I would like to highlight an area in the world where GCC supports missions work and those who are actively attempting to win disciples for Jesus Christ. We may be doing mercy work there as well, by improving health conditions and alleviating poverty and suffering. We can’t bring Christ to people and say, “Be warm and well fed” (James 2:16) without addressing their human needs. On the other hand, simply meeting the needs of their physical bodies without caring also for their eternal souls is both foolish and disobedient to Christ’s commandment to us (Matthew 28:18-20).
Grace currently gives regular financial support to Japan missionaries Dan and Carol Iverson, and Michael and Cathalain Carter, who are with Mission to the World (MTW), the PCA mission sending agency. We have exposed you to a number of missionaries headed to Japan to encourage your families to support them, including Jason and Ai Kueh, Virginia Lavallee, and Tom and Karen Mirabella. In time, GCC may be able to bring some of them onto our support list, but we encourage your prayer and financial support toward any of them! They are all on the same team.
Japan is unlike many places in the world to which missionaries are sent. The material needs of Japanese people are few. With the exception of the recent tsunami, ordinarily we do not need to send doctors or relief workers. We do not need to dig wells and assist with sanitation. In fact, many times the equipment used elsewhere for these purposes was designed and built in Japan. It is wealthy, healthy, and safe. On GCC’s 2014 trip to Japan, I felt much safer “lost” in downtown Tokyo at 11:15pm on a Friday night than I feel in our own town after nightfall.
Why send Christian missionaries to Japan? Japan has so few Christians that there is a great need for church planters and other Christian workers to assist the Japanese Church in her mission. We have complete freedom to send workers there, though it is a very costly place to live. The language is difficult to learn, the culture is very different than our own, and the road for missions is hard. There are at last, after the tsunami of 2011, some signs of faster progress for the gospel. Watch this brief video of Dr. Tim Keller speaking on the importance of reaching Tokyo for Christ.
How great is the need for Japan? The Christian population of Japan is about 0.22% according to our missionaries. That’s a difficult number to comprehend. That means if you met 1000 Japanese people, you could expect to meet about 2 disciples of Jesus Christ. Next time you are in a crowded shopping center, stop and pray for Japan. Almost none of the people you see in a similar setting in Japan would be Christians. Or, if you attend a sporting event in Japan with 10,000 people in it, about 22 of them would be disciples of Jesus. While America is confusing to figure out, generally I’ve read about 1 in 3 Americans are Christians in some way that affects the way they live their life; they believe in Jesus Christ as the way to heaven and seek to live in some way guided by that belief. Taking the examples above, that means about 300 of 1000 of our neighbors are fellow Christians, and if we were at that sporting event, 3000 of the 10,000 in the arena would share our faith. Japan is a very needy mission field.
Iversons
GCC supports MTW missionaries Dan and Carol Iverson. Dan is the MTW team leader in Japan, and is a career (30 years or so) missionary in Japan. Dan and I were in seminary together, and I was privileged to watch the Lord call Dan and Carol and their nine children to a life of service in Japan. Dan and Carol had a vision not merely to evangelize the lost, but to plant churches. And beyond planting churches, they dreamed of planting a family of churches – a Japanese presbytery. That dream has become a reality as church planting efforts have multiplied over and over again through the years. Our Japan 2012 team was privileged to visit the numerous sites around the Tokyo area that are associated with our MTW efforts. Dan and Carol have been instrumental in this effort.
Carters
Michael and Cathalain Carter serve in beautiful city of Nagoya. Do you know GCC members Nathan and Kimberly Carter and their children Elliot and Norah? Michael is Nathan’s brother. They are sons of Pastor Paul Carter, a leader in our presbytery (Blue Ridge). Nagoya is the home of some famous companies; Toyota and Honda are familiar to us all! It is a neat and clean version of Detroit, minus all the urban blight. After two years of intensive language school, the Carters moved to northern Nagoya to intern in Shiga Church. Michael is involved in various outreaches including teaching English classes, leading evangelistic Bible studies, and occasionally preaching. Cathalain is involved in ministries such as mom and kids clubs, cooking classes, and various evangelistic outreach programs. After the two year internship Michael desires to partner with a national pastor and plant a new church in Nagoya.
Recently GCC joined the Japan Partnership. This means that we are committed financially to the progress of the gospel in Japan, and are partnering in cooperation with other PCA churches committed to Japan. It may mean in the future that we work together to plan trips and share resources. It also means that we have a voice in what happens across the Pacific with MTW in Japan. I encourage you to take time in your week to pray for Japan, and for the Iversons and the Carters. You can download recent newsletters here with updates, statistics, stories, and prayer requests. Suffice it to say that all this means that GCC has a significant interest in the progress of the gospel in the “land of the rising sun”.
In Him,
Don