Working with a Japanese Denomination:

One of the privileges we have as missionaries in Japan is to work together with a Japanese denomination and with Japanese pastors. The relationship between our missionary team and the PCJ (Presbyterian Church in Japan) is a mutually beneficial relationship. Japanese pastors have many insights to share with us about Japanese people and some of the difficulties particular to starting churches in Japan. On the other hand, we are able to offer the PCJ, new ideas and we find it easier to take the risk to try new things.    While cultural and language differences do present challenges at times, and we don't always see things in the same way, we are thankful for a healthy and genuinely warm relationship with the PCJ, and we thank God for the privilege of serving alongside the pastors within the PCJ.

Prayer and Concert of Prayer:

If the cross-cultural missionary is on the “front lines,” then it is the concentrated prayer for their ministry that moves the obstacles and paves the way for God’s work to go forward. With ongoing opportunities and cross-cultural challenges, the missionary is in constant need of God’s wisdom and guidance. The Tokyo Chiba team views prayer not only as an important tool but also as an essential element of life here. Prayer keeps the vision clear and the true ministry in focus. Because the walls we encounter in Japan are all-encompassing, as a team we reserve a slot of time every month for an extended “concert of prayer.” During this time we corporately come before the throne of grace to worship and praise God, repent, and seek God’s guidance while standing in the thick of ministry. We have also asked those who know and support our ministry to pray consistently for our team. A ministry prayer update is sent out monthly to those who have covenanted to pray for us and for the work God is doing here. It is great to see how God faithfully hears and answers both our spoken and heartfelt requests, and gives abundantly beyond what we can ask, think, or even imagine.

Being a Team:

The MTW Tokyo/Chiba church planting team is just that—a team. WIth 29 missionaries and 22 national staff members working together we are blessed to have a range of gifts, skills, and talents available to be used in this church-planting endeavor. As we strive together, we have grown to love and appreciate one another. We are not only a community working together, but a family, bound by our love and commitment to one another and to seeing Christ's kingdom come to Japan. As a community of believers, we regularly pray, plan, and worship together. We also meet in small groups to hold one another accountable and to encourage one another. This is so important here in Japan where most of our time is spent with new Christians and not-yet-Christians. We have the privilege of modeling a Christian community for the small–l—but growing—Japanese church.

Busyness and How It Affects Community:

The vision of our team, coupled with the almost overwhelming needs in Japan, means that this is a very busy team, where every day of the week is a workday. Many of us feel two tensions regarding the busy pace of our team. God made each of us uniquely, and while some of us have to fight the temptation to overwork, others of us have to fight the temptation to be slack, and some of us have to fight both at different times. We need each other’s help and the Spirit’s help in this way.

Another tension that many of us feel is the tension between developing relationships with other team members or spending time with the Japanese. Of course, it is not an either/or proposition. But we find that it is not always easy to have balance. And many times, we feel disconnected from our team members.

Given the busy pace, it is important that we take time off in order to pace ourselves. Individual team members have an assigned day off each week, but it often happens that one person is off on a different day than those with whom they might want to spend down time. Also, since ministry in Japan is highly people-intensive, a person might need alone time to recharge for ministry, leaving the more extroverted person without companionship. Sometimes distance intervenes to make getting together less attractive when one is already tired out, and needs that day to recoup.

The team sets Wednesday apart for team activities, including but not limited to English worship service, concert of prayer, team business meeting, English teacher training, and fellowship.   

Unity as a Team:

When our team first formed, we recognized the vital place unity would play in both our longevity on the field and our authentic witness of Christ to the Japanese. We know that many missionaries leave the field due to problems with other missionaries. Our team is made up of prideful, self-seeking sinners, and we need God's help and grace in our relationships. We continually pray for a deep unity that will testify to the truth of the gospel. God has blessed us by not only preserving our unity over the years, but also by giving us much joy as we work, play, dream, and pray together.

Creativity on a Church-Planting Mission Team:

Worship is never the same twice. Worship is the ultimate goal of missions. To see more cultures, more kinds of people, more diversity worshiping the same God is the greatest work of art. It is the work of the Creator, done through His creatures, namely us. This is why we believe in church-planting teams. We are a diverse group of people, creatively seeking to bring more people into contact with the gospel and ultimately to see more worshipers.

In order to do church-planting, especially in a culture foreign to our own, we must be willing to be creative. We must try a myriad of new ways to say the same thing, a plethora of events, activities, groups, methods, etc., to give yet another kind of person the chance to hear and see the Word made flesh.

And yet we remember that we are but the creature and the tool; He is the Creator and He will without fail create His greatest work of art—His kingdom. We merely, while using our creativity to the utmost, get to be part of it.

Educating Children on a Church-Planting Mission Team:

At Covenant Community School International (CCSI) we are working with our Japanese brothers and sisters to provide a Christian education for their covenant children, as well as those on our missionary team. Together we have created a school with two language tracks that has one vision and purpose: to raise godly children who know Christ and want to serve Him.

We believe that through this education, we are preparing our children—both Japanese and American—to take their place in Christ’s Church throughout the world and to instill in them the need to proclaim the gospel to every tribe and nation.