At a symposium on discrimination sponsored by the Kyodan Buraku Liberation Center that was held in June 2014 at Wakamatsu Sakaemachi Church, Ms. A, a full-time rice farmer from Aizu, spoke as a mother. In the aftermath of the March 11 disaster, Ms. A began to study the issue of radiation on her own, as she was filled with concern about safety issues. Three months later in June 2011, she was introd……
by Kawakami Yoshiko, pastor Okubo Church, Tokyo District Editor, KNL Editorial Committee
The Missionary Conference, organized by Kyodan once every two years, was held from Monday, March 22 to Thursday, March 26, 2……
There are several anniversaries that the Kyodan cannot and must not forget. One of them is the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake that struck early on the morning of Jan. 17, 1995. So this past Jan. 17 was the 20th anniversary of that tragic event. The Kyodan’s Hyogo District held a memorial service that evening at Kobe Eiko Church, which was totally destroyed during the earthquake and rebuilt as a beauti……
Foreign Missionaries from the early period of modern Japan who contributed to the establishment of Sendai Theological Seminary (currently Tohoku Gakuin University)
The Tokugawa clan ruled Japan for almost 250 years, a period marked by the exclusion of Christianity and the promulgation of edicts banning its practice. The period came to an end when U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Calbraith ……
by Wayne Jansen, missionary Tokyo Union Theological Seminary
It goes without saying that history shapes one’s identity, and this is definitely true for Christians. I was born to parents who were members of the Reformed Church in America. Naturally, I knew nothing about my family’s traditions or the traditions of their church when I was newly born, but slowly through the process of gro……
by Kawakami Yoshiko, pastor Okubo Church, Tokyo District Editor, KNL Editorial Committee
Anne of Green Gables* was translated into Japanese by Muraoka Hanako and published shortly after World War II under the title Akage no An (Red-haired Anne). It has been a very popular novel, and since the life of its translator was made into a drama in 2014, its popularity has risen once again.
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Naito Tomeyuki, previous general secretary of the Kyodan and retired minister of the Kyodan, as interviewed by Omura Naoko, chair of The Believers’ Friend editoriarl committe and a member of Mita Church in Tokyo, seeking his advice on the subject of conducting pastoral interviews
Naito: Originally, the Kyodan was formed out of over 30 denominations with various traditions. Even in re……
The second Executive Council meeting of the 39th biennial Kyodan General Assembly period was a special session held on Feb. 10, 2015 at the Japan Evangelical Lutheran’s Tokyo Church, with 29 members in attendance.*
As this was an extraordinary meeting, there were only four agenda items: determining subsidies for evangelism, work on remodeling the Japan Christian Center building to bri……
by Sasaki Michio, Kyodan vice-moderator, pastor of Shizuoka Church
At the 39th biennial Kyodan General Assembly in 2014, I was elected vice-moderator. Upon taking this responsibility, I have been asked to express my hopes and aspirations in this article. As I said at the assembly after I was elected: “For someone like me to be elected to this position brings a sense of apprehension, but I accep……
by Iijima Makoto, executive secretary Kyodan East Japan Disaster Relief Projects
Introduction
【Church & Parsonage Reconstruction】(through domestic contributions)
There were 81 congregations that received funding to repair damage caused by the March 11, 2011 disaster: 43 in Tohoku District, 10 in Ou District, 27 in Kanto District, and one in Tokyo District.
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