Coen Goes Sledding

Over Christmas break, we were able to take a family trip to the mountains of northwest Japan. Aidan and Eastin received their first ski lesson from me while Coen (3 years old) practiced sledding in a special fenced area for little kids.

While I was on the slopes with the older two boys, 8 month pregnant Abi needed to go to the restroom. She tried to bring Coen in the stall with her, but there simply was not enough room. (Japanese toilet stalls are so small that you often have to stand over the hole in the floor in order to close the door!) Abi told Coen to wait just outside the door. Coen did not wait.

Abi came out and just barely caught a glimpse of him running around the corner of a far building. Turning the corner of the building, she looked in horror as Coen took his sled to the edge of the ski slope and started to go down. What was he thinking! He told us later he did not like the little hill. He wanted the "BIG" hill!

Abi made it to the ski slope just in time to see a little pink and blue dot shooting down the slope like a runaway train. Coen had not yet learned how to stop or slow down! "Wham!" he flew into a large canvas "Slow Down" sign at the bottom of the hill. Not hurt but a little dazed, he sat there without crying while a crowd of skiers began to gather around. Abi eventually climbed her way down the mountain to retrieve her son.

Coen did not want to leave Mommy for the rest of the day. "Too scary!" he said. Too scary indeed!

Grace City Church Tokyo Worship

Worship at Grace City Church Tokyo in St. Luke's Chapel. For four Sundays, we had the privilege of meeting at the chapel of St. Luke's Hospital while our usual space is unavailable. Here we are singing Migiwa's original Japanese praise song "The Lord Is My Shepherd" on February 10, 2013.

Christmas Charity Concerts

Ora Reed (Jazz singer from Jackson, Mississippi) and I (with my portable organ!) will be giving charity concerts in the lobby of an enormous business complex in downtown Tokyo this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. The money raised will go toward the children's and business projects in the disaster area of northeast Japan.

Japanese give to victims of Hurricane Sandy

People affected by the Hurricane Sandy disaster have been in our hearts and prayers. Our non-Christian Japanese friends gave us cash to send for U.S. churches to help in the relief effort, saying “American churches gave so much to us after the earthquake. Now it’s our turn to give back to them!”

Here is an excerpt from a blog entry written last month by Gary Watanabe who visited Grace City Church during a worship service where funds were being raised for the relief effort. You can read the original article here.

 

Raising money at Grace City Church
for Hurricane Sandy victims

"I just got back from a trip to Asia this Monday, and my last stop was in Tokyo, where I witnessed something pretty amazing.

First of all, I attended worship at one of our partner church plant projects, Grace City Church Tokyo, on Sunday. Tokyo is one of the most expensive and secular cities in the world. The average time I'm told for establishing a self-supporting, self-sustaining, self-governing church in Japan is about 7 yrs, and the average church size in all of Japan is about 30.

The church was packed to standing room only with over 80 people. Currently the church plant is in its third year and still growing. Now that the church has reached its limits in space it will have to find a bigger venue in order to continue growing, which means greater financial costs. The cost for a pastor and his family to live in central Tokyo and rent a venue for worship gatherings is one of the reasons so few churches are being planted in the heart of one of the world's largest cities. However, it's amazing to see the church's faith and growth in spite of the enormous financial challenges and other challenges that they have to confront in such a city.

But all of this wasn't the most amazing thing for me. It was what I witnessed in the worship service. In the middle of worship, the pastor, Rev. Makoto Fukuda, announced that the worshipers would have the opportunity to contribute to the relief efforts of Hurricane Sandy during the offering. In the midst of their own financial needs, they still felt it was important to come to our aid in New York City just as we did when they suffered the 3/11 triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami, and radiation.

That disaster happened when the church was just about one year old, and proved to be pivotal for the ministry. Seima Aoyagi, who had just been with us in New York as part of our International Intensive training in 2010, and Roger Lowther, an American missionary and worship director of the church plant, immediately began to pull relief together and make trips up north to the devastated areas. In the process they built relationships with many neighbors in Tokyo and up north, providing many opportunities for ministry.

Generosity is a manifestation and fruit of the transforming power of the Gospel and I had the privilege of witnessing that.

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord.... For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.  —2 Corinthians 8:1-3, 9"

Funny Thanksgiving Story

Abi's Homemade Turkey Dinner

Living in Japan, we have realized quickly that eating turkey is not as common around the world as it is in the United States!

In South Asia, the national pastor heard of the importance of turkey and Thanksgiving Dinner to Americans. In order to care for his American MTW missionary partners, the pastor asked all around the city for a turkey...but to no avail. There simply were no turkeys to be had. Then, he got lucky and found a LIVE turkey! His wife pulled the feathers, cleaned the bird, cooked it, and everybody enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal together. Only afterwards, did the pastor tell the missionaries where he found the turkey. In a pet store!

In Tokyo, Japan, we are thankful for Costco, where the search for a turkey is a bit easier!

Enjoying a family Thanksgiving meal

My first time to host a worship seminar in Tokyo (and make a flyer!)

Worship Symposium Series & Conference
Join us on October 28 in Meguro, Tokyo!

Community Arts Tokyo (CAT), an organization started just this year to connect people through the arts, offers a worship symposium series to connect worship teams for the sake of church growth in Japan. Let’s come together and talk about the worship issues that face the Japanese church today.

Schedule:
6:30 Fellowship Time
7:00 Worship led by Shinjuku Shalom Church
7:20 “Worship and the Word of God”
By Nancy Nethercott and Mika Takana on the creative use of scripture in worship
8:00 Discussion Time

Who should attend?
Anyone who wants to connect with worship pastors, musicians, artists, and church members of different churches and denominations for the sake of kingdom advancement in Japan.
No reservation necessary.
500 yen at the door for light refreshments.
Content in Japanese only.

Place: Rental Space Kahoo
東京都目黒区下目黒2-32-2-B1
7 minute walk from Meguro Station on the JR Yamanote Line
For more information please send email to info@communityarts.jp or check website http://communityarts.jp.
This series is in cooperation with JapanCAN, JEMA CPI, JPM and Grace City Church Tokyo.

Future Events:
January 27, 2013 – “Worship as the unfolding of God’s drama”
Speaker: Rev. Makoto Fukuda, Pastor of Grace City Church Tokyo
Special musical guest: Migiwa

April 28, 2013 – “Worship songs born in Japan through synergy of pastor and artist”
Speakers: Makoto Iwabuchi and Rev. Kazuo Sekine
Special musical guest: Makoto Iwabuchi

July 12-13, 2013 – WORSHIP & ARTS CONFERENCE
(Hamarikyu Asahi Music Hall & Shiodome Conference Center)

70 x 7 ~ A look at relationships

Director and Writer: Roger Lowther
Actors: Masumi Kumamoto & Yuya Fukuda

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,
“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven times!”
(Matthew 18:21-22)

We spend our lives in a constant cycle of fighting and forgiving, and as such, this work is meant to be looped endlessly. As the segments go back and forth between Scenario 1 and Scenario 2, the two deal with the same issues but respond in radically different ways. If we look, we can find the same tendencies in our own lives but must choose to live a cycle of repentance rather than one of blame.

Scenario 1: A man and a woman never repent and continually bring up things from the past. Their dialogue is full of blame and accusation. They condescendingly try to prove they are right.

Scenario 2: A man and a woman continually repent and do not bring up things from the past. They fight, but they respectfully seek to understand one another. Repentance and forgiveness are offered. No desire to prove either one is right.