The sixth Executive Council meeting of the present two-year (40th) general assembly period was held July 9-10 at the Kyodan headquarters, with all 30 members in attendance. The first order of business was a report on the damage caused by floods in Nishi-Chugoku District. In fact, all eight districts to the west of Chubu District had damage to report. Fortunately, however, the churches in Nishj-Chu……
The following major natural disasters have struck Japan between mid-June and mid-September.
1. An earthquake occurred on June 18, centered in the northern part of Osaka, with a magnitude of 6.1 on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s (JMA) Seismic Intensity Scale. Over 40,000 homes were damaged; 285 structures were destroyed; and 5 people were killed.
2. Major flooding took place between June 2……
The “I Love Taiwan” (ILT) mission event, sponsored by the Youth Ministry Committee of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), was held again this year, July 4-21, with the theme “The Beginning.” The planning and operation of the ILT are all conducted by PCT youth, who began preparations for this event at the end of last year. Watching these energetic Taiwanese youth enjoy being involved in church……
The 11th General Assembly of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) was held May 23-25 at Pilgrim Christian College in Cagayan de Oro. This was a special general assembly that incorporated a program to celebrate the 70th year of the church’s founding. On the morning of the second day, participants separated into eight groups (Music Workshop, LGBT, Gender Justice, Human Sexuality, In……
I recently returned from participating in the Mission 21 International Youth Ambassador Program June 11-24. Mission 21 is an evangelistic group centered in Basel, Switzerland that began at a missionary school in 1815. This is linked to a young adult project started two years ago, in 2016, when European young adults visited Mission 21-related religious organizations throughout the world and, in 201……
On the gravestone of Dr. Frederick Charles Klein, located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, is written the following words: "Not to be served, but to serve" (Mark 10:45). Klein devoted his life to God, to the church, to humanity, and to Nagoya Gakuin, a boys' school located in Nagoya.
Klein was born in Washington D.C. in 1857, and in 1866, his family moved to Baltimore. He was baptized in 1873 when ……
The 6th Global Inter-Religious Conference on Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution, the “peace” constitution, was held June 13-15 at the Hiroshima International Conference Center. Many Kyodan members, including Moderator Ishibashi Hideo, joined together with representatives from member churches of the National Christian Council in Japan, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox churches, and several ot……
by Ono Hajime, Mukaigawara Church, Kanagawa District
As a crew member in the metropolitan train network, I transport many lives. As I do not have many Sundays off, I cannot go to church very often, but I pray every day and give thanks to God.
I started working for a Railway Company in April three years ago, just after I graduated from university, and I am currently a crew member. My reason fo……
by Ushiki Keiichi, member Kakamigahara Church, Chubu District
A men’s fellowship meets at our church every month. Seven years ago, we considered starting an event we could do throughout the year, and one of our members suggested holding a class on making noodles from scratch. As a result, we decided to form what we called a “somenkai” (noodle fellowship) separate from our sonenkai (men’s fellow……
by Kato Makoto, Kyodan executive secretary
The Uniting Church in Australia convened its 15th triennial assembly, July 8-14, at Box Hill Town Hall, located 20 kilometers east of Melbourne. As the Kyodan Executive Council met on July 9, I was only able to attend the assembly from Wednesday morning, July 11. When I first arrived at the assembly, I was surprised that there seemed to be no paper docum……
