by Takiyama Kiyomi, pastor, Takanosu Church, Akita Prefecture, Ou District Director, Kodomoen Shalom, Certified Nursery School and Kindergarten
My father used to declare, “I want to be working as a pastor until the day I die.” Ironically, just as he had said, he finished his earthly journey when he was 58 years old as the head pastor of Fukushima……
by Otomo Satoshi, pastor, Nakamuracho Church, Tokyo
Professor, Tokyo Union Theological Seminary
My hometown is Kuroishi in Aomori Prefecture. Some 140 years ago, in 1878, three students from Toogijuku School, which had just been established in Hirosaki, came to Kuroishi and boldly began Christian evangelism. Tha……
by Kato Makoto, executive secretary
The 62nd (2017) General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was held April 18–21 in a large conference room at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei. I attended at the invitation of the PCT as a Kyodan representative, together with Kyodan Moderator Ishibashi Hideo and Hayashida Yoshiyuki and his wife Kyoko, former missionaries to Taiwan. Following the o……
by Takada Teruki, staff Kyodan General Office, Tokyo
A three-day missionary conference was held at the base of Mt. Fuji at Torchbearers Yamanakako from Monday, March 20 (a holiday), with the theme, “Joy at the Household of God” (Acts 2:42-47). Including missionary families and Kyodan staff, a total of 37 persons attended, among whom 23 were missionaries.
The Site: Torchbearers Yamanakako
Th……
by Taino Keiko, member
Kawakami Church, Ehime Prefecture
Kawakami Church was founded by a U.S. missionary in 1909 as a place for the Japan Methodist Church to hold lectures. At the time of its founding, there were already many Christian farmers. Pastor Matsuda Suzuo, appointed in 1947 ju……
by Kato Makoto, executive secretary
In March 2017, Evangelical Mission in Solidarity (EMS) personnel, namely, Rev. Dr. Kerstin Neumann (Head and Deputy General Secretary of the Department of Mission and Partnership), Rev. Solomon P. Benjamin (Liaison Secretary for East Asia and India), and Dr. Carola Hoffmann-Richter (EMS member) visited Japan. The purpose of their recent visit was to attend the ……
by Iijima Makoto, executive secretary Kyodan East Japan Disaster Relief Projects Planning Headquarters
The International Youth Conference on “Aiming to Realize a Sustainable Energy Future,” hosted by the Kyodan in Kyoto March 28-31, was a very significant event in the ongoing efforts to consider issues associated with nuclear power generation and energy consumption, in the following three respect……
The mission activities of the 40th General Assembly period (2016-2018) have now begun. As at every general assembly, various commissions and committees gather together to support the work of local churches and schools and other organizations related to the Kyodan, which is where our mission actually takes place. The standing committees of the Kyodan are:
• the Commission on Mission,
……
by Kawai Nozomu, ministerial appointee Pine United Methodist Church, San Francisco, CA
In 2016, I was appointed to serve Pine United Methodist Church in San Francisco as a Kyodan missionary. However my visa has yet to be issued. As of January 2017, I still remained in Japan. Given this situation, the Commission on Ecumenical Ministries decided to send me to visit Kyodan-related Japanese churches……
by Kato Makoto, executive secretary
The Korea/Japan 5-Churches Mission Consultation was held in Seoul, Feb. 20-21 and used both the headquarters of the Korean Methodist Church (KMC) and the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea (PROK). The other three church bodies involved in the consultation were the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK), the Korean Christian Church in Japan (KCCJ) and the……
