do not mean much to youth. They
value effective communication that resonates with them.
Finally, Ōshima stressed the importance of authentic living.
Youth will not listen to speakers that preach peace but do
not care for their own families. Ōshima reasoned that youth
will respect a person whose “talk matches their walk.”Ōshima went on to list seven things that he would liketo see in youth: 1) study of the errors committed by theJapanese church during the prewar and WWII years;2) maintaining a Kingdom mindset; 3) nurturing hopethrough an end times perspective; 4) serving others;5) engaging in personal conversations; 6) fellowshipingwith Asian neighbors; and 7) partnering with non-Japanesecongregations in Japan.
Regarding political discussions, Ōshima recommended
that Christians maintain a worldview and historical perspective rooted in the
Bible. He also
recommended
first listening
to what youth
have to say, andthen developing
long-term relationships withthem.
Finally, he touched on the potential contribution of theJapanese church to global society. Because the Japanesechurch is aware of its errors in catering to the political
agenda of the Japanese government during WWII, it has
a keen sense of discernment in matters of war, peace, andthe separation of Church and State. In conclusion, Ōshima
expressed his wish to send young people with a Kingdom
mindset and sense of calling into the global arena.
(translated and summarized by Atsuko Tateishi)

Fukushima Christian Conference hears project team reports

On March 11, six years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Fukushima Christian Conference (FCC) held a3.11 memorial meeting at Sukagawa Shion no Oka Church
in Fukushima with its five project teams: the Fukushima
Hope, victim support, church mission cooperation, mission
broadcasting, and radioactivity problem projects. Each project team reported on what they have been doing during thepast two years.
Rev. Seiji Funada of Shirakawa
Eiko Church compared the situationin Tohoku to Moses’ 40 years in thewilderness: “If without knowing
God we had entered the land flowing with milk and honey, we would
have lived only for our desires andwhat we could see. The land would
have been filled with envy and hatred. In Tohoku, becauseof the nuclear power plant accident, many people still livewith feelings of fear and insecurity. However, even if reconstruction were to go well and we saw a return to prosperity, if we did not know the living God the result would
not be cause for blessing, but despair. We have learned that

Articles selected from the Christian Shimbun—February to March 20176

News and Notes
the best testimony we have to offer is our faith in trying
to follow what God wants and in facing reality along withprayer.”Fukushima Hope projectRev. Keiji Kida of Koriyama Christ Gospel Church,
Chair of the Fukushima Hope project, reported on how theirministry has grown: “The Fukushima Church Relief Support Network—a community made up of pastors in Fukushima City—first started children’s
retreats in local communities. But
to meet more mothers’ needs, we
expanded our ministry area and set
up the Fukushima Hope project.
Since then, we have had 30 retreats
with about 30 regular participants.”
In March of 2017, all the staff
who had deeply committed themselves to this project from the beginning moved on and the
project has new staff. Kida explained, “Without the helpof those first staff members, this project would have nevergotten started, but now they have to carry on with their own
lives.”
Now Kida is thinking of organizing a new type of campinvolving local Christians and non-Christian mothers who
have participated in past camps. “This may guide nonChristian mothers toward church involvement,” he said. He
also has another idea—to hold a thyroid cancer screening attheir church. “Mothers who had to stay in Fukushima with
their families after the nuclear powerplant accident are quite
fearful that their children may have thyroid cancer. We hopeto offer them a chance to have a tie with the church as well
as a place for medical checks.”
Radioactivity problem projectRev. Seiichiro
Kishida of Fukushima Bible
Church, who isin charge of theradioactivity
problem project,explained about
the meetings they
are attending once every one or two months to deepen theirknowledge about radioactivity problems. “The person in
charge of the meeting assigns some books for us to study,
such as Genpatsu Jiko to Kojosen Gan–Nuclear Power
Plant Accidents and Thyroid Cancer (Akira Sugaya, Gentosha) or Naibuhibaku no Kyoi–Threats of Internal Exposure
to Radiation (Shuntaro Hida & Hitomi Kamanaka, Chikuma-Shinsho).”

Victim support project
Ms. Ichiko Goto, a lay minister with the Japan Alliance
Christ Church, shared about the current concerns of temporary housing
residents. Goto says, “What I hearis sorrow and then anger. They allsay ‘We have no home. Where canwe go back to?’ As most temporary
housing facilities will be closed on
April 1, what we have been doing
to support the residents there will
no longer work. But we will keep in touch with each resident individually and continue our service to them.”
Rev. Takuo Takahashi of Aizu Bible Church, who has
been bringing refugees from the coastal area to Aizu forperiodic visits, said “People in Tohoku seem to have been
suppressing various feelings for six years. What they are really suffering from has not yet been expressed enough, but I
feel their voices in silence.”
After sharing their thoughts, the participants prayed insmall groups.
(translated and summarized by Tomoko Kato)“Re-visioning” JEA as mission infrastructure JEA 32nd general assembly

JEA’s 32nd general assembly took place in Hamamatsu
city from June 5th to 7th, 2017. The main item of the 2017
annual strategic plan is “re-visioning” JEA as mission infrastructure, which was the vision shared at JCE6 (the 6thJapan Congress on Evangelism) in Kobe last year.
According to that vision, JEA Mission Commission (MC)was restructured into three task forces: (1) Mission Forum–to lead JCE6 projects and host an annual Mission Forumin different places, (2) Mission Research–to gather andanalize mission data and provide network of MCs among
J E A m e m b e r s , (3) G l o c a l(global+local) Mission Network–to provide an open spaceof connection for Japanese ministries overseas as well as ethnic churches in Japan. Throughthis new structure, JEA seeks
to serve as a catalyst of God’s
mission to Japan and Japanesepeople.
Rev. Kaoru Hirose
Eleven new board members
were elected and Rev. Kaoru Hirose (Japan Alliance Christ
Church) was elected as the Chairman of JEA for the threeyear term of 2017 to 2019.

Articles selected from the Christian Shimbun—February to March 20177

Please pray for Japan
1. That more grassroots mission cooperations like the Detroit andToyota case will start in many other places, connecting God’s
people globally and locally. Also pray that churches in Japan
will open their eyes to what God is doing in the world and participate in it.
2. That God will raise more ministry workers and send them into
the harvest field in Europe and other places where many Japanese are coming to Christ. Also pray that church leaders likeRev. Uchimura will be protected and blessed.

Japan Update
Summer 2017 - Number 73
English Newsletter of theJapan Evangelical Association (JEA)
Chairman :Kaoru Hirose
General Secretary : Kenichi Shinagawa

4. That God will raise up the next generation of Christ-centered,gospel-driven leaders among young Christians in Japan.

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).

JEA related schedulePer­m is­s ion to reprint is gran­t ed, butplease give cre­dit and send one copy of
any pub­li­ca­tion con­tain­ing reprin­ted material to the edi­tor.

3. That more “Kingdom minded” collaborations will happen among different ethnic churches in Japan and Japanesechurches. There are many opportunities including ministry tochildren of mixed marriages and so on.

DATE		

EVENT

PLACE

Sept. 11-13

Tokai Mission Congress

NagoyaSept. 25-26

JEA Mission Forum in Kobe

Kobe

Nov. 24		

Religious Liberty SeminarTokyo

Dec. 6-8

AEA Consultation

Korea

January 28-29
Feb. 5-6		
			

Theological Commission Retreat
East Japan Earthquake International
Theological Symposium

Tokyo
Tokyo

Editorial
In April, I spoke at the Reaching Japanese for
Christ (RJC) Pacific Northwest Conference andhad an opportunity to visit Japanese churches
and ministries in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. I was blessed by meeting many brothers
and sisters who are so enthusiastic about reaching Japanese for
Christ! I was also blessed by meeting international students (including Japanese) at a gathering in Seattle who were very eager to study
the Bible and discover the truth. It reminded me of how I was as an
exchange student 30 years ago. God is certainly on the move andtouching the hearts of Japanese people everywhere. Praise God!
Kenichi Shinagawa, Editor in Chief

http://jeanet.org/

Japan Update Staff
Editor in Chief
Kenichi Shinagawa
Asst. Editor
Atsuko Tateishi
Translation Editor
Gary Bauman
Translation Staff
Tomoko Kato		Grace Koshino		
Hiromi Kiuchi		
Mie Takatsuji
Nobue Tachiki
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