by Senoh Noemi, Narita Full Gospel Church
Japan Full Gospel Association
“I Love Taiwan” (ILT) is an annual program begun by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan in 2002, so this year was the 14th such event. This year’s event was held June 29-July 16 under the theme of “The Present from God,” and 42 young people from foreign countries and 142 Taiwanese (including staff) participated. ……
The Japanese Diet is presently working on legislation to outlaw “hate speech,” which is defined as the use of hateful expressions or speech designed to incite discrimination. In 2014, the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination both issued a recommendation to Japan to make hate speech and other discriminatory practices illegal. This has i……
The day after receiving news of the Kumamoto earthquake on April 14, the Kyodan formed the Kumamoto Earthquake Relief Committee, headed by General Affairs Executive Secretary Dohke Norikazu. Following discussion, the committee decided to dispatch Commission on Ecumenical Ministries Executive Secretary Kato Makoto to the affected area to assess the situation.
Flying immediately to Kuma……
—Onoyama Midori, NGO Intern in Musalaha
Israel and Palestine
Standing between Peoples in Conflict. When many Japanese Christians hear the words “Israel” or “Palestine,” they imagine a biblical setting. However, for others, the impression of an unending conflict may be the strongest. In reality, of course, a complicated conflict continues unabated and at the same time, a small comm……
In the midst of a never-ending conflict between Israelis and Palestinians that seems to have no solution, one Japanese woman shares her work for reconciliation through "Musalaha," a NGO working to build mutual understanding and trust across the divides of ethnicity and religious worldview.
Musalaha is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 by Professor Salim Munayer, an Arab Israeli Chris……
by Chibana Sugako, pastor
Paraguay Pirapo Free Methodist Church
The country of Paraguay is located on the continent of South America, surrounded by Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina, and is roughly 1.1 times larger than Japan. Its climate is subtropical, and as of the year 2015, its population is approximately seven million people. The main industries are agriculture (wheat and soybeans), cattl……
by Ando Akiyoshi, pastor
Shunan Church, Ou District
Martin Mosser Smyser (1875-1955), who came from Pennsylvania and had been invited by Yokote Middle School to be an English teacher, began the evangelistic work of Shunan Church, starting with an English Bible class for neighborhood children in his home. Smyser, who believed that “evangelism in Japan should be done by Japanese,” chose two ba……
The Kyodan Tohoku District Nuclear Disaster ReliefTask Force, “IZUMI,” was formed in October 2013, in accordance with a resolution passed at the 68th Tohoku District Annual Assembly in May of that same year.
Presently, this task force is comprised of a director, an adviser, and a steering committee of five members, including the director, who work with four active full-time staff and ……
The Kohitsuji (Little Lambs) Camp in Taiwan series, which began in January 2014 with an invitation from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) and an offer of support from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), held its sixth and final camp in Chaghua County, southern Taiwan, April 2-5.
The six camps were attended by a total 195 people: 161 children and parents residing in……
by Timothy Boyle, missionary
The 2016 Kyodan-related Missionary Conference was held March 28-30 at Emmaus Center in Sendai. Being shortly after the fifth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami along the Tohoku coast, much of the conference focused on the aftermath of that great disaster. The conference theme was, in fact, “Emmaus—Walk along with the Wounded.” The “wounded” from that triple d……
