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It’s a long, narrow, two-story structure that needed a lot
of clean-up, but it is now serving them well. It’s only about
25 feet wide, but something like 120 feet long, and so it can
accommodate around 300 people. The sanctuary is located upstairs,
and as you can see from the picture, has been nicely decorated.
Tim preached there on December 30, with his English message being
translated into Indonesian. This represents the third language
Tim’s messages have been translated into while preaching
here in Japan, as he has also preached in Chinese-speaking and
Korean-speaking congregations. And so while our main calling is
to the Japanese, the opportunities for reaching out to other people
groups living in Japan continues to increase.
The Indonesian community has about 1000 people now, and continues
to grow. Many work in seafood processing plants in the area around
Oarai. While Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, there is also
a strong Christian presence in certain regions of the country,
and it is from these regions that many of the workers come. They
work long hours, and it is not always easy for them to get the
understanding of the Japanese plant operators to give them Sundays
off. Thus, in addition to the main Sunday morning service, they
also have a large, well-attended service every Sunday evening.
In addition to the Kyodan (United Church of Christ in Japan)
helping with the visa and property issues facing the Oarai Church,
the Kyodan is now actively pursuing the establishment of formal
ties with the Evangelical Church of Indonesia, similar to what
they have already done with churches in other Asian countries.
This deepening of ties and the providing of mutual assistance
between various Asian churches is an integral part of the mission
Christ has given us. In fact, the Oarai church wants to take things
a step further, and they have formally asked to become affiliated
with the Kyodan and to become a Kyodan church. This would be a
first for the church in Japan, and we here in the Ibaraki district
are strongly in favor of this proposal.
Within the various U.S. denominations, it is not at all uncommon
to have congregations that function in a language other than English.
This, however, has never happened in Japan. While the Kyodan has
formal ties with the Korean Christian Church in Japan, the KCCJ
is a separate entity, and so there are no Korean (or other language)
speaking congregations within the Kyodan.
Similarly, while it seems quite natural to an American to refer
to the various ethnic communities as "Japanese-American,"
"Italian-American," or whatever, there is no concept
like that in Japan. One’s birth in Japan does not result
in being considered Japanese, and so even Koreans who have been
here for three or four generations only have citizenship in Korea
unless they go through the difficult process of naturalization,
in which case they are now Japanese and not Korean. Even then,
they would never be referred to as a "Korean-Japanese."
It is in this context, then, that the formation of a Kyodan church
serving a non-Japanese ethnic community using a language other
than Japanese could have a very positive influence on the church
in Japan. As there is a clear trend in Japanese society towards
an increasing presence of non-Japanese, the inclusion of the Indonesian
congregation within the Kyodan should have a very positive effect
in encouraging within the Japanese church a broader, more worldwide
outlook. And it would help spur the Japanese church to more active
mission outreach among these varied peoples within their borders.
Please pray for this new mission endeavor, and also pray for
the church in Indonesia. The Christians in Oarai tell of the trials
their families and friends are having in Indonesia as the persecution
against Christians is still on the rise. Some have even lost family
members to the ethnic violence going on in Indonesia today.
As always, we wish to thank you for your continued support of
our work. May God richly bless you all in this new year of 2002!
Love,
Tim, Juji, Lisa and Jennifer
The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 185
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