The people of Matsuyama call her
“ Judson Sensei (teacher),” with affection.
Cornelia Judson was born in Stratford, Connecticut, on
Oct. 20, 1860. The following year, she was baptized at the
First Congregational Church of Stratford. She was brought
up in a pious Christian home and later became the first
missionary sent by that church.
Judson experienced a turning point in her life at the age of
13, when she came down with a severe case of pneumonia
and was cared for by her parents day and night. Facing
death, she asked God to forgive her sins and vowed to
work for God and for many people. Her prayer was heard,
and she miraculously recovered from her illness. She
studied hard to go to college. While at college, she learned
about missionary work and especially about the need for
missionaries in Asian countries. The prayer she had offered
to God at the age of 13 came to mind, and she decided to
dedicate herself to a career as a missionary.
After her graduation from college, Judson applied to the
Women’s Foreign Mission Society (WFMS) and was sent
to Japan in 1887. Her first posting was to Niigata Girls’
School in Niigata. She began to have doubts about her
ability to survive Niigata’s severe winters, especially after
her colleague got sick and died. At that time, she found
out that Matsuyama Girls’ School (currently Matsuyama
Junior and Senior High School) was looking for a woman
missionary, so she ended up going to Matsuyama in
July 1890. After arriving in Matsuyama in Shikoku, she
attended Matsuyama Congregational Church of Christ
(currently the Kyodan’s Matsuyama Church).
Judson walked from her house to work at Matsuyama
Girls’ School. She noticed, however, children playing in the
street or caring for infants, in spite of it being time to go
to school. She learned that it was because of poverty that
they couldn’t go to school, and so she prayed for a place
where such children could learn and decided to establish a
place where they could study at night. She talked about her
plan with Ninomiya Ikujiro, who was pastor of Matsuyama
Church as well as being headmaster of Matsuyama Girls’
School. He understood the need and promised to cooperate.
He was a very busy man, so he introduced her to three
youths from his church. One of them was Nishimura
Sugao, who later wrote a well-known Japanese hymn.
None of the youth had a teaching license, so in lieu of
receiving a salary, they asked Judson to give them English
lessons. She was more than happy to accept their plan and
started to prepare for the school to open. Her two-story
house was to be used as the school building: the second
floor for English lessons as well as for her living space and
the first floor for school classrooms, so some old chairs,
desks, and a blackboard were brought in from the girls’
school.
The school was opened on January 14, 1891 at 7 p.m., with
25 children attending the opening ceremony. This became
the first Christian night school in Shikoku. Although the
three youths taught without any salary, school finances
were still a problem. There were several discussions
about closing the school, but Judson was able to hire paid
teachers and begin preparations to purchase a new school
building. In the autumn of the same year, she was able
to buy a new building, and about 100 children attended.
Through this process, she felt her life’s calling was to work
for the education of children who would otherwise not be
able to attend school.
The next year, Nishimura Sugao, one of the three helpers,
became the first headmaster of the school. To establish it
as a qualified school, construction of a new building was
required without delay. Judson had very simple lifestyle of
eating only vegetables and eggs with bread, and she did not
order new clothes in order to save money for land and a
building. Even after the school was opened, she continued
to help the school financially by giving from her own funds
for its development. She indeed gave much money to help
the school financially.
After Judson returned to the U.S. upon reaching retirement
age, her rheumatism worsened, and she developed a heart
condition due to stress and exhaustion. So her doctor
recommended that she convalesce. However, when she
got better, she visited her friends and churches that had
supported her night school and asked them to increase their
financial support. She wrote a long letter to the people of
Matsuyama, some of which is as follows: “If God gave
me wings, I would wish to fly to you. However, I am now
disabled and cannot even walk to Japan. Within a few
years, I will be free from this disabled body, and I shall put
on a body that can freely come to you.”
Later, at the age of 80, Judson developed breast cancer
that then spread to her stomach, for which she received
an operation. At that time, she told one of her former
school students, who was visiting the US, “If you pray
for me, do not pray that I will live long. If I leave this
world, my house could be sold and the proceeds sent to
Matsuyama Night School for their new buildings.” She
was called to heaven on Sept. 17, 1939 while wearing her
favorite kimono, Tomesode. She entrusted all her estate
to the American Board and left a will, asking that it be
used as a fund for the Matsuyama Night School (currently
Matsuyama Jonan Senior High School). To this day, the
interest on the fund is sent to the school every year.
All through her life, Judson gave many things and devoted
her life to the night school’s education. One of her favorite
Bible verse is said to be “It is more blessed to give than to
receive.” (Acts 20:35) We can see that Judson herself lived
that verse. The way she lived her life taught us that the
words from the Bible are not just what we read or listen to,
but are living words. (Tr. GK)
—Aizawa Hironori, chaplain
Matsuyama Jonan High School
「受 けるよりは与える方が幸いである」
～夜学校のためにすべてを献げた宣教師 の物語
Cornelia Judson・・・この女性を、松山の人は親しみを込めて「
コーネリア・ジャジ ソン宣教師は、1860年10月20日、アメリカ、
大学卒業後、彼女は 外国婦人宣教師団に自分の名前を登録し、1887年、
ジャジソンは、自宅 から松山女学校まで歩いて通勤した。開校時間であるはずなのに、
3人は、教師の資格を持っていないので報酬をもらわないこと、
1891年1月14日午後7時、25人の子ども達が集まり、
翌年、西村清雄が初 代校長として就任。正式な教育施設としての認可を求めるため、
宣教師の定年を迎えて 帰米した後、持病のリューマチ、
その後、80歳近い年齢で乳がん、
1939年9月17日、ジャジソンはお気 に入りの留め袖を着せてもらい、静かに天に召された。ジャジソン
生涯にわたって彼女 は多くのものを与え、夜学校の教育のために尽くしたのだ。
I worked as a single woman pastor in Japan and then as a
missionary in Cambodia until I met a Filipino evangelist
there. After we got married, we moved to the Philippines
and started a ministry together as evangelists for the Bohol
Gospel Saturation Project (BGSP). BGSP is a churchplanting
movement, started by my husband’s parents, that
aims to plant house churches all over the Bohol Province
of the Philippines and beyond.
I am very excited and overjoyed that God has been using
me in ministry here. It is such a privilege that this little
Japanese woman can go to isolated islands, or even to
tribal people in the mountains, to participate in and conduct
evangelistic events. I found my ministry can go deeper and
a lot of opportunities and friends are given me because I
have a local evangelist partner. Without the hesitation of
bringing in “foreign” things, I am now more confident to
teach and share whatever I have to offer.
Since it is a house-church movement, our pastors and
workers are basically tent-makers: some are fishermen;
some are builders; some have small businesses. They do
struggle financially, but they are so passionate about God’s
work that they use all they have for the ministries. My
husband and I also live simply, like these people, and I am
beginning to understand more about their lives, struggles,
and joys. And our church and the BGSP workers treat me
as a team member as we do evangelistic events or go on
mission trips together. I feel that I am really accepted as
one of them. That is what I wanted!
Basically, my husband and I travel a lot because we are
helping with local churches’ activities, and if anybody
invites us for preaching, training, Bible study, or
workshops, we will go anywhere. When we are at home,
I have a daily Bible study and recorder class for children
and help our church’s free preschool. Actually, all of the
activities take place at our house, since it is a house church
and a house preschool.
Filipino children are so eager to learn. After we held a
Kids’ Camp, those who attended the camp were teaching
their friends all the memory verses, songs, and dances
they had learned. In the end, all the neighborhood children
learned the songs, and they sang them loudly as they
visited us everyday. They are very friendly and sweet.
Often we come home to find by the window some letters
written on a piece of cardboard or toilet paper saying,”We
love you Ate (elder sister) Ayako and Kuya (elder brother)
Jun Jun.” When I see these children eagerly practicing
how to draw, play a recorder, and even write Japanese
characters that they have copied from my broken laptop’s
keyboard, I feel that there are so many needs we can fill
since they lack opportunities. We could open a home
library/art space for children. Or we could set up a library
van to go around Bohol. We could make a park. We could
create some jobs for the parents so that the children can go
to school. We thank God that we have child sponsorships
with the assistance of the Korean church that helps with
schooling. Also, we give children some lectures about how
to protect themselves from crime.
For now, we are making some needed materials, such as
pictures, manga tracts, and children’s books. We are also
preparing to produce songs, films, and later broadcasts for
world-wide evangelism and training, since we have those
creative backgrounds and believe these are callings God
has for us. We are hoping and believing that our church
will plant more house churches and expand their ministries
more and more. Even though it is not a big church, our
members are already well-trained, and everybody is
passionately participating with what they have.
Some families have opened their houses for outreach
ministries, and one family has been praying about
starting a new house church at their house. Every Sunday
afternoon, two youth go to an outreach place to gather and
teach children about Jesus, while people left in the church
handle “Kids’ Super Sunday.” The passion for bringing
the Gospel to struggling people is really the core of our
ministry here. There is not much strategizing, theology,
or theory and not much planning or budgeting. Our only
method is love, passion, and listening to the Holy Spirit’s
guidance.
The Joys and Challenges of House-church Ministry
in the Philippines
by Ayako Ogawa Beltran, Kyodan missionary
Attentive children in Bohol in the Philippines
For five-and-a-half months, from Feb. 15 to July 28,
2011, I experienced life in Germany as a participant in a
volunteer program of the Das Evanglische Missionwerk in
Sudwestdeutschland (Southwestern German Evangelical
Church). The purpose of this program was to enable
Christian young people from countries where Christianity
is a minority religion to learn about other religious cultures
while living in Germany, a country of many forms of
Christianity. I responded to an advertisement in the Kyodan
Shinpo (The Kyodan Times) and. following an interview,
was selected to participate.
There were a total of five participants who came from
Indonesia, South Africa, Hong Kong, and Japan. During
our stay in Germany, we did volunteer work at nursery
schools, public schools, and churches during the week.
On weekends, we spent time with our host families. Once
every two months, there would be study/training at the
EMS home office as well as opportunities for fellowship
with other volunteers and EMS staff.
I experienced Christianity as a child, being taken to church
by my parents from the time I was in kindergarten. Perhaps
it was because it was an assumed part of my life from
childhood, but I found it difficult really to grasp Christian
faith as an adult. I became less active in church attendance,
and I thought of myself as a Christian of shallow faith.
Even after being allowed to be a part of the program, I
found myself wondering if I should be participating as a
representative of Japan. However, after going to Germany,
I found that most of the songs sung in nursery school were
hymns; families gathered together and celebrated Easter;
and many of the after-school activities took place at the
YMCA. In fact, I found myself in surroundings where
Christianity was an assumed part of almost every facet of
life.
I was taken to worship services by my host family on
numerous occasions. However, my host mother felt that
the important thing was not the frequency of church
attendance, but one’s faith. I was able to hear this view —
different from that of many Japanese — and that helped to
lighten my feelings. I was able to look at my personal life
of faith in a more positive way.
The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake occurred while I
was in Germany. I was exposed to foreign media coverage and the thoughts of people other than Japanese. I felt that I had an opportunity to see Japan objectively. I also had the opportunity to make special friendships with Germans and other foreigners. In closing, I want to thank God for watching over me and providing me this opportunity to reside in Germany. I also want to thank the Kyodan Committee on Ecumenical Relations, the staff of EMS, and the many people who made my participation in this program possible. I am very grateful to everyone. (Tr. JS) Kyodan Shinpo (Kyodan Times) No. 4737
Personal Experience of Christianity in Practice in Germany
by Nakagawa Shiori, member*
Shinmatsudo-koya Church,
Chiba Subdistrict, Tokyo District
2011年2月15日から7月28日までの5ヵ月半、私はEMS
今回の参加者はインドネシア、南アフリカ、香港、日本からの合計
私は幼稚園のころから親に連れられて教会に通うようになりキリス
このドイツでのプログラムに参加させてもらえるように なってからも、
ホストファミリーに教会の礼拝に連れて行ってもらったのも数え るほどで、ホストマザー曰く、「
ドイツ滞在中には、
最後に、今回のドイツ滞在の機会を与え、
千葉・新松戸幸谷教会員／中川志桜里(なかがわしおり)（201
At present, within the 18 nations mining uranium, 75%
of the extraction takes place within or close to an area
inhabited by indigenous people, and as a result these
people are suffering from lung cancers and other illness,
according to Toyosaki Hiromitsu of the Shukan Kinyobi
(issue 862), a weekly magazine.
As of the year 2007, of the yearly supply of nuclear fuel
uranium for Japanese reactors, 33% was mined from three
fields in Australia. Of these, the largest, the Olympic
Dam area, was owned by the Kokada Aborigines and was
a place regarded as sacred to them. However in 1986,
they were forcibly removed from their land when mining
began, sent to distant reservations, and scattered among
other aborigines.
In Canada, which supplies uranium to the United States,
many Dene First Nation people, who carried sacks of ore,
died of lung cancer. In the United States, many Navajo
people have also been victims. These indigenous people
had never been given any information that the element
uranium had such a deadly effect, and so those living near
the mines suffered great harm.
Refineries were built on the indigenous people’s land
and on waste material, which maintained 85% of its
accumulated radioactivity, with the result that polluted
run-off caused many related accidents in the United States,
Canada and Australia.
After the Japan nuclear accident in 2011, Hopi Prophecy,
a documentary movie made in 1986, was viewed with
interest in Japan. The Hopi Tribe of Native Americans has
lived near the Grand Canyon in the Four Corners area of
the U.S. for over 2,000 years. When the U.S. Government
discovered uranium ore in that area, the Hopi people were
Japan’s Nuclear Power Generators and
the Rights of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
deceived and mining began. It is said that the uranium
was used to build the atomic bombs that were dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So the tragedy of the atomic
bombing of Japan, the nuclear disaster of 2011, and the
suffering of indigenous peoples are related. “Nuclear
Racism” is a term that refers to environmental destruction
and the discriminatory harm done to indigenous peoples.
Adopted by the United Nations in 2007, the Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states in Article
29 that in observing their traditions they have the right
to preserve their environment. Maintaining the quality
of water in rivers and protecting forest and woodlands
from destruction is an established right. Nations must
take measures not to store harmful material or dispose of
such waste in an unsafe manner, and they likewise have
a responsibility for the maintaining the environment and
implementing plans for its restoration.
However, the existence of indigenous peoples continues to
be ignored. Uranium continues to be mined and refined.
Responsibility for the environment as well as maintaining
and implementing plans for restoration are not being
carried out. This is truly an enormous problem.
For more information about the aboriginal peoples’ point
of view and the urgent necessity to rethink nuclear power,
see Hokkai District Ainu People’s Center URL, http:www.
douhoku.org/ainu/ (Tr. GM)
Based on Hokkai Kyoku Tsushin (Hokkai District News) No. 182
From the blog of the Hokkai District’s Ainu Information Center
by Miura Tadao, head of the center, as summarized by Kawakami
Yoshiko, chair of the KNL Editorial Committee and pastor of Okubo
Church, North Subdistrict, Tokyo District
日本の原発と世界の先住民族の権利
現在、世界十八カ国で行われているウラン採掘・精錬場の ７５％が先住民族の居住区周辺にあり、
2011年の東日本大震災による 福島原発事故のあと、ドキュメンタリー映画「ホピの預言」（19
北海教区通信 No.182 アイヌ民族情報センター活動ブログより 三浦忠雄
KNL編集部による要約(川上善子KNL編集委員長)
“Heartful Tono UCCJ” is a ministry of the Kyodan (UCCJ)
itself that is designed to help disaster survivors by providing
mental health care. Every week an average of 60 participants
gather at three temporary shelters in Kamaishi City, about
50 kilometers from Tono. Through these gatherings, a
relationship of trust has developed in an atmosphere of
friendship and harmony. As a result, in the more than one
year that has transpired since the disaster, the expectations
placed on Tono Center, Heartful Tono UCCJ by the Kamaishi
Social Welfare Council and the various organizations
representing residents of the temporary housing for disaster
survivors have only increased.
Kyodan asked the Tokyo Suicide Prevention Center to
start the Tono Suicide Prevention Center in August 2011
for the purpose of “grief care,” and the Kyodan decided to
provide financial support for it. However, as time passed
following the disaster, the needs of the community changed,
so following the advice of the Kamaishi Social Welfare
Council, we decided temporarily to suspend our activities
to determine how best to give continued support to the
survivors. The operation of this suicide prevention center
had been delegated by the Kyodan to the Tokyo Suicide
Prevention Center, so a consultation between the two was
held. This resulted in having the Tokyo Suicide Prevention
Center hold a series of lectures and training seminars as
well as facilitating the sending of volunteers. The training of
volunteers is something that the center was well suited for, as
it requires a considerable degree of expertise. So by adapting
the cdenter’s program to facilitate what it does best, the need
for more volunteers could be met.
In the meantime, the Kamaishi Social Welfare Council
asked the Kyodan to resume mental health care because as
the overall disaster relief activities began winding down,
the number of volunteers helping out began to decrease
drastically. Several organizations ended their activities, so
a shortage of volunteers developed. In order to meet this
changing need, the Kyodan began a regular program called
Ochakko Salon (literally, tea-drinking salon), a coffeeshop
style ministry that meets once a week at three different
locations. During this whole process, we learned a great
deal through our close collaboration with the Kamaishi
Social Welfare Council as well as from other relief agencies,
including Caritas (a Catholic relief agency), the Japan
Episcopal Church, and CRASH Japan (Christian Relief
Assistance Support Hope).
Kamaishi is a city located on the coast of Iwate Prefecture
that had a pre-disaster population of about 30,000. The main
industries were ironworks and fisheries, and there were many
seafood-processing facilities as well. Some 900 people lost
their lives in the tsunami, and it has often been reported in
the news that because the town was protected by the highest
levee in Japan, the townspeople had a false sense of security
that a tsunami would never reach them. The situation was
further exacerbated by the high percentage of elderly people
in the town. The removal of debris is well behind that of
other towns, and redevelopment plans are still uncertain,
which causes residents a lot of anxiety. They do not yet
know whether the property their houses stood on will be
redeveloped into housing areas or business areas, and with
the poor employment outlook, the people are left with a dim
future.
The Ochakko Salon ministry began in mid-February and is
held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the common lounge built in
each of the temporary housing facilities. Being a coffee-shop
type ministry, we offer a variety of beverages, including
coffee, black tea, herbal teas, cappuccino, brown rice tea,
along with cookies and other sweets. On average, about
20 people a day come to enjoy themselves, chatting about
various things with the volunteers running the program. At
first, residents were rather reticent and appeared a bit wary of
these strangers in their midst, but they gradually opened up
to us as we worked together in such activities as knitting and
flower arrangement and began sharing their experiences in
the disaster as well as their current situations. So progress is
being made.
In early March, after this tea-house ministry had become a
regular event, the matter of how the March 11 anniversary
would be commemorated became an issue faced not only
by the survivors but also by us volunteers serving on the
scene, as our own activities would be in the spotlight. A kind
of “depression related to the commemoration” set in during
the time just before and after the anniversary, when special
care was needed to engage with the increasing number of
survivors who felt the need to talk about their experiences.
Some of them would talk for two hours or more, crying
all the while, and the things they were sharing were truly
on a scale we had never heard. It is hard for even a trained
volunteer to be able to do what on the surface would seem
to be a easy thing—simply listening, as it involves giving so
much of yourself as you share in their pain, so a great deal of
care is needed. The living witness to what had happened was
so overwhelming that it was beyond our comprehension, and
it was often difficult to bear. The scale of the event and the
things we were hearing almost crushed our spirits as well,
This is why the kind of professional training that the
Tokyo Suicide Prevention Center was able to give is so
critical. With that in mind, we held a training seminar for
volunteer counselors on April 21 and 22, 2012. There were
25 participants from some 20 churches who received the
training and, from the following week, began to serve with
the ministry of Heartful Tono UCCJ.
On April 25, Heartful Tono UCCJ held an event that was a
kind of initial summation of the tea-house ministry. We took
38 residents from three temporary housing units in Kamaishi,
who had been receiving that support, on a cherry blossom
viewing tour of Tono by bus. It was a great opportunity for
them to have a refreshing time away from the disaster area.
There were even some unexpected reunions along with
new friendships, so it was a great success. The participants
enjoyed singing karaoke on the bus as well as eating a meal
together and going to hot springs. Thus, they were able to
relax and make some pleasant memories. This is how our
tea-house ministry built up a relationship of trust and bore
much fruit.
We look forward to continuing this ministry of support
that God has given us, taking on the tasks we are given as
opportunities of blessing and giving thanks to God as we
seek guidance in prayer for the things we can best do to
further this cause. (Tr. SM)
—Maekita Mio, staff member
Kyodan Disaster Planning Headquarters
2012-June.
「ハートフル遠野UCCJ」は（震災に関する）
当初８月より「グリーフ・ケア」
一方、釜石市の社会福祉協議会は教団対策本部に、
釜石市は岩手県の沿岸に位置する人口約３万人の街である。
さて、２月中旬より始まったこの「お茶っこサロン」
お茶っこの活動も定例化してきた３月上旬のこと…「
そのことから、東京自殺防止センターのように専門的知識、
４月２５日（水）「ハートフル遠野UCCJ」
活動が彼らとの信頼関係を築きながら実を結んだ結果である。
今後も神さまの与えてくださったこの支援場所を大切にし、
〒169-0051 東京都新宿区西早稲田2-3-18-31
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The United Church of Christ in Japan