Chiaki, fifty-three, accepted and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior. Praise the Lord! Chiaki worked for a newspaper company that supported our church’s presence in the community, particularly our Autumn Sound Concert when the church was initially established. She was involved in printing and counting concert fliers every year. About two years ago, she unexpectedly attended the concert and then the Sunday worship the next day. We sent several welcoming letters which she did not respond to, but she did attend the outreach service this past summer and expressed the desire to study the Bible. My wife and I have been having a Bible study every Wednesday with her now. She explained to us that she had been studying the Bible through correspondence courses via the radio and TV on her own. After the study, she boldly attended our outreach service. Chiaki is steadily learning.
The attendees during July’s worship were mostly guests from other churches. While many of our church members are away from Nagano for summer vacations, it was encouraging to have guests from other churches participate in the worship. Slowly our area is emerging from the shadow of the pandemic. This summer, three families from Tokyo joined the worship and we enjoyed meaningful fellowship. Having guests participate in Sunday worship is a significant encouragement, however, some with weaker faith have made some negative remarks. I am determined to continue to develop effective interactions between the urban and local churches.
Among the visitors, we had a surprising encounter. There is a pastor originally from Shinanoi, about fifty years ago, this pastor was involved in pioneer missions in the Shinanoi region alongside a missionary. They faced significant challenges, eventually moving to northern Nagano with the American missionary to establish a church. When this pastor learned of the existence of our Shinonoi church, he visited us. After several meetings, this pastor made an offer to us. “I own a plot of farmland, about a 200 tsubo scale, approximately 662 square meters, about ten minutes from Shinonoi Church. If it can be of use to your church’s vision, please take it.” We are praying that if the Lord is willing, we can receive his donation. We are praying for ministry opportunities that are connected to the local area, particularly for this space of land, and are considering a church cemetery or healing natural garden.
We will hold a special general assembly meeting to discuss accepting two new transfer members and the renovation of the pastor’s residence as a parsonage for the new associate pastor, Ministry Naoki Suzuki. The former old business hotel now serves as the pastor’s residence and office. In order to reduce the financial burden on Minister Suzuki, who is a tentmaker, he will be residing with us. It is an older building, and we hope to make it more comfortable for living. It is a difficult choice, and we wish for a better option, but this is the best we have at the moment.
- Pray that we can share the vision with our church members.
- Pray for fruitful work to be given to the evangelist.
The church general assembly meeting and pastors’ meeting for our mother church is being held this month. The group will be discussing the next steps for church planting strategy for our district. There are two proposals: one is whether to establish a third church within Nagano prefecture and the other is to pursue church planting in Tokyo and Saitama area. The Mission Cooperation Promotion Committee is considering these options. Many churches have suffered due to the impact of the pandemic. We aim to form a district and have been praying for the establishment of a third church in Nagano from the beginning. We are also praying that we can send Minister Naoki Suzuki to the new church plant. Unfortunately, the main church of the same prefecture is prioritizing church building constructions and is not focused on pioneer missions which is causing significant concern to the rest of the committee members. We have the vision and resources, and we sense that we have prepared ourselves well. We are praying to see how the Lord works.
- Pray blessings for the church’s general assembly meeting.
- Pray for an increase in support for our Minister Naoki Suzuki; he is a tentmaker and is facing some financial challenges.
- Pray for the tangible realization of the Shinshu (Nagano) district formation vision and preparations for the establishment of the third church planting.
- Pray for support for the Kanto West District church tract distribution on the last Saturday of the month. Pray for a significant amount of preparation.
We are thankful for the two workers serving as tentmakers in our church. Pastor Jae Hyeon Kim is the associate pastor and Naoki Suzuki is an internship worker. Both ministers have families. Naoki has been working at our church lately and will be returning to the mother church, Shinonoi Church.
We have several concerns that have arisen recently. One is regarding the teamwork between the Korean and Japanese workers. Several pastors of other churches have shared that working with Korean colleagues can be quite challenging. Pastor Kim on the other hand is a rare individual who is working to make efforts to adapt to Japanese culture. Yet I have also observed his youthfulness and vertical society’s ethnic characteristics that come into play with his teaching methods. I am praying for wisdom as I work on guiding him while also accepting our differences in gifts.
I am also dealing with an individual in the church who is a recent believer but has been having difficulty communicating with the ladies and young members of the church; she has created rifts between brothers and sisters in the church. She has been criticizing me and the church constantly. I am continuing to pray for her and seek to respond appropriately with agape love. She is moving from a job as a professor at a university to establishing a non-profit. God is answering our prayers that her attitude would change and that she would become more accepting of other church members. We are completing a Bible study course with her and there is a high chance that she will become a member of our church.
I recently read two books regarding evangelism, one of which was published by a missionary who planted multiple churches in our region. I enjoyed studying and comparing the various concepts regarding evangelism and both books were in their own way inspiring to me. I also disagree with some concepts and am reminded of the importance of continual study.
- Pray for the family of Pastor Kim who is visiting Korea after being gone for eight years. Pray for them to have a good time visiting family and churches, and for a good rest in their home country.
- Pray for the Lord to reveal and refine our vision for developing our next church plant in our area and for necessary preparation.
- Pray for the health of my wife, Sayoko, she is in her early seventies and still actively cooks meals for the church.
- Pray for spiritual restoration for a member of our church and for pastoral wisdom.
- Pray for the team coming to our church to pass out tracts in our community. This event will be at the end of the month and we are praying that many people will be led to our church.
Testimony
When I was a junior in high school, I listened to gospel broadcasting, and during this time, my brother already had faith in the Urawa EVF church and invited me to attend. I was an introvert, and my older brother was diplomatic. When I was in junior high, I always did well with my grades, and I passed the exam to enter high school. But in my high school, there were lots of excellent students, and I suffered from a lowliness complex. One day my brother came back to our house with a friend from church. I refused to see him; however, I had an interest in the church. It was when I went to church that everyone became friends with me, even though it is a time when everyone is busy with school exams. The next time I went to church, I heard the gospel of the Bible. However, I would compare my self-centered sin among other people, and I noticed the narrowness and weakness of my personality. I spent six months and finally understood that Jesus’ death on the cross was due to my sin. From that moment, I changed.
I’ve been involved in church planting and have served as a chairperson for the Kansai district church planting council. I’ve been a member for over 15 years of the National EVF church mission committee and serve six years as a chairperson. I was also involved with Radio evangelism and served as a chairperson for six years. In 2006 I was chairperson for the Kinki missionary church Executive committee; we had 300 pastors and 1,000 missions’ conferences. My involvement continued with the Korean CCC New Life 2000 project national headquarter general affairs for ten years. We had 13,000 Korean students dispatched to domestic churches. Lastly, I still serve on the trustee of Japan Bible seminary; this is my third term.