Dear Parkside Church Family,

Thank for your continued partnership in the gospel. Your prayers and support are felt! The people of Japan have captured our hearts, but the work can be slow and discouraging.

The Tohoku region has been referred to as the “graveyard of missionaries and pastors.” When I first heard this, I thought, “How negative!” Now, I’m thankful for this title. Not only does it drive us to support our Japanese and mission partners with more resolve, but it also exponentially increases the joy we experience over each Japanese who becomes a Christian. Jesus said in Luke 15 “There is joy in heaven over ONE sinner who repents.” There’s nothing quite like that joy! We work closely with Yukimasa Otomo, senior pastor of Shiogama Bible Baptist Church (SBBC) and Satoshi Ueno, pastor of C-Side church (the church plant in Shichigahama).

Our ministry is to support them in reaching this area for Christ. We pray we can hold up their hands as Aaron and Hur did for Moses during the battle against Amalek. To do this, we wear many hats. We host youth nights at our home, teach English, plan events for families, meet with moms, lead Sunday schools, etc. The youth nights at our home have been an integral part of our ministry this term. It has been a blessing to see the impact they have had. These nights are purposeful and prayed over. The groups of kids who are invited are different each time. Sometimes the evenings are used to reconnect with kids who we haven’t seen in a while. Other times it is to introduce more of Jesus to the kids from our church's English classes. And other times, we use the time to equip and encourage Christian children in how to follow Jesus in their context.

Like in most countries, it’s difficult to separate culture from religion. When friends eagerly show pictures of being blessed by the Buddhist priest, or share videos of them praying for good fortune and ringing the bells at the shrines at New Years, my heart wants to cry out. They would say they are not religious—these are just special cultural markers of childhood or yearly celebrations. How do you separate what is “being Japanese” from what is “idolatry”? These questions are difficult for adult Japanese Christians, yet our Christian kids face them daily at school and even in their sports. These questions bring us and our Japanese partners to our knees. We need God’s wisdom.

Please continue to pray for us and our ministry partners, Pastor Yukimasa Otomo and Pastor Satoshi Uneno. We want to be faithful in sharing the gospel and worshipping our Savior in Tohoku Japan.

-Chris & Leanne