This year, as the kids came through the church, they read the story of Noah’s Ark and answered questions before we gave them their goodie bags. Reading the story took a little time and we actually had a huge line outside of the church of kids waiting to come in!!! Each goodie bag included candy and information on the church as well as a Noah’s Ark tract, Noah’s Ark stickers and stamps for the younger ones and a Campus Crusade for Christ manga verision of the 4 Spiritual Laws and Noah’s Ark pencils for the older ones, and a tract about the earthquake/tsunami for the adults.

All in all, we had 900 kids and approximately 400 parents participate.

Our church is also located near the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and we have several undergraduates and foreign graduate students who come to our church. This year, along with 3 of our regular Korean students helping we had 6 Chinese graduate students come to help – it was their first time in church! After the outreach, we had dinner together and I explained the origins of Halloween and gave a brief gospel presentation.

Praise God for this unique opportunity and pray that the seeds that were sown will bring forth fruit!

By Karyn Zaayenga

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Mr. Tsuchiya lived about a 10 minute walk from our house, and despite numerous health issues and pain in his back and legs, he often wanted to walk rather than receive a ride. As our relationship strengthened, however, he was more receptive to receiving rides. He started attending Sunday worship faithfully as well. The work of the Holy Spirit drawing him towards God was very evident, because after a few months of study, it became clear that he accepted the words of the Bible as Truth. In January of this year, he made it clear that he was trusting in Jesus for his salvation and asked to be baptized. Interestingly, his request included his desire to be baptized somewhere near Mt. Fuji. Well, that request was impossible to fulfill, but, on June 19th, we did our best and prepared a slide of Mt. Fuji that we displayed on the wall behind the baptistry during his baptismal service. Mr. Tsuchiya shared his testimony before his baptism.

Finding the Lord as his constant companion brought so much joy and peace into his life. Five short months later, Nov. 2011, Mr.Tsuchiya past away. He now enjoys worshipping his new Savior and Lord, face-to-face.

It is rare that a Japanese person moves from no knowledge of Christianity or the Bible to complete belief in less than two years and yet, in Mr. Tsuchiya’s case, the soil of his heart was prepared and the seed was able to fall on fertile ground, take root and grow up into a strong faith. We praise God that He led us into a relationship with Mr. Tsuchiya and each day we pray that God will lead us to others whose hearts are soft and ready to receive words of truth. Pray for the many Japanese for whom it will take much longer for the seeds to grow and take root, but ARE in the process of learning more and seeking to know God. Pray that we will be faithful in teaching the word of God, in season and out…

By Murray & Kathy Trim

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This September a young woman came to the café at the recommendation of a fellow TEAM missionary. She enjoyed her café experience and began talking with our staff member, Midori and co-worker, Kelly. It became clear that she was very interested in Christianity and was trying to read and understand the Bible by herself. Kelly invited her to church and she has been attending ever since. A month later another team member, Sarah, met with her to chat and study the Bible. She explained how she had become interested in finding a deeper meaning in life and became curious about a church she saw from the train as she travelled to work. When she saw the billboard for the church she could not understand all the biblical words easily and so she felt she could not go inside. She mentioned a Japanese phrase ‘the entrance was too high to enter’ referring to a perceived barrier to entering into a group or place. She told us how easy it was for her to come to SonRise Church after having been a customer at the café and feeling comfortable and accepted there. We felt so encouraged to hear this!
Sometimes the day to day challenges of running a business get us bogged down, but it is so exciting to see how God is able to use our efforts, no matter how inadequate we feel! There are others, too, who have attended church recently after having been customers in the café.

God is using Café Evangelism here in Tokyo!

By Owen Ames

Related posts:

1. SonRise Cafe

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The economy is reeling. Uncounted businesses have failed due to factories and workers being washed away. With the damaged reactors out of service, inadequate power supplies have led to rolling blackouts. Unstable power is driving even more companies out of the area, and even out of Japan, attempting to stay solvent.

Not just in the disaster area, but all over the country, Japanese are asking what does life mean? Can it have any value if it can all be swept away so easily? What was the point to all the hard work those 20,000 victims spent, building up their lives and families? What is the point of striving to improve our own families and lives even now, if life is that fragile and nature that capricious?

But even in this valley of the shadow of death, God is with us and is working among the Japanese. The disaster struck the area known as ” the Tohoku” — Japan’s least churched area. While the churches are few and far between, (and a few haven’t survived due to the disaster), they have been very active in the relief work. Of course the government and agencies such as the Red Cross have handled the primary relief efforts. But as Christians and Christian organizations from around the world have sent gifts to aid the Japanese, it is the pastors and local believers that have been Jesus’ hands and feet on the ground.

At this point, the emphasis is rightly on the immediate food, clothing and shelter needs of the people rather than evangelism. And yet, the people can see who is helping them and loving them. Church attendance is way up, there are people being saved and baptized, mission groups are planning new projects to plant churches in the Tohoku, and more.

BJapan, Japan’s only 24/7 Christian radio is reaching out into the Tohoku area. The USEN satellite and cable radio company that we broadcast on placed tuners in the evacuation centers — making BJapan’s “Friendship Radio” programming, as well as USEN’s other channels, available to the hundreds of thousands of evacuees who had lost everything and were living in school gyms, civic halls, etc., etc.

We were able to produce a program series based on the Book of Job, that was well received. A listener wrote, “This is the first time I’ve contacted you. I’m not a Christian, but listen to this channel on USEN sometimes. Through the earthquake and tsunami disaster, I’ve seen such horrible things that I just can’t calm down – my heart is full of unrest. And yet, strangely, when I listen to the pastor on this broadcast, several times I could feel a sense of calmness return for a while. What you said in the message today — that God did not create anyone just so that they could live as they please — really made an impression on me.”

Another gentleman wrote, “This is my first time to contact you. How do you do? Here in the disaster zone, faster than even the phones, the fastest service to be restored was USEN’s broadcast. The TV was down, so radio was the only diversion available. I was so grateful for the music that was aired each day. The music coming from your station was really full of comfort. I can’t say I understood much of the various pastors’ messages, but the talk that spoke of the love of God that draws men close, struck a note with me. Compared to other victims, I’m not in too bad of shape, but there are many tough times ahead of us that will have to be overcome. Please don’t forget us here in the disaster area.”

The Japanese religious world view is such at odds with Christianity that at first the gospel and the scriptures make very little sense. But praise God with us that He is using the broadcast in people’s lives.

By Tim Selander

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All TEAM Japan personnel are safe. Further updates will be posted on TEAM’s website: www.teamworld.org

Please pray for those that are suffering as a result of this disaster. Also please pray for the church in Japan as believers there seek to minister to others and aid in the relief efforts.

If you would like to give toward those relief efforts, TEAM has established a Japan Earthquake Relief fund. Through our extensive network of relationships in Japan, TEAM will make wise use of these funds as priorities become clearer.

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On the other hand…air a daily 90 second radio spot with a family life hint.  rent large halls in cities where the program airs.  invite radio listeners to a lecture on parenting by the radio host.  The result?  Over 1,200 attendees in eight different cities listen intently to biblical principles of parenting.  Some begin attending local churches, some buy Christian literature, and others invite the host to speak in their schools and communities, further multiplying the impact.

This is just one of the doors that family issues open in Japan.  Other doors open when local churches invite Family Forum Japan (FFJ) staff members to present seminars on parenting, marriage, and sexual morality and invite the community in.  Still other doors are opened by the message of sexual abstinence which is beginning to be welcomed in some secondary schools and colleges.

Please pray for the 11 full time, part time, volunteer, and missionary workers of Family Forum Japan (a ministry of TEAM) as they use family issues and sex education as a “wedge” to open doors to the Gospel in Japan.

Family Forum Japan

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Over 30 million people reside in the greater Tokyo area.  The Tokyo Metro Ministry Initiative (TMMI) team hopes to have many projects in many corners of this fascinating city.  SonRise Cafe is our first project and is located in the Nerima/Itabashi Ward on the second floor of a building on the Happy Road shopping street in the town of Oyama.

The cafe is our attempt to be part of our community and, through this venue to meet people of all ages, develop friendships and show them the love of Christ.  Our cafe is committed to His glory and His glory alone!  We look forward to someday seeing a group of believers giving glory to God in worship and praise.  We pray that TMMI will be a church planting movement that will, by God’s blessing, take off and transform the greater Tokyo area for Christ.

Pray for this new ministry initiative, for new and repeat customers at the cafe, for significant conversations to take place, and for this first outreach to expand into a church planting movement!

Owen and Sarah Ames and Steve and Kelly Baughn make up the Tokyo Metro Ministry Initiative (TMMI) team.  You can check out the cafe menu and events at www.sonrisecafetokyo.com and the TMMI team at www.tmmi-japan.org

Related posts:

1. Café Evangelism

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