| Along with their youth ministry
duties, Kay and Christian translate and edit ecumenical correspondence
between the Kyodan and its partner churches around the world.
Kay edits the Kyodan newsletter, which goes out bimonthly to Kyodan
partner churches and theological libraries worldwide. She oversees
an editorial committee of pastors and laypersons who select articles
from Japanese church publications for translation. These weekly
duties in the national office allow them to work directly with
the World Mission Committee and the Education Committee of the
Kyodan in the development of national youth programs.
The majority of their time is spent with churches, schools, and
youth centers of the Kyodan to encourage a grassroots national
youth program. Seeking out youth-friendly churches, the Zebleys
share youth ministry and music resources and offer leadership
training at the denomination’s "Kyoku" (presbytery)
level. Christian is a frequent chapel speaker at church-related
junior and senior high schools.
In 2003, Christian organized a team of short-term missionary
English teachers serving in church-related mission schools in
Yokohama for a weekly outreach program. These teachers now bring
their students to the “Greenhouse” (a former church
parsonage converted into a youth center) on Thursday afternoons
for games, singing, a Bible talk, and dinner. Christians translates
the discussion into Japanese. The Greenhouse is gradually becoming
a model for high school outreach in church-related schools throughout
Japan.
Christian also serves part-time as a chaplain at Meiji Gakuin
University in Tokyo, a Presbyterian-related institution. In 2001
Kay and Christian founded the "Peace Cafe" as a coffee
house ministry to the campus. Over coffee and conversation, many
students drop in weekly to explore Christian faith, music, and
service opportunities in a relaxed environment. Peace Cafe has
become well-known in the campus ministry program. Christian is
also a frequent preacher at the chapel services on both the Tokyo
and Yokohama campuses. Meiji Gakuin asked Christian to lead a
workcamp program with the Habitat For Humanity chapter in Manila,
Philippines, in August 2005.
During summers, the Zebleys have led Kyodan national youth delegations
to the Presbyterian Youth Triennium in 2001 and 2004 and in 2002
to the World Methodist Evangelism Conference in Belfast, Northern
Ireland, followed by a week at the Taize Community in France.
In a major breakthrough in the national youth effort in 2005,
the Kyodan National Women`s Federation and the World Mission and
Education Committees agreed to host a national Kyodan youth conference
at a YMCA near Mt. Fuji. Students came from various districts
throughout the Kyodan to meet a delegation of church youth from
Eastern Germany. This was the first time Kyodan youth have met
on a national level since 1968. At its 2003 General Assembly,
the Kyodan designated youth evangelism as a denominational emphasis.
The Zebleys are also active in regular worship leadership in
local Kyodan churches. Christian is a frequent preacher and Communion
celebrant at Meiji Gakuin Church and at Oncho Church in Kamakura.
Kay offers children`s programs in both congregations.
Serving in Japan has been like going home for Kay, who lived
in Hayama, Japan, which is just over the mountain from the Zebley’s
current home in Kamakura, and attended elementary school there
for three years while her father was stationed at the Yokosuka
U.S. Navy base.
Prior to their appointment as mission co-workers, Christian served
as interim associate pastor at Second Congregational Church (UCC)
of Beverly, Massachusetts. He is a minister member of the Presbytery
of Philadelphia.
Kay holds a B.A. from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts,
in international relations. Christian's bachelor’s degree
is in economics from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania,
and his master’s of divinity is from Princeton Theological
Seminary.
The Zebleys have one child, Anna Elizabeth, who was born in Japan
at Kamakura Shonan Hospital.
Birthdays:
Christian - January 27
Kay - November 4
Anna Elizabeth - December 5, 2003
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