Month: December 2018

2018-12-16 JCFN Info, Megumix

JCFN Regional Meetings in Kanto

Hello!

Megumix here!

In Japan we seemed to have had summer in early December. There were days when the children in the neighborhood were outside playing in short sleeves.

But Winter came.

Cold Wave！！！

Finally!  It’s cold!

As colds are prevalent, please take care of yourself.

This month and next the “Megumix Corner” of the JCFN blog will introduce regional meetings which cooperate with JCFN.

There are people from all over overseas coming to back Japan to various areas throughout the country. If you return to an area nearby to a group, please come and checkout a local group.

This time in the blog we will start in Kanto introducing Chiba prefecture’s “Richiba”, and Tokyo’s “GiFT”.

I interviewed the leaders, and asked them some of the following information:

①Regional Meeting Name

②When and where is it held?

③What types of activities do you do?

④What’s your vision?

⑤What are some special things about your area? Tell us an appealing point!

⑥Any thing else? Comment? Feel free to any any additional information!

 

First of of all, Ricchiba!

Miss Kana Katoh, leader

①Ricchiba（Returnees in Chiba)

②We meet once every three to four moths at a church in the Chiba area.  Since Chiba is a large prefecture, I really want to travel to different areas for the gatherings as much as possible! (So far we’ve had meetings in the cities of Kisarazu, Mobara, Chiba, Ichikawa, Urayasu, Noda, and Yachiyo, I’d like to go to places I haven’t yet visited.)
③ Our program centers on “Fellowship.” There are times when we eat together, sing praise songs, listen to messages and testimonies. There were other times when we went to a movie together, and other times had a picnic in the park.
④ Of course, we want to receive returnees and also have a meeting where people who haven’t yet met God and people in the community can also join in freely.
⑤ If you think that  Chiba Prefecture has nice dating spots such as Disneyland and illuminations. There are also the mountains and the sea, so you can interact with nature! A lot of special products! Seafood is delicious. “Chiba-kun” (prefectural mascot) is also cute!
⑥Our next meeting is February 11, 2019, which is a national holiday.
We’ve had fellowship with each other and we are preparing to pray for a place where we can encourage each other!

Here is what “Ricchiba” looks like ↓

NEXT,

GiFT

This is an interview with Mr. Kentaro Imai.

①GiFT (Growing in Fellowship Tokyo)

②We hold an event once every 2 months at different locations. This year’s events are scheduled to be held on January 19th and March 9th.

③We hold  events for the purpose of following-up returnee Christians, we create opportunities to connect returning brothers and sisters with brothers and sisters in the church, community and same returning Christians. In addition, brothers and sisters who have already returned come together to create a time and place where we can cross the church boundaries and have praise and fellowship.

④From John 15:16, we have been working with a vision of “bearing fruit”, and I feel that by having the brothers and sisters who gather through GiFT be connected with God and one another, in each church, community, workplace, etc. I think they can bear fruit.

⑤Since it’s Tokyo, so Skytree? LOL!  Appeal points are the returnees Christians, churches, and many communities!

Here is what GiFT looks like ↓

Thanks to all the leaders!

Next time I will leave Kanto and introduce other community meetings!

It’s gonna be fun〜

2018-12-12 JCFN Info

RJC Goes to The Couch! (3)

Part 1

Part 2

Don Wright (RJC Founder, Editor of Operation Japan Prayer,  Former Missionary to Japan)

 

Here is what our director, Dennis Peters shared in our RJC email report:

What a fabulous October we have enjoyed.

The Multisite Conference, while not without its hiccups, was such a huge blessing. October 19 in Seattle (October 20 in Japan) we had a special service with our main Speaker, Pastor Yonai (who actually flew to Seattle from Tokyo), with the Japan sites, Osaka and Tokyo.

 

Then, on Saturday, October 20 in the USA Washington D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, Dallas, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle held conferences where people from all over the USA and Canada gathered together, not just to hear Yonai Sensei, but to share, learn and worship together.

 

We have heard so much about the networking opportunities and the excitement from each location. On top of that, we had a “Joint Sharing Time,” where all 10 sites were able to share a little about what is going on at their location. It was POWERFUL! 600 people from all over the USA and Japan gathered in 12 different locations sharing their passion for reaching Japanese for Christ! WOW! WOW! WOW!

 

Here are some of my personal reflections coming out of the multi-site event.

  1. Japanese students and families in the business world are all over the US and Canada. The more concentrated areas are more easily identified. But the multi-site and mini-conference format allows us to help connect people and ministries more broadly. And the concept can easily help in other countries of the world.
  2. RJC can be of help in Japan. Up to this point we have focused on the US and Canada, but RJC conferences can provide the opportunity for Christian leaders to connect and learn concerning returnee ministries from one another primarily in English.
  3. A direct internet connection is essential. On Friday evening the broadcast from Seattle to Japan was through a wi-fi connection which was not good. (Even then, in spite of the technical difficulties, the event allowed healthy networking.)
  4. It is important to work harder to gain cooperation with the leaders of Japanese churches in the various locations. They are so important to the effectiveness of RJC and JCFN.

The Kingdom of God, centered around the common vision of reaching Japanese in the US and Canada, and changing Japan and then the world needs RJC and JCFN. The multi-site conference can be an important tool. There is too much to do. We can’t sit on the couch, and we can’t do it alone!

END

2018-12-11 JCFN Info

RJC Goes to The Couch! (2)

Part 1

Don Wright (RJC Founder, Editor of Operation Japan Prayer,  Former Missionary to Japan)

The growth of RJC, especially with the international conference and multiple regional meetings has pushed us to try something new, a multi-site one-day internet conference, a conference which would connect our various ministry locations, making broad connections, while being very local. It sounded like a simple easy idea, but it turned out to be much more complex with a large unexpected learning curve. And it helped us pray more than usual! It is hard to move a couch that stretches across the continent and even to Japan.

 

October 20th was the date. The theme: “Working Together to Reach Japanese.” The main speaker: Pastor Hiroaki Yonai, who is also the JCFN Chairman. The main conference hub was Northshore Community Church in Kirkland, Washington. This is the church where RJC actually was birthed. Please  check out the recordings at https://rjcnetwork.org/conferences/2018-rjc-multi-site-conference/.

 

In order to qualify to be a multi-site location we asked the following:

  1. The possibility of interested people attending.
  2. A planning committee.
  3. A meeting place that will have the ability to project the internet meeting.
  4. The willingness to host the conference with lunch and additional programs, like seminars and panel discussions.
  5. Willingness to help cover the general expenses of the conference.

We were thankful for the 10 sites in the USA, and two in Japan. We had previously avoided having conferences in Japan, but the multi-site format made it possible to have one in Osaka and in Tokyo.

Besides the 12 sites we also promoted what we called “Mini-Conferences.” These were locations that had interested people, but not enough to meet the above five tasks. We asked the following:

  1. At least one person who would organize the event.
  2. The meeting place could even be the home of the leader.
  3. Internet connection. Probably most of the program would come from the main hub. And the mini-conference might even meet at a different time, using the conference recordings.

We know of at least three locations that did the mini-conference. The most organized location was Houston, where they were able to function like a multi-site event. Also, there were gatherings in Allentown, PA and in Indiana.

to be continued to Part 3

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