by Tomita Koyo, advertisement agency employee
Reinanzaka Church member, Tokyo District
The beginning of a week for company employees is on Mondays! At Sunday worship everyone, including myself, very naturally offers a prayer indicating that “Today is the start of a new week.” But is Sunday really the start of a new week? Without exception, the new week for businesspersons begins on……
From March 11 to 14, I had the privilege of attending the International Conference on the East Japan Disaster hosted by the Kyodan at Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai. My role was primarily to translate various documents into English prior to the conference and then to help with the simultaneous translation during the conference.
Being the first such international conference the Kyo……
by Takiyama Katsuko, pastor
Fukushima Shinmachi Church, Tohoku District
Fukushima Shinmachi Church was badly damaged during the Great East Japan Disaster. Our church was planned and built in 1928 by the architect William Merrell Vories, who had come to Japan. At the time of the 2011 disaster, the structure was 84 years old. Roof tiles fell off the sanctuary; the cross on the third-……
by Maruya Masato, pastor
Ofunato Church, Iwate, Ou District
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did to me.” (Matt. 25:40, NRSV)
Dear loving friends! I want to thank you from the depths of my heart for your prayers and support related to the Great East Japan Disaster. Ofunato Church is situated on high gro……
The Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in the United States was founded in 1838 for the purpose of fulfilling Jesus’ command, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” However, for some 35 years, the mission board never really began functioning, so it was reorganized in 1873, when the decision was made to focus on evangelism in Japan. The f……
Kyodan Tohoku District Nuclear Disaster Relief Task Force “IZUMI,” the office that Tohoku District set up to deal with radiation issues, had its opening ceremony on Nov. 1, 2013. We listened to a lecture about nuclear power generation and how, in the process of producing electricity, poisonous radioactive waste is also produced, for which disposal and treatment methods are still undecided.
&nbs……
by Kusachi Daisuke, pastor of Hofu Church Nishi Chugoku District
The city of Hofu is located about halfway along the coast on the Seto Inland Sea side of Yamaguchi Prefecture, with a population of about 120,000 people. There are a number of Christian churches in the city, but fellowship among these churches in different denominations has been nonexistent for over ten years, and so has not flour……
by Kurahashi Tsuyoshi, pastor Nishi Ogura Megumi Church, Kyoto District
Nishi Ogura Megumi Church is a small church in the city of Uji, near Kyoto city. Every Monday afternoon a group of young people gather there. It is hard to call them a robust group because it is with great effort that each of them gathers the courage, as well as physical and emotional energy, to come.
These are……
The Roman Catholic Church. On June 23, 2013 (a day of remembrance for those who died in the Battle of Okinawa), the Japan Catholic Council of Bishops introduced an informal message in the name of Bishop Okada Takeo, which was shared during a special time for thinking about peace (Aug. 6-15). The message says, “We are in a very dangerous situation. We believe Article 9 is a treasure the whole world……
Representatives of Christian denominations from around the world gathered for ten days, Oct. 30-Nov. 8, 2013 at the BEXCO event site in Busan, Korea for the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches. The theme was “God of Life, Lead Us to Justice and Peace.”
The assembly was held in a grand venue in Busan, which is at the center of a region that has seen remarkable development. T……
