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The purpose of our lifetime ministry in Japan is to encourage both the vision for church planting and the development of evangelical theology which gives rise to that vision.
Tokyo JAPAN

Community center shuts down English classes

We were surprised to hear just a day before one of our February outreach English classes in Tomioka that the community center would no longer give us permission to use the facility. From the time we began to rent the center we made it clear that we were connected with a Christian church and would have a short ten minute Bible time at the end of each ninety minute class. We encountered no problems in using the center for a year and a half. Over that period of time about a dozen ladies who do not yet know Jesus Christ listened intently when Ann taught gospel stories from the New Testament. Despite our seemingly good relationship with the center, the reason we were denied use of the facility was that we were “religious.” Apparently another religious group had asked to use the facility. So to be fair, the community center decided to deny all of us a room to rent.

English class picnic

Because we no longer have a facility to rent in Tomioka, we held a class picnic at a park in April. The cherry blossoms were at their peak and the park was lined with the beautiful trees. Ann’s sister, Lois, and mutual friend, Andrea, were visiting from the U.S. during that time and joined the picnic. We played an English game, each student introduced themselves to our guests, and we enjoyed lunch together.

The students desire to continue the classes, so we have decided to meet once a month until the mother church leadership comes to a consensus about whether and how we should continue the classes. One of Ann’s students volunteered her home for our May class. Another student owns a ballet studio, so we plan to meet there in June.

Where do we go from here?

After the community center shut down our classes, some key lay members of our church planting team began to doubt whether we should continue with the classes. They have requested that we temporarily suspend the evangelistic English outreach ministry in Tomioka. That request was as much of a surprise to us as the community center’s decision to close down the classes. We have had several team meetings to discuss this issue, with another one scheduled for May 27. We are planting the Tomioka church in partnership with the mother church, so our role in the decision making is to encourage and cooperate rather than to dictate. We covet your prayers for being wise partners.

Kids Korner - "iMatt?"

Computer users have perhaps heard of ipod, ichat, and isight. How about imatt? When Matthew got braces two years ago, he began whistling almost non-stop. “Do braces help you whistle?” we have often wondered. Everyday, he has been serenading us with anything from a few bars of an old hymn to Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Modern Major General” to a piece he is working on in jazz band. Often he is unaware of his whistling. Once Bryan and Mom got tired of “that day’s tune” and decided to see if we could “change channels.” So we went about humming another tune loudly. Soon his whistling picked up the new tune as if we were his remote control! We had been wondering how the removal of his braces might affect his whistling, and February 16 was the big day. To our surprise, his whistling hasn’t stopped. Who needs an ipod when they have an “imatt”?

Prayer Items

* Pray for clear direction from God for the future of our Tomioka church planting project and for unity within the leadership team of the mother church. Consider using Mt. 16:18 when you pray.

* Pray that the seed of the word of God will grow and bear fruit in the hearts of Ann’s English students.

* Pray that Ann will be able to keep in touch with her students.

* Pray for the Nagoya city outreach English program with Kristy Little and Anna To as short term missionaries. They teach classes at four churches.

* Pray that God will raise up the next two Canadian or American teachers to continue the Nagoya evangelistic English classes in the fall.

Dale and Ann Little