TOKYO MULTICULTURAL CHURCH

Easter at TMC

On Easter Sunday April 5, over 60 people attended TMC. Typically, we see about 25-35. David preached and at the end of the worship service a new Chinese believer was baptized. After lunch prepared mostly by Jon & Laura, a group went to the nearby park for “Easter singing.” Then a children’s fun time was held in another small children’s playground.

TMC Recruitment

A year ago, TMC members called Matthew & Ai-Hua as full-time pastoral couple for TMC English ministries. Previously they had served a Chinese church with English ministries north of Tokyo. Now they are missionary candidates with Operation Mobilization Malaysia assigned to future ministry at TMC. They have been raising prayer and financial support in their home country of Malaysia, hoping to arrive in Tokyo this summer. However, they have been unable to raise the required finances so have had to indefinitely postpone their return to Japan. They are looking at other options for coming to Tokyo which may or may not include pastoral ministry at TMC. This will be clarified in the coming months.

We have been praying Mt. 9:38 and Lk. 10:2 ("Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”) for both our English and Japanese ministries at TMC, whether part-time or full-time. We had hoped a Japanese pastor could join us this spring but that did not prove possible at that time. And now that also seems to be the case for an English pastoral couple.

However, Jesus continues to build his church at TMC. This was impressed upon us by the timing of Dale’s communication with a pastor in Hong Kong about the possibility of some kind of ministry partnership at TMC. At the very time Matthew & Ai-Hua informed Dale that they could not come to TMC this summer, and perhaps even indefinitely, this pastor mentioned that he and his wife have had a burden for Japan for years. He was impressed that Dale's email came at just the time they had been seeking the Lord’s will for their future, wondering if it might include Japan. From his perspective, Dale's email was perfectly timed. From Dale's perspective, his response was at least as equally well timed. 

An ensuing initial zoom conversation confirmed that he and his wife might indeed be open and excited about coming to TMC. Names cannot be shared at this point. They will visit TMC on June 28 when we are there too. He will preach in our English worship service that morning (instead of Dale) and at a Chinese Cantonese worship service that afternoon.

Chinese make up the greatest number of foreigners living in Japan. However, there are many more Chinese Mandarin speakers than Chinese Cantonese speakers in Japan. So it makes sense that there are a number of Mandarin churches in the greater Tokyo area with its population of 28 million. However, even though a group of 20-30 Cantonese believers gather for worship twice a month at a hotel, there is apparently no Cantonese church in Tokyo. Might this pastor from Hong Kong help launch a Cantonese church, perhaps as a part of TMC? And might he contribute to TMC English ministries too?

CHRISTAR CANADA MISSION AGENCY

For one year we have been in the temporary “Safe Landing Zone” that Christar Canada had prepared for missionaries who needed to leave Serve Beyond Canada (EFC Canada). (In January 2025 EFCC unexpectedly announced that they would no longer send career missionaries overseas. Missionaries affected were given 3 months to find a new mission agency home). On March 26 we drove to Christar Canada's office in St. Catherines, Ontario where we visited with a number of Christar leaders/staff and signed covenant papers to become official Christar members. St. Catherines is on one direct route from Maine to Michigan where our daughter and family live. So after our visit at Christar we took the opportunity for the first time to drive this route through Ontario. It was great being back in Canada once again, and so nice that our new mission agency office is a convenient one-day drive from our home in Maine. Christar Canada continues to be the encouragement that we need and is giving us a new window on church planting by Christar missionaries serving around the world.

PRAYER ITEMS

• GIVE THANKS for TMC members and regulars, as well as visitors, who attend Sunday worship services offered in various combinations of English, Japanese, and Chinese Mandarin.
• PRAISE for the baptism at TMC on Easter Sunday and PRAY for ongoing growth and joy in the Lord for the one baptized.
• PRAY that the Lord will encourage and guide Matthew & Ai-Hua as they seek his will and make decisions about their future ministry. PRAY that the Lord might bring them back to Tokyo, whether or not that means being at TMC.
• PRAISE that a pastoral couple from Hong Kong is considering coming to TMC. PRAY that their TMC visit on June 28 will help them and TMC better understand the Lord’s leading.
• PRAY for preparation for our June 17-29 trip to Tokyo. We will meet with TMC leaders, hold a TMC Members’ Meeting, and Dale will teach the first part of his modular class on Modern Theology at Japan Bible Seminary.
• PRAY that we will be able to encourage various TMC leaders we meet with virtually week by week. PRAY for wisdom for Dale as he leads monthly TMC Leadership Team meetings.
• PRAY that the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to build his church at TMC and send us pastor/missionary workers for Japanese and English ministries.
• GIVE THANKS that on March 26 Christar Canada leaders graciously welcomed us aboard as full members. We are grateful.