Christians between Japan and South Korea held a joint prayer meeting at Nihon Kirisuto Kyokai (Church of Christ in Japan) Kashiwagi Church in Shinjuku, Tokyo on Oct. 9, amid the recent worsening political, economic, and societal relationships between the two nations. In addition to the Kyodan, representatives from the Korean Christian Church in Japan, the Anglican-Episcopal Church in Japan, the Ja……
The Taiwan Ecumenical Forum for Justice and Peace (TEF) was constituted and inaugurated by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), partner churches, and ecumenical organizations to work with the PCT on its mission concerns related to the transitional justice and internal isolation of Taiwan. In order to deepen solidarity in northeast Asia as well as to provide and to clarify the issues involved, ……
Asking a Missionary to Japan
The editorial staff of Shinto no Tomo asked this missionary, who had been
sent to Japan and ministered for almost 40 years, about how he viewed
the Japanese Church and what issues he sees that need attention.
A Church where Almost Everyone can Feel at Home
by Timothy D. Boyle, retired missionary
United Methodist Church and Presbyterian Chu……
by Rev. Ehara Yukiko, Kyodan missionary
In May 2019, I arrived in Pirapo, a southern city in Paraguay, South America, to become a full-time pastor of the “Pirapo Free Methodist Church,” also known as the “Sakai Keishi Memorial Free Methodist Church.”
The church had virtually been vacant for forty years until 2015, when the Kyodan sent missionary, Rev. Chibana Sugako, as a full-time pastor. Her……
The history of Baikwa Gakuen began when a young man met Daniel Crosby Greene, a missionary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in Kobe. His name was Sawayama Umanoshin. He was born in Yoshiki, Choshu Domain (the present Yamaguchi Prefecture) in 1852. As the son of a low-ranking samurai family, he learned classical Chinese literature and martial arts at Kenshokan, the local……
The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan led a Taize Meditation Tour from Aug. 23 to Sept. 5. The project was begun by Rev. Pan Chung-Chieh of Taichung University Student Center in PCT. This was the second year this event has been held, and this time, the Kyodan was also invited to participate to make it a joint program.
There were 16 PCT members, 7 Kyodan members, with each delegation havin……
In early October, I visited Germany for two reasons. First, I went to the Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS) headquarters in Stuttgart to initiate a conversation on how to maintain a responsible dialog in our relationship. Afterward, I attended the “Interreligious Study Program as a Task for the Church,” hosted by EMS in Frankfurt, and spoke on mission cooperation between the Kyodan and the m……
The fourth Executive Council meeting of the present (41st) biennial general assembly period was held July 8-9, 2019, at the Kyodan headquarters. All members of the Executive Council were present, and Vice-moderator Kuze Sorachi led the opening worship service. General Secretary Akiyama Toru reported that one of the Kyodan’s four executive officers had participated in each of the 17 district assemb……
by Hoshina Takashi, pastor of Odaka Church, Tohoku District
The Sunday Worship Service at Odaka Church in Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, which had been discontinued for eight years, ever since the Great East Japan Disaster and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant accident, was resumed at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Jan. 27, 2019. For a little over a year following the disaster, admittance had bee……
by Nishinosono Michiko, chair Commission on Ecumenical Ministries
From June 4 through June 8, 2019, I was given the opportunity to visit Rev. Kawakami Yasushi and Rev. Kawakami Masaki, missionaries to the Japanese Language Protestant Church in Brussels, and Rev. Sasaki Ryoko, a missionary to the Cologne-Bonn Japanese Protestant Church, to inquire about their work and to pray with them.
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