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UPDATE FROM DALE AND ANN LITTLE, May 2005
Modeling and Encouraging both Church Planting and Theological Education in Japan
Tokyo JAPAN
 

CHURCH PLANTING

Since our return to Japan in January we have been developing our strategy of simultaneously helping to plant two churches in the greater Tokyo area. Our desire is to accomplish this through partnerships with the mother churches. This kind of partnership entails our part time commitment to each of two church planting projects and an equal or greater leadership commitment to the church plants by the mother churches. This strategy requires that the Japanese side take the major responsibility in church planting, while we come alongside as deemed mutually necessary and beneficial.

We are thankful that God has led us into such a partnership with one mother church. The Kodama Evangelical Free Church in Saitama prefecture (90 minutes north of us) has been praying for a number of years about starting a daughter church in Tomioka city, Gunma prefecture. Tomioka, with a population of 50,000 and a long Buddhist history, has only one evangelical church. That church is not making outreach a priority. The Tomioka church plant is just in its beginning stages, holding a home Bible study once a month. We are excited at the possibilities of how our gifting and interests might be used to the fullest in the new church plant as well as at the mother church in Kodama. Our church planting strategy and our philosophy of ministry seem to align very well with Pastor and Mrs. Matsumura of Kodama EFC (the two people at the left in the photo). In addition to participating in the home Bible study in Tomioka, we have made a commitment to participate in the new church plant or at the mother church at least two Sundays a month. In addition, beginning in the fall Ann will be able to hold outreach English classes, craft classes, etc., on weekdays several times a month.

The Lord has provided the Kobayashi family—one couple and their two adult daughters—as the nucleus of the new church plant. (The four are in the middle in the photo). As our numbers grow in the years to come we hope to begin a weekly Sunday afternoon worship service. The long range goal is to help plant a church which can call its own Japanese pastor.

We are still waiting upon the Lord to show us where our second part time church planting placement in the greater Tokyo area might be. At the moment there seems to be a good possibility about one hour east of us in Saitama prefecture.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Dale had the privilege of teaching a short one month class on hermeneutics in March at the EFC of Japan Lay Institute. Beginning in April he resumed teaching theology once a week at Japan Bible Seminary and in the same month he began teaching theology once a week at Tokyo Christian University. Most evangelical churches and denominations in Japan are facing a shortage of pastors. This is certainly true in the EFC of Japan. Current pastors are rapidly approaching retirement and younger ones do not seem to be coming up through the ranks very quickly. This has a direct effect on the church planting ministries of all evangelical missions here in Japan because one of the primary goals of our church planting is to turn a newly planted church over to Japanese pastors. When such pastors are not available the church planting cycle can grind to a halt. Therefore, we are committed to both church planting and leadership development. We desire to not only model church planting here in Japan. We also desire to intentionally engage in planting the Church of Jesus Christ here by helping to train future Japanese pastors and missionaries.

MISSIONARY CONFERENCE

March 28 to April 1 we attended the annual EFCA International Mission (IM) missionary conference in Fukuoka City, on Kyushu island. We traveled by car and were able to stay in the home of Doug and Cheryl Conrad, IM missionaries in Fukuoka. If you view the islands of Japan as a giant sock, we traveled from the heel (Tokyo) to the toe (Fukuoka), stopping overnight on the way. We were amazed at how much countryside (boonies) there is in a country so populated. (We are also amazed at how much you can spend on highway tolls in Japan!) Much of the last half of our journey was through mountains. Ann drove through 24 tunnels in just an hour of driving while Dale took a nap! Just a week before our arrival, Fukuoka area was jolted by a major earthquake, damaging many homes including the house-church of one of the EFCA-IM missionaries (Vermes). They have experienced many nerve wracking after shocks, but there were very few during our time there. We enjoyed fellowship, strategic discussion, and devotional times with our fellow missionaries and even attended a professional baseball game.

OUTREACH ENGLISH TEACHERS NEEDED

On our return home from Fukuoka we stopped overnight in Nagoya city to pick up Laura Wong, short term English teacher with the EFC of Canada Mission. We brought her to our home in Tokyo for a few days of relaxation. Laura is committed to six months of teaching outreach English in three Nagoya area churches, ending in June. The program is going so well that the churches are requesting two teachers for nine months, beginning in September. If you are interested in a short term tentmaking ministry in Japan, contact us or see the EFC of Canada Mission in Japan website (www.efccmj.net).

LADIES' COMMISSION

Ann has been serving as chairperson of the Japan Evangelical Missionary Association’s Women in Mission commission. The big event of the year was the annual ladies’ retreat in March. She and her committee are all new to these responsibilities and have learned much from working together. Ann is particularly thankful for the lull in church ministry responsibilities at the moment (while positioning ourselves for future church planting) because it has allowed her to concentrate on leading this commission and the retreat. God’s timing is good.

SPECIAL PROJECT

We need a photocopier/printer for use in our home/office and are raising CD$470/US$380 for it. We need it for our church planting ministry and for our mission leadership responsibilities.

If you or your church would like to contribute to this special project, we would ask that you send your donation to the EFC of Canada Mission (EFCCM)—address below. If you need a US tax deductible receipt, however, feel free to send your donation to the EFC of America International Mission (EFCA-IM)—address also below. Please mark your donation as “Special project for the Littles: photocopier/printer.”

KIDS KORNER

You know you are an MK when…you have a passport long before you get your driver’s license.

Kristy received her first passport before she was 6 months old, but she just received her driver’s license at 21 years of age. Driver’s training in Japan is expensive, requires a high level of language acquisition and is for adults 18 years and older. So most missionary kids wait until college to get their driver’s license. During our recent home assignment we were able to help Kristy finally get her driver’s license. During her summer in Maine working at the family farm market she passed her written permit and when she returned to Maine (from university in western Canada) to join us for Christmas, she successfully passed her road test. Counting the summer months and her time at Christmas, her driver’s test preparation took less than 3 months! Way to go Kristy!

PRAYER ITEMS

* Pray that God would prepare hearts in the city of Tomioka for the planting of the gospel and for a new church. Pray for our strategy and preparation for outreach ministry in Tomioka.

* Pray that the Lord will show us the location for our second part time church planting placement.

* Praise God for the opportunities for Dale to teach theology in Tokyo. Pray for wisdom, strength, and creativity for his weekly teaching.

* Pray for progress of the gospel at the Fukuoka house-church of the EFCA-IM and for God’s peace in the midst of ongoing aftershocks.

* Pray for God’s provision for two English teachers to replace Laura in the EFC churches of the Nagoya city area.

* Praise God for an excellent JEMA Women in Ministry retreat in March.

Dale and Ann Little