Local Tokyo Pastors Respond

On Monday I attended the monthly Pastors’ meeting of the Tokyo district of the Rengo. This was the first pastors’ meeting since the quake since the last one was canceled due to transportation disorders. I was very interested in hearing each of the pastors’ personal experiences, reports from their churches, prayer requests, and hearing their response to this disaster. We were given reports before that no Rengo church had suffered any major damage. Several pastors on the north side of Tokyo mentioned a lot of shaking which caused a mess. One pastor mentioned there was liquefaction of the ground in his area.
1. TEARS – Some pastors families and some church members have family connections in the hard-hit areas. Unfortunately deaths were reported along with some who had to evacuate. Several pastors shared in tears for their members and their families. (You have to understand that for Japanese men to shed tears in a semi-formal meeting like this is very unusual).
2. ONGOING MINISTRY – Churches continue to evangelize and teach the Bible. As we approach Easter there were many reports of people preparing for baptism.
3. SENDING SUPPLIES – Many churches are collecting supplies and sending them to organizations distributing them to churches. One entire network of churches in one large city have been working together do send supplies three times already. One Rengo church serves as the collection center. Many too are collecting funds for all relief efforts.
4. SENDING TEAMS – As mentioned before the Kokubunji church had already sent one team to Miyagi Prefecture http://www.gospelrest.com/rengo-and-converge-respond/. They will be sending another on the 13th. Many were interested in participating in this way.
5. ENCOURAGEMENT – One older pastor was very encouraged to hear about all the efforts that local churches are putting into a disaster response. The pastors were encouraged when I shared about the concerns of churches in the US (and around the world) and then some of the plans our mission has to serve alongside them in this crisis with volunteer teams.