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Archive for the ‘Resource Recovery’ Category

Announcing Our 2011 Luders Acceus Scholarship Recipient

Last year we announced the CHC Luders Acceus Scholarship, a $3,000-a-year scholarship that covers tuition, room, and board for an aspiring pastor to attend STEP Seminary, a key CHC partner in the Haitian reconstruction effort. You may recall that Luders Acceus was pursuing a bachelor’s in theology at STEP with plans to join his father’s [...]

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The "Church Planting Guys" of Shiogama Bible Baptist Church

The first time I asked someone about Yukikazu Otomo, their response was “Oh, yeah. Church planting guy.” It was that casual. I would soon find there is nothing casual about his efforts, or what they have accomplished since the tsunami. As his name came up over and over again, I became more convinced that CHC [...]

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The first time I asked someone about Yukikazu Otomo, their response was “Oh, yeah. Church planting guy.”

It was that casual. I would soon find there is nothing casual about his efforts, or what they have accomplished since the tsunami.

As his name came up over and over again, I became more convinced that CHC needed to help him rebuild his ministry center, which was severely damaged by the earthquake, to empower his church planting efforts. We’re thankful for the opportunity to be a part of his ministry’s recovery.

Yukikazu Otomo serves as Senior Pastor of Shiogama Bible Baptist Church, leading the congregation with his son, Yukimasa Otomo. Yuki, who studied at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL, has an intense passion for ministry, language, and leading volunteers.

Together, they have built the Miyagi Mission Network, a non-traditional church planting network that depends on house churches as their primary means of growth. Since the disaster, they’ve hosted more than 1,000 volunteers. They are relentless in their pursuit of bringing the Gospel to Japan and her people.

Of their four established churches prior to the disaster, two were destroyed in the tsunami. But in both cases, the homeowners’ unrelenting commitment to their congregations helped lead them to a quick recovery. Today, both churches have new homes, with their congregations actively meeting, thanks to God’s amazing provision.

Prior to the disaster, Yukikazu Otomo was only experimenting with house churches. Based on their success in the wake of the disaster, he’s convinced they will play a critical role in reaching Japan with the Gospel. And, he believes now is the time to act. To plant. To sow. That’s because in Japan’s coastal regions, people have been surprisingly responsive to the church’s relief efforts.

The Otomos see a window open. They won’t waste the opportunity.

After watching these two servants in action, I’m more convinced than ever that Shiogama Bible Baptist Church and the Miyagi Mission Network will demonstrate unprecedented church planting, in volume and in strategy, in the coming years.

We’re excited to be a part of it, and thankful that your support makes it possible.

Gospeltown

Have you ever had an experience that left you scratching your head, knowing God is sovereign but feeling confused – wondering what God is doing only to find yourself nodding in agreement days, months or years down the road? God’s unfailing love allows all things to work together for good for those who love Him. [...]

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God’s unfailing love allows all things to work together for good for those who love Him. It gives even the smallest details of our lives such purpose, even when we least expect it.

On my first visit to Ohira, I remember feeling confused as to where we were going. After landing in Tokyo, we drove five hours to Sendai, then left the city and drove for yet another hour. We passed through miles and miles of farmland. And then, in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere appeared… Gospeltown.

Gospeltown?

This was impossibility for urban Japan, let alone a remote village with a tiny population. But there it was, housing Tohoku Central Church, Kakudai Institute for Missions, Alpha Japan, and today, CHC Japan – all of it led by an extraordinarily gifted and humble man, Pastor Nobuyoshi Nagai – our CHC Japan representative.

I affectionately call him Nobu Sensei, which means teacher or in this case, pastor.

As far as I could tell, this place was easily the largest operation this community knew. With all the great things happening, it still left me scratching my head, wondering why and how it got there. It certainly wasn’t a particularly strategic location for any of the things that it does, or for the people that it serves.

But then the tsunami hit. And suddenly it all made sense, as God’s plans unfailingly do – whether on this side of eternity or the next.

The kind of leadership and coordination needed during the tsunami recovery is what small churches in Japan lack. Most churches are a one-man show with pastors wearing five hats just to keep the church going. Adding an additional hat for relief efforts is seemingly impossible.

But Gospeltown? This remote enclave is stocked with students from all over Japan who come here for personal development and ministry training. Under the leadership of Nobu Sensei, Tohoku Central Church quickly became a vital hub for relief efforts. Its surprising location has proven to be ideal in the wake of the disaster. From this base, Nobu Sensei has mobilized more than 1,000 volunteers from Japan, US Singapore, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Africa. They distribute goods to the neighboring churches, with whom they already had relationships. These efforts are critical in the wake of the tsunami.

Unfortunately, the tsunami badly damaged Tohoku Central Church’s plumbing, including about 15 toilets. They were more than 20 years old, broken, and unusable. This proved to be a hindrance to the church’s ministry and relief efforts. We knew we had to help. That’s why CHC was honored to replace all 15 toilets, repair the plumbing, and fix the electrical issues facing Tohoku Central Church.

Today, Tohoku Central Church continues to run its full-time missions school, support volunteer efforts, and provide retreat housing for pastors in Gospeltown. In 20 years, more than 200 pastors and their families have come here to find rest and renewal. Now, their important work can continue – and it’s because of partners like you.

Now, I look back in awe. When I first saw Gospeltown, the location didn’t make sense.

One natural disaster later, and I’m reminded once again that God’s plans are always perfect . When he meets you in a farmer’s field, you can rest assured he has an amazing harvest planned.

Will you be ready?

Don’t Waste Your Disaster

On the eve of Dr. Piper’s prostate surgery, he wrote an article titled “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”. As I walk among the ruins in Haiti and in Japan, his words ring in my ears, applied to the context of natural disasters, “You will waste your cancer [disaster] if you believe it is a curse and [...]

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Let me introduce you to Satoshi Ito, a pastor who is not wasting his disaster.

Pastor Ito was already shepherding Sendai Christ Church when his denomination appointed him to additionally care for the 12-year-old Ishinomaki Christ Church an hour and a half away. For 18 months, he and his wife divided their Sundays to minister to both congregations.

The new appointment added work to his already busy schedule. By all accounts, it was a dying congregation. The church’s congregation consisted of its original 10 members, many of them over 80 years old. In 18 months, they had not one visitor.

Then, both of his churches were hit by the tsunami on March 11.

The waters levels at Ishinomaki Christ Church rose to Pastor Ito’s neck. After five days, the waters receded. Three families – a third of the congregation – lost their homes, but everyone was safe.

But for Pastor Ito’s tiny congregation, surviving the tsunami, like surviving cancer, was not about staying alive. It was not about recovering the things lost in the floodwaters.

The congregation chose to see how God could have designed the tsunami to shape their church. How it could drive them to deepen their relationship with others.

Since the tsunami, the Ishinomaki Christ Church congregation, along with a group of volunteers, have been actively serving their neighbors. They’ve been cooking for the community, delivering goods and repairing the church. In less than five months, this small church of just 10 people has completed distributions for more than 3,000 people so far.

A dying congregation? It’s become a thriving congregation. Perhaps most notable is a drastic increase in attendance. Today, Sunday services are bustling with 50 people – five times the pre-tsunami congregation, with 10 people in a new believers class.

Some pastors might have seen the additional responsibility for this congregation as a curse.

Pastor Ito chose to see it as a blessing. Today, he has two busy congregations living to glorify God.

Churches Helping Churches in honored to be helping with operating expenses for the Ishinomaki Christ Church as the church, and its growing congregation, recover from widespread impacts of the tsunami.

In the meantime, this church is serving in the community, God is working, and people are responding in a way they have never seen in their lifetimes.

Pastor Ito and the congregation of Ishinomaki Christ Church are not wasting their disaster.

Are you wasting yours?

“My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

The Ishinoseki Four

Last week, I had the privilege of spending time with Nobuyoshi Nagai, a prominent pastor in Japan. Many of the pastors at our retreat had heard of him or seen him on television, but it was their first time meeting him in person. Nobu Sensei, as we affectionately call him, is CHC’s representative in Japan. [...]

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After leading two worship services on Sunday morning, he prepared to leave for a service in Ishinoseki, a town about an hour away from his church. I asked if I could come along. A few hours later, I found myself in the car with Nobu Sensei and his two apprentices – one to lead worship, and one to preside over the service. Pastor Nagai would preach the sermon. I was excited to meet the congregation.

When we arrived, I found myself thinking we must be at a church plant. The four of us led an impassioned service in a small room in a local community center for a group of just four believers. But after the service, we had time to visit with the two men and two women who attended and learned something that continues to amaze me. These four people had been attending church this way for 10 years. This was no church plant – it was a congregation of believers fervently committed to Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost.

Three of the four are the only Christians in their family. Even their spouses are not believers. Still, week after week, they show up, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)” Once a month, Nobu Sensei makes a five-hour round trip to minister to them because they don’t have a pastor.

Talk about faithfulness. If you were alone in a nation of lukewarm Buddhists, and even your spouse was a non-believer… would you still be showing up 10 years later?

We often mention that less than 1% of the population in Japan is Christian. But this story underscores just how important it is to help the believers here in any way we can. Their churches simply cannot cease to exist. Nobu Sensei understands this. It’s why a prominent pastor with no obligation, and no return on investment other than intangible spiritual benefits, makes this much time every month for just four people.

I couldn’t help but think of the parable of the lost sheep:

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4)

Before we left, the group asked me to pray for their town. One of the women produced a well-worn map, something she had clearly carried around with her for some time. It showed every Buddhist temple in town – at least 50 of them to serve a town of about 70,000. There were just three small churches. Their church, another small church, and a Catholic church.

In case there was any doubt, it’s hard to be a Christian in Japan. Seeing this map and its creases, and knowing the pain it caused this woman’s heart to see her nation so lost – it moved me in a way I can’t explain.

As we returned at the end of a long Sunday, I had a deeper understanding of Jesus’ willingness to leave 99 sheep behind to meet the needs of just one.

The four believers we met with and ministered to needed a shepherd that day.

Will you join me in praying for the Ishinoseki four?

Sharing the Wealth

One of the Haitian churches we plan to build in the coming weeks recently disassembled their temporary structure to prepare for their new, permanent building. A few years ago, the leftover wood might have gone to waste. Instead, Pastor Joseph looked over the materials and carefully considered how they might bless another congregation instead of [...]

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A Year In Review

In both Haiti and Japan, international relief workers rushed in to help with food and other basic needs. And in both cases, many people would turn to the church for help following the disaster. In fact, many areas would depend on local churches to help with aid and recovery. But who would help the church [...]

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Our Ministry to Japan Begins

A word from Executive Director Tom Kim: The challenges we faced during our trip are some of the obstacles that people in northeastern Japan face everyday these days. The main expressways have been closed off to civilian travel. There are gas shortages on the east side of the country. Long lines form at kerosene depots [...]

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A word from Executive Director Tom Kim:

The challenges we faced during our trip are some of the obstacles that people in northeastern Japan face everyday these days. The main expressways have been closed off to civilian travel. There are gas shortages on the east side of the country. Long lines form at kerosene depots in the hopes that they can cook a warm meal at home. Most cars are either parked with empty gas tanks or waiting in gas station lines a mile long.

These obstacles impede the Japanese people’s commutes to school and work, and therein a return to normalcy in their lives. Moreover, they’re slowing down the distribution of food and water. Grocery stores in downtown Sendai have 100 bags of rice, while people along the coast just six miles away struggle to find adequate food and supplies.

We saw the need firsthand when we stumbled upon a middle school gymnasium in Shiogama, now acting as an evacuation shelter. After delivering a few boxes of feminine care products, a girl rushed over to Andrew, a volunteer with our partners, CRASH, and hugged him. This, in a country where public displays of affection are nonsexist, especially between strangers.

The physical needs persist but not alone. As people move away from day-to-day to week-to-week and month-to-month, the needs begin to shift. When the basic things in life can’t be trusted – such as the ground beneath your feet, the air that touches your skin, or the seaside view that you’ve always enjoyed – it does something to the mind and emotions. We need 10 times more physical relief, and 20 times more spiritual relief.

Ministering to the pastors of Japan

We’re beginning plans for Churches Helping Pastors, a retreat that provides crisis counseling that’s gospel-centered and Biblical to pastors. The curriculum is designed to both treat and train pastors. If there’s one thing that every Japanese pastor cannot afford to be less than excellent at right now, it’s crisis counseling. The retreat will take place in May, led by a team of Japanese and foreign teachers. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) If you know any pastors who would benefit from this retreat in northern Japan, please have them contact us.

Meanwhile, we are exploring options for new church buildings. As far as we know, there were not many churches along the coast within striking distance of the tsunami. We are currently aware of four, which we plan to rebuild or repair. There will be a correct time for reconstruction, in pace with the rest of community restoration.

For now, we continue to be reminded that the church is not a building but the people of God. As we saw in Haiti, though the church buildings were lost, the church grew. And it’s that church that needs our attention and care now.

A special thanks to MeySen Academy in Sendai, which in the early days following the tsunami, morphed from a school to a base camp to house workers, including our team. The Broman family has served as missionaries for years and were key contacts for accelerating relationships and relief in the area.

CHC and the Haiti Cholera Outbreak

A cholera epidemic has broken out in Haiti over this past weekend, and over 250 people have died. Earlier this spring, CHC was able to secure $1.7 million worth of medical supplies for Haiti through our partners International Aid. Included in that shipment were several palets of Pedialyte, which is used as a preventative hydration [...]

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Presenting the Luders Acceus Scholarship

Pastor Luc Acceus lost both his son and his daughter on Jan. 12. His son, Luders, who was pursuing a bachelor’s in theology at S.T.E.P. with plans to join his father’s ministry, was studying in a S.T.E.P. classroom when the building collapsed. (His daughter was in another school in Port-au-Prince.) In his memory, Churches Helping [...]

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Churches Helping Churches

Archive for the ‘Resource Recovery’ Category

Announcing Our 2011 Luders Acceus Scholarship Recipient

The "Church Planting Guys" of Shiogama Bible Baptist Church

Gospeltown

Don’t Waste Your Disaster

The Ishinoseki Four

Sharing the Wealth

A Year In Review

Our Ministry to Japan Begins

Ministering to the pastors of Japan

CHC and the Haiti Cholera Outbreak

Presenting the Luders Acceus Scholarship

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