By Seima Aoyagi
aoyagifamily@gmail.com
PCA TEACHING ELDER; PRESBYTERIAN MISSION INTERNATIONAL
Like more than 99% of the people of Japan, I (Seima) grew up in a non-Christian
Buddhist home. I did not meet a Christian until I was 17, and it was through this friend that I became a Christian. My life changed. The Lord blessed me with a wonderful Christian wife and led us into seven years of experience as a college minister in Japan under MTW. Having a chance to receive further
theological training in the US at Covenant Seminary and becoming ordained as a gospel minister, I felt strongly that these blessings should not be only for ourselves, but be used for the greater redemption of Japan. Through the prayers and support from individuals and churches, God sent us back to Japan to pray, plan and prepare for a new church planting work in Tokyo.
ABOUT TOKYO
Tokyo is considered the world’s largest city with 36 million people. A city with high
end technology, industry, culture, etc. Its efficient and diligent work culture is known world-wide. Its creativity amazes the world. But at the same time, the Japanese are the second largest unreached people group in the world. After nearly 500 years of Christian witness, the evangelical population in Japan is only 0.22%! Because of established Buddhist tradition, materialism and a strong relativistic eastern world view, mission work in Japan, especially in Tokyo, has been difficult. Without the message of gospel but instead the strong message of perfectionist expectations from society, Japanese people are under huge pressure that is leading to various mental illnesses as well as one of the highest suicide rates in the world - with 34,000 suicides per year. Our hope is that the gospel saves the people and transforms the city.
TARGET AREA: THE TOKYO WATERFRONT
Where then do we start? The area that God has directed us to is a newly developed area known as the Tokyo Waterfront. It is centered around Toyosu with 7 man-made islands originally used for shipping and
industry, but now a residential, business, and retail hub. It is the closest residentially concentrated area to Tokyo station (5min train ride) and is a center of regentrification. This area includes 126,000 people but without any Christian Church of any kind. People moving into the area are characterized by young married professionals (mid-30s) with 1 or 2 young children. Many work in the financial, tech, and media industries as well as in the medical field and in government agencies. It is not an overstatement to say that many are considered leaders in Tokyo. They moved into the area with much hope for their new family in a new town with the possibility of new friends.In spite of these characteristics, it is sad to see that this area is no exception from the rest of of Japan with high suicide rates, broken families, and loneliness. Despite the bright hope they have, their workload due to high-responsibility jobs brings their family under stress. Since this new revitalized Tokyo waterfront is such a new residential area, it still lacks a sense of a connected community, which leads people into isolation, and in some cases into suicide. We truly see both Glory and Grievance in this area.
OUR DREAM FOR THE CITY
What we want see is how the gospel of Jesus Christ could redeem the Tokyo Waterfront and turn it into the area where people could say “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Ps 133:1). For this, we believe Tokyo needs a holistic transformation by the gospel. We want to see the people believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, belong in Community, and bless the City. Our dream for Tokyo Waterfront is that someday it would be known as an area that does not have suicide, but rather the families that live there would experience the warm love of the community supporting each other and would be empowered daily to work and lead Tokyo. At the center of this movement, Japanese people would find that churches actually were the ones leading the community in this way.
To seek such a transformation, we need to start a church of Christ. We have named our church “Grace Harbor Church.” This name is derived not just from the fact that the Tokyo Waterfront area was originally known for the shipping industry, but more than that, “Harbor” signifies a place where ships take shelter from the storm, as well as where they make preparations for their next journey. The vision of Grace Harbor Church is to see the Tokyo Waterfront area become an area overflowing with the grace and blessings of Jesus Christ, and become an area where people can be healed from the painful wounds of their personal storms, to rest, to recover, and to be sent out again on their next voyage in life; as salt and light to make Tokyo Waterfront more beautiful than ever.
With that end, we set threefold values for Grace Harbor Church:
GOSPEL-CENTERED CHURCH THAT SEEKS TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL
GRACE-RENEWAL CHURCH THAT SEEKS TO BELONG IN THE COMMUNITY
MISSIONAL CHURCH THAT SEEKS TO BLESS THE CITY
THE TEAM
This church planting work cannot start without a team. God has been confirming His plan to start a church by providing teammates, one by one, to join our church planting team in Toyko. So far we have 4 missionary families, a Japanese pastor and his family returning to Japan, and a Japanese intern on our team. I have never seen such a surge in mission efforts in Tokyo!!
Jon and Sarah Pfeil: PCA Ruling Elder; Mission
to the World (current)
Sean and Lisa Radke: PCA Teaching Elder;
Mission to the World (Summer 2013)
Joe and Felicity Congdon: Covenant
Seminary (2014)
Seita and Emma Sakaguchi: Japanese Pastor at Sovereign Grace Church (2014)
Bob and Sharon Drews: PCA Ruling Elder; Mission to the World (2014)
Atsushi Kabeya: Pre-Seminary 2-Year Japanese Intern; Presbyterian Church in Japan (current)
FINANCIAL NEED
God has so far provided 10 leaders committed to joining our launch team, and it is now our prayer that God would provide the kick-off funding of $545,700 for the next six years to rent facilities, pay for staff and interns, and do outreach ministry until we become a self-sustaining church, hopefully by 2020. Recognizing that Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world, it is difficult to have the funding without outside support. Please pray that God would provide all that we need.
HOW TO SUPPORT:
By Prayer: Because of its spiritual darkness, this work cannot be started nor continued without strong prayer support. We need 1000 prayer supporters behind us.
By Supporting Financially: For us to start a church in Tokyo Waterfront, we need supporter who stand behind us. Please prayerfully consider becoming our partner. Please note that any amount, no matter how small, will help and be greatly appreciated. Jesus took five loaves and two fish to do a great miracle, feeding 5000. I believe God can do the same thing using our faithful response to God’s call, however small it appears. If you feel called to support financially, please send donations through any of the
following three agencies.
Presbyterian Mission International (40%)
Presbyterian Mission International (PMI)
12330 Conway Road, St. Louis, MO 63141
Memo: Grace Harbor Church Tokyo
Redeemer City to City (30%)
Redeemer City to City
1359 Broadway, Suite 1102, New York, NY 10018
Memo: Grace Harbor Church Tokyo
Mission to the World (20%)
Mission to the World
P.O. Box 116284 Atlanta, GA 30368
Memo: Grace Harbor Church Tokyo (92889)
TIMELINE
2014: Launch the first worship site in Toyosu
2016: Start the second worship site in Tsukishima
2018: Start the third worship site in Shinonome;
2020: Become financially self-sustained.
2022: Send another church planter to plant a daughter church in another location in Tokyo.
