Komyo-en Kazoku Church is located in a national Hansen’s Disease Sanatorium. Of the 13 national Hansen’s Disease Sanatoriums, two are located in Okayama Prefecture – Nagashima Aiseien and Oku Komyo-en. Although Nagashima Aiseien is the more well known of the two, Komyo-en is actually 20 years older.
With only 13 such institutions in the whole nation, one might wonder why two are located in Okayama Prefecture. Oku Komyo-en was originally located in Osaka and was known as Sotojima Sanatorium. Likewise, the church was originally named Sotojima Kazoku Church. According to the Reverend Fukuda Arataro, visiting pastor of the congregation, the word kazoku, which means “family,” was added to the name of the church because the members had been separated from their families and many had entered the sanatorium under assumed names to avoid bringing shame to their families. Thus, the church opened its doors to them as a family.
When the sanatorium was destroyed by the Muroto typhoon in 1934, 187 patients, staff, and family members perished in the disaster. The government made plans to rebuild in the Senri District of Osaka but was unable to do so because of strong opposition by local residents. At the back of the 60 acres that made up the grounds of Aisei-en in Nagashima, an unused plot of about 20 acres was available where the sanatorium could be rebuilt. Four years after the 1934 typhoon, those patients who had survived were being housed in five sanatoriums across the nation as they awaited the opening of Oku Komyo-en Sanatorium.
According to records, in May 2015 there were 1,718 residents of the sanatoriums nationwide, with 132 residing at Oku Komyoen. (Currently there are fewer than 130 at Komyo-en, among whom 23 are members of the congregation). Roughly 80 residents pass away each year nationwide, and currently the average age is 84 years.
On Nov. 11, 2012, Komyo-en Kazoku Church celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. The small church was crowded with over 100 people who came from as far away as Kanto and Kyushu areas to join in the celebration. We did not think that many would come to such an event, but on second thought it was a 100th anniversary, and there would likely not be another such celebration. So the event far surpassed our expectations.
Our congregation is different from an average parish church because one day its ministry will come to an end. When the sanatorium is closed, the church will be closed along with it. Until that day comes, as long as we are physically able, we desire to continue our worship services and prayer meetings.
Currently, there is a pastoral vacancy at our church. The Reverend Otsuka Shinobu is serving as the interim pastor. Our Sunday morning worship services are led primarily by retired pastors and the mid-week prayer meetings have been led by Aioi Church and congregations in the central region of the Okayama District, for which we are very grateful. Since the spring of 2015, Kurashiki Church has been holding its prayer monthly prayer meetings at Komyo-en Kazoku Church, which has been truly an unexpected blessing.
For the past several years the Kansai Choir League of the Korean Christian Church in Japan has been visiting Komyo-en annually, and along with sharing their beautiful music, the members have joined us in playing games and other fun activities. Given that recently only four or five people have been able to attend the performances of their beautiful music (and last year there were only three), we sent word that perhaps this should be the final year for their visit. We began the event, thinking it would be the final one. But as we enjoyed our time together, something happened that changed it all. One person said, “I remember years ago when the folks from Komyo Kaikan sang and the folding chairs were all set up in rows. The names of the donors are written on the backs of those chairs. I was surprised to find my father’s name written on one of those chairs. He was a pastor and had donated that chair. That shows just how many years we have been coming.”
The Church member Hanamura Keiko, who had kept repeating, “This is the last year,” said, “Let’s do this again next year,” and everyone laughed out loud in agreement. So we concluded the gathering with a round of applause, agreeing to meet again next year. So they will continue to gather to rehearse and to perform. What a wonderful thing indeed! (Tr. AKO)
—Nanba Satsuya, member and Komyoen Kazoku Church From Higashi Chugoku District News, No. 160
教会紹介；光明園家族教会
光明園家族教会はご存知のよう に、国立ハンセン病療養所内にある教会です。
1934年の室戸台風で療養所は壊滅し ます。患者と職員とその家族を合わせて187名の人々が亡くなり
全国の入所者は15年5月の調べで1718名です。（
光明園家族教会は、創 立100周年の記念会を2012年1月11日に持ちました。狭い 教会に入りきれないほど、100名を超える方々が神奈 川や九州からもお祝いに駆け付けて下さいました。「
私たちの教会が、いわ ゆる教区内教会と違う所は、やがて閉教するということです。
そして無牧（大塚忍牧 師が代務）の私たちの教会は、現在1か月に礼拝と祈祷会の説教者
そんな中で、在日大韓 基督教会(KCCJ)の関西聖歌隊連合の方々が毎年来てくださり
光 明園家族教会 長老 難波幸矢
東中国教区ニュース 160号より
Once every four years, the Schweitzer Evangelischer Kirchenbund (SEK), an alliance of Protestant churches in Switzerland, “mission 21” (the branch of SEK in charge of missions), the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK), the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea(PROK), and the Kyodan hold a joint conference referred to as the Trilateral Conference. This year, Switzerland was the host country, and the conference was held at the headquarters of Mission 21, which is in Basel.
Prior to the conference, on Sunday, July 3, I, executive council Kato Makoto visited Sasaki Ryoko, who in April 2016 was appointed as a missionary to the Cologne-Bonn Japanese Church. That day a joint worship service was held for the people of the whole region. As the worship service began after 11 o’clock in the morning, we were able to attend mass at the Cologne Cathedral, which was a worship service geared for families. I was impressed because the small chapel in the back was almost completely filled, and the priest actually seemed to be having fun as he gave the sermon.
That afternoon there was a “Straßenfest” (Streetfest), a festival that has become a traditional event celebrated before the summer break. There were about 20 booths, all of them managed by the churches, and they became a great place for fellowship. Without hesitation, Sasaki Ryoko used German words that she had recently learned and boldly attempted to make conversation with many people.
The Tri-national Conference was held in Basel, Switzerland from Wednesday, July 6 through Friday, July 8. The Committee on Swiss Church Relations, which is under the Kyodan’s Commission on Ecumenical Ministries, is responsible for the Kyodan’s participation in the Trilateral Conference. Chairperson Yokoyama Motoo and Secretary Hiroishi Nozomu participated together with Chung Naomi, a seminary student at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary who represented the youth, and Hironaka Yoshimi, a member of the executive office staff. The Kyodan has a mission agreement with the SEK but at present is not sending any missionaries. Because of that fact, a major issue for the Kyodan at this year’s conference was deciding what type of involvement the Kyodan should continue to have in the Trilateral Conference in the future. Following discussion about the situation of the churches in each country, there was a proposal to try something new: holding a youth gathering once every two years. The plan is to have a youth gathering in 2018 in Korea, the next host country, with six young people each to be sent from Switzerland and Japan. It was recognized that youth mission is a very important challenge for all three nations of the Trilateral Conference. During the two-country discussion that was held between the SEK and the Kyodan on the morning of July 8, the issue of the cost associated with sending missionaries to Switzerland was raised. When the Swiss delegation was asked about the cost, they replied that there would need to be a guarantee of eleven million yen per year. Upon hearing that answer, everyone was temporarily at a loss for words. (Tr. KT) —Kato Makoto, executive secretary
ケルン・ボン日本語教会訪問と三国間協議会参加
スイスのSEK( Schweizerischer Evangelischer Kirchenbund)（スイス・プロテスタント教会連盟）
当日は地域の合同礼拝が行われた。礼拝開始が午前11時過ぎだっ
午後は夏休み前に恒例となった「Strassenfest」
——————–
スイスのバーゼルで7月6日（水）～8日（金）
The Quadrennial Conference of The United Methodist Church (UMC) was held in Portland, Oregon from May 10 to 20. I, Akiyama Toru, attended this conference along with the Reverend Takada Teruki, a Commission on Ecumenical Ministries’ staff member. General Secretary Nagasaki Tetsuo was scheduled to attend, but due to his illness and subsequent hospitalization, I attended as his substitute.
The UMC is not limited to the United States. With congregations in North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, it has a membership of approximately 12,300,00. The UMC’s Quadrennial Conference is held once every four years, bringing together over 850 delegates from around the world. Added to these delegates were over 4,000 people who came to be a part of the conference in various ways. Held at what is said to be the largest convention center in the American Northwest, people around the world were able to follow these eleven days of proceedings via television and the Internet.
Although the Kyodan is not a member of the UMC, we are invited as a guest to attend each quadrennial conference because of our deep connection. Especially this time, we attended in order to express our gratitude for the support we received from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) following the 2011 East Japan Disaster. The activities of the Sendai and Ishinomaki Emmaus centers, the Kohitsuji (Little Lambs) Camp, radiation measurements, and other activities are continuing in large part because of the more than 100 million yen received from UMCOR.
Because I was only able to attend the conference from the opening worship on May 10 through May 12, I am not able to share a detailed account of the conference. However, tables with five or six delegates per table were spread across the conference floor, from which you could barely see the other side because of the size of the conference hall. Seated on the stage in front were the session conveners and parliamentarians, worship leaders, choirs, and over 50 bishops who oversaw the proceedings of the conference.
A bishop heads each church board, and I was able to view closely the episcopal structure and authority within the UMC. Of particular interest to me was the way voting and voices from the floor were handled. No hands were raised. Rather, each delegate had an instrument similar to a smart phone. These were used to vote as well as to notify the chair of a delegate’s desire to speak. When the instrument was used for voting, a large electronic bulletin board at the front registered the voting results immediately. When wanting to address the floor, a delegate would use the instrument to indicate to the chair whether his/her statement was in favor or in opposition to the topic being discussed, before being recognized. Following recognition from the chair, statements were limited to three minutes. After one minute passed, the electronic billboard clearly indicated how much time the speaker had remaining. In this way, the long speeches that often plague our Kyodan General Conference were avoided.
The theme of this conference was “Therefore Go,” taken from Matt. 28:19-20. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Addressing this theme, the president of the Council of Bishops, Bishop Warner H. Brown, Jr., energized the conference with a powerful sermon that I consider the highlight of the conference. Amid several standing ovations, Bishop Brown spoke powerfully of our mission as Christians and the possibilities we have as we take the gospel and confront the darkness of the present age. (Tr. JS)
— Akiyama Toru, chair Commission on Ecumenical Ministries
秋 山 徹（教団・世界宣教委員長） 参加報告
合同メソジスト教会（United Methodist Church(UMC)）総会が5月10日~20日アメリカ・
UMCはアメリカだけでなくアジアやアフリカ、
教団はUMCのメンバーではないが、
私は10日（火）の開会礼拝から~12日（木）
全体会の下にある各コミッションのリーダ－としても司教（
今回の総会のテーマは“Therefore Go”（だから、行きなさい）で、主イエスの大宣教命令「
by Kawakami Yoshiko, pastor Okubo Church, Tokyo District
Editor, KNL Editorial Committee
In January of this year, 2016, the Kyodan Newsletter (KNL) reached its 50th anniversary, with a total of 389 issues as of this October newsletter. It is distributed under the auspices of General Secretary Nagasaki Tetsuo, the person responsible for its publication, Executive Secretary for Ecumenical Ministries Kato Makoto, and the KNL Editorial Committee, with the help of a former editor, retired missionary Hazel Terhune. Currently there is a circulation of 500 copies, and in addition to current and retired missionaries both inside and outside the country and related churches overseas, it is also being sent to missionary sending boards.
Publication Details and the Role of KNL
At the December 1965 meeting of the Executive Council’s Standing Committee, an Information Center was established on a trial basis within the General Affairs Department, in recognition of a previous cherished desire for the Kyodan to have such a means of reporting. “Receiving overseas and national church news and sending Kyodan news overseas” became one of the projects within the work of the Information Center. Missionaries did most of the editing, and Issue Number One was published in January 1966.
This is a portion of the message that the Reverend Omura Isamu, general secretary at that time, inserted in the first issue. “It is 25 years since the Kyodan was inaugurated in 1941. We are deeply grateful that the Kyodan has developed through the generous cooperation and help from churches overseas in various phases of life and mission of the church. It is our great joy to announce to you that our ‘Kyodan News Letter‘ will be released, starting from this month, to the end that we might engage in positive dialogue with churches overseas and that ‘together we may share in the common life.’”(I John 1:3).
That first issue published reports that the Rev. Ariga Tetsutaro had been invited to the Second Vatican Council the previous year as a representative of the church in Asia and, in the first part of January 1966, Roman Catholic priests who had been invited to the Council were hosted (by the Kyodan) for a whole day to gather information for the article “The Vatican and the Kyodan.” It also included an article about “Danchi” (high-rise apartment complexes), which typified Japan following World War II.
The newsletter consisted of three typewritten, single-sided pages. The rate of publication was ten times a year until 1990, then six times a year until 2001, and since then five times. In the beginning, operating costs for the overall work of the Information Center were covered by subscription charges and funds from the Kyodan, together with substantial support from the Japan North American Commission on Cooperative Mission (JNAC), and from 1974 through 1980, from the church in Germany as well. Following the dissolution of JNAC in 2007, KNL’s financial support became completely Japan-based.
Article Series Representative of the Past
There was a great response to the series “Japanese Rites of Passage and the Mission of the Church,” which continued for a total of eight times from May 1987 through March 1988. While presenting the cultural customs that have become the rites of passage of Japanese people in general, the series introduced the concrete ways these were actually adopted and adapted by the church in accordance with its unique perspective.
Recent Distinctive Features
We are grateful for the warm support of overseas churches and organizations at the time of the 2011 East Japan Disaster and for the strengthening of exchanges between the Kyodan and overseas churches. Reports following the disaster have also been continuously presented, with special attention now being given to nuclear issues.
Responsible Persons
For a long time, under the Information Center Director, missionaries assumed the role of KNL editor. They are enumerated here by name and period of service, according to the Kyodan General Assembly’s historical materials.
January 1966 (first issue)-December 1976: Helen Post, missionary
January 1977-March 1979: Alden Ewart Matthews, missionary and Kyodan executive secretary
April 1979-April-December 1983: George Gish, missionary
January 1984-1988: Carolyn B. Francis, missionary
(She also took an additional post from May 1985)
Interim term: David Swain, missionary
January 1989-August 2004: Hazel Terhune, missionary
September 2004-March 2007: Kay Zebley, missionary
Following the reorganization of the Information Center after the Kyodan General Assembly in July 2007, an editor-in-chief was appointed.
April 2007-March 2009: Executive Secretary Ishimaru Yasuki
April 2009-March 2010: Executive Secretary Kato Makoto
April 2010 to the present: The Reverend Kawakami Yoshiko
Due to the newsletter’s constraints of space, the names of the many editorial committee members, persons in charge of the office, supporters, and translators over the years have been omitted, but we are grateful for their great work.
KNL in the Future
We want to continue the work of KNL as “taking part in the world mission of the Kyodan because it is a type of evangelism by means of words.” We also intend to follow those who have served with all their hearts by going still further to spread the news widely. (Tr. RT)
教団ニューズレターの50年 を感謝して
KNL編 集長 川上善子
教団ニューズレター（KNL） は今年2016年1月 に50周 年を迎え、この10月 号で通算389号 になった。発行責任者である長崎哲夫総幹事のもと、
＜発 行の経緯とKNLの 役割＞
1965年12月の常任常議委員会で、
＜過 去の代表的なシリーズ＞
1987年5月～88年3月に計8回にわたって連載された「
＜近 年の特徴＞
2011年の東日本大震災に際して寄せられた、海外教会、
＜担 い手＞
代々 の広報センター委員長のもと、長い間、KNLの 編集主任は宣教師方の間で引き継がれていた。
＜KNLの これから＞
KNLの働きを「教団の世界宣教への参加であり、
The seventh Executive Council meeting of the present two-year (39th) Kyodan General Assembly period was held July 4-5 at the newly renovated Japan Christian Center building, which recently finished its earthquake resistance upgrade. All 30 members were present. In his report, General Secretary Nagasaki Tetsuo reported that as of June 30, a total of 14,557,000 yen had been contributed to the Kumamoto Earthquake Fund from Japanese sources, and 2,996,500 yen had come in from overseas donations. Likewise, he reported on the plans for commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation under the theme of “Moving Forward Together while Holding to the Biblical Gospel.” The beginning commemorative worship service is scheduled for June 22, 2017 at Fujimicho Church, to be followed by a national conference for junior and senior high school students at Megumi Chalet in Karuizawa, Aug. 9-11, and a church youth conference at Aoyama Gakuin University on March 21, 2018.
Also, before getting into the regular agenda, Assistant Office Manager Iida Aogu made a presentation on the upcoming International Youth Conference on the East Japan Disaster to be held at Kansai Seminar House in Kyoto. The four-day conference is to begin on March 28, 2017, with the theme of “Aiming towards a Society with Sustainable Energy Sources.” As a follow-up to the International Conference on the East Japan Disaster held in March 2014 in Sendai, it will focus on developing the next generation of leadership concerning these issues. About 20 participants from overseas will join about 30 from within Japan for this conference.
Kyushu District Moderator Umesaki Koji gave a report on the Kumamoto–Oita Earthquake. The district had hired the Vories Company to do an analysis of the damage to church buildings, with the result that of the 15 churches examined in Kumamoto, Oita, and Nagasaki, 3 were seriously damaged, 9 were significantly damaged, and the rest were only slightly damaged. However, in the ensuing downpours, there was also considerable water damage from leaks and flooding.
The Committee on the Future Concept of the Kyodan, established by the Executive Committee for this general assembly period, has met 14 times so far and submitted a 36-page report. The chairperson, Vice-moderator Sasaki Michio, gave a 30-minute presentation of the committee’s findings. Much of the discussion dealt with the analysis of Kyodan statistics as well as various proposals on how the Kyodan should relate to other organizations. Following acceptance of the report on the first day of discussion, the Kyodan’s core leadership (moderator, vice-moderator, and secretary) met by themselves to draft a proposal on how to deal with it. On the second day, following the regular agenda business, Moderator Ishibashi Hideo proposed that the report be returned to the committee for further work because references to debates outside the Kyodan had been pointed out during the previous day’s deliberations, so the report needs to be rewritten. This proposal was accepted by a majority vote, and the report was returned for rewriting. There was also a special Executive Council meeting held on Aug. 30 in which a goal of 180 million yen was set for fundraising for the rebuilding of churches and parsonages damaged or destroyed in the April 2016 earthquakes in Kumamoto and Oita. (Tr. TB) —Kato Makoto, executive secretary
常議員会報告
加藤 誠
第39総会期第7回常議員会は、7月4，5日、耐震・
議事に先立ち、「国際青年会議in京都」のプレゼンテーションが
梅崎浩二九州教区議長は熊本・大分地震報告を行った。
常議員会のもとに今総会期設置された将来構想検討委員会が、14
8月30日にもたれた、第8回臨時常議員会において、2016年
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