Why Japan?
Words from Gary Harrison on our impact from last years mission trip (Pinnacle Minnistries)
...Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. Young people especially are plagued by futility at the inability to secure good jobs or make forward progress in their society. Many drop out, and ultimately choose suicide as their solution.
The churches of Japan attempt to speak into this situation in a practical fashion, but lack the resources. The average Japanese church is about 30 people with a part-time pastor, so reaching out to this troubled generation is difficult for them to do. Staffing practical solutions then become even more difficult.
On their previous mission trip, Joseph and Felicia were like magnets to the young people of Japan. Working in partnership with local churches, they staffed Bible studies, worked with kids in “English Cafes” and interacted with young adults on a college campus and at camps. They were able to, even in the brief time they had, serve as role models and mentors for a more positive and hopeful lifestyle. They literally became a force multiplier for the local churches in touching the needs of the young people of their communities.
~ Rev. Gary Harrison, Pinnacle Ministries
The churches of Japan attempt to speak into this situation in a practical fashion, but lack the resources. The average Japanese church is about 30 people with a part-time pastor, so reaching out to this troubled generation is difficult for them to do. Staffing practical solutions then become even more difficult.
On their previous mission trip, Joseph and Felicia were like magnets to the young people of Japan. Working in partnership with local churches, they staffed Bible studies, worked with kids in “English Cafes” and interacted with young adults on a college campus and at camps. They were able to, even in the brief time they had, serve as role models and mentors for a more positive and hopeful lifestyle. They literally became a force multiplier for the local churches in touching the needs of the young people of their communities.
~ Rev. Gary Harrison, Pinnacle Ministries
Words from Fukui sensei (Pastor Fukui)
Thank you for sending Joe and Felicia to partner with us in our ministry in Japan. We welcome their great passion and sacrificial spirit based in faith. They will be serving in churches in the Shingu region (the east side of the mainland), a very rural area, and in three or four churches in the Tokyo urban area. They will be assisting us in English conversation classes, an English cafe, children’s summer camps, and, English contemporary worship. Our prayer is that these ministries will be fruitful, attracting new people to our churches, and moving our churches forward towards greater effectiveness in reaching our communities. It has been nearly 200 years since Japan opened it’s doors to Protestant churches, and yet less than 1% of the population is Christian. So pray that Joe and Felicia will help our churches discover new ways of reaching people with the Gospel, and partner with them financially to make their vision a reality this summer.
~Pastor Makoto Fukui, Tamagawa Christian Church, Director of Missions for the Rengo Association of Churches.
~Pastor Makoto Fukui, Tamagawa Christian Church, Director of Missions for the Rengo Association of Churches.
Words from Ray Swatkowsi (Pinnacle Ministries)
Pinnacle Ministries has been working with the Rengo Association of Churches for the past seven years. Our partnership has focused on training pastors to mobilize their churches in their communities for greater effectiveness. We have used a proven tool, The Church Retool Kit Pathway, that has now been translated into Japanese and is proving to be effective in Japan. The pastors of each of the churches Joe and Felicia will be working with have completed their training, with a fresh new vision for their ministry. I am excited about the gifts that Joe and Felicia will be using to assist these churches, and the passion they have already for the Japanese church.
~Ray Swatkowski, Pinnacle Ministries
~Ray Swatkowski, Pinnacle Ministries