Japan Prayer Update 2013

Current ministry project

OMF booklet


OMF

Ministry to Japanese Youth

Out of a population of 127 million, there are fewer than 500,000 evangelical Christians in Japan. Only a very small portion of that number is young adults. OMF International’s workers are mentoring young Christians around Tokyo to help them build friendships with non-Christians and lead them to Christ. Based in a youth center or youth café, workers encourage new and young Christians to walk together, discover God’s perspective on their lives and be equipped to live out their faith in a place where the church is seen as irrelevant.

God, you tell us that you will pour out your Spirit on all people (Acts 2:17). Please remember the youth of Japan and use OMF International’s youth center and café to reach and disciple young people for you.

Street Dancing

CRASH Japan 

OperationSAFE: Child Trauma Care

Over the last two years CRASH Japan has trained over a hundred child trauma volunteers and provided OperationSAFE camps and events for over 500 children in Tohoku.  In 2013 we have already held special Easter events in Ibaraki and Miyagi and will be conducting OperationSAFE camps for children during the summer as well.  OperationSAFE will also be working with partners in Sichuan, China to hold camps for children affected by the massive quake there in April.  Tohoku Recovery Thursday, 02 May 2013 13:59 Over the last two years CRASH Japan has mobilized volunteers to work over a combined total of 40,000 days bringing millions of dollars worth of aid and support to dozens of communities in Tohoku.  From the early days of damage assessment and setting up volunteer bases, to the massive distribution of aid and supplies CRASH volunteers worked together with local churches to bring help and hope to stricken communities. CRASH has handed over its volunteer bases to local church networks in Iwate and Fukushima and members of our field staff have continued to work as part of these local efforts.  Volunteers from both within Japan and abroad continue to come and work directly with the local networks to sustain the work indefinately.  Programs begun with support from CRASH are continuing in sustainable ways helping to provide tsunami survivors with dignity. CRASH is supporting ongoing work in Tohoku through partnerships with local church networks, local programs and our CRASH field office in Sendai, Miyagi.  Great East Japan Disaster Emergency Relief Thursday, 02 May 2013 13:33 In 2005, God placed a burden on my heart to prepare the church in Japan to serve their communities in times of disaster.  At that time, I did not know what to do, only that something needed to be done so that the church could fulfill its God-given role of being a source of compassion and hope in difficult times.  Looking back, it now seems obvious that God was indeed preparing us for the work of the last two years bringing help and hope to Tohoku.  We learned about emotional and spiritual care, child trauma work, and volunteer management through responding alongside other organizations to disasters both here in Japan and abroad and built up trusted networks of Christians with a passion to bring God's love to their cities.  All of this was put to use, stretched and further developed as the church in Japan responded to the tsunami of 2011.  Christians in Tohoku have become partners with their communities, sharing their pain and difficulties and earning the right to share the hope they have within them.  Volunteers from all over Japan have seen this with their own eyes and are taking a vision home with them to reach their own communities the same way.  We want to celebrate everything that the Lord has done, but the of equipping the church to bring help and hope to the world is only beginning.  Thank you for praying, giving and volunteering with CRASH Japan. In 2013 CRASH Japan will continue to work helping local churches by mobilizing the body of Christ to bring help and hope to those in need.  We are going to do that in three ways.  Recovery Response in Tohoku OperationSAFE Child Trauma Camps Preparing for the Next Disaster CRASH Japan Executive Director Jonathan Wilson Common Prayer Requests For Japan Would you like to pray for Japan, but don’t know how or what to pray for? The following is a list of common prayer requests for the nation of Japan. 1. Pray that the gospel will spread. Right now, the percentage of Protestant Christians in Japan is estimated to be 0.44%. Japan is classified as an unreached people group. Pray that God will work by his Spirit to bring an awakening to Japan. 2. Pray for the Japanese. Speaking broadly, the Japanese lifestyle is source of great stress for many of the Japanese. Students must study and work very hard to pass entrance examinations for their schools. Many businessmen work very long hours, coming home late at night or even after several days. This is also, of course, a stress on families. The suicide rate in Japan is likewise very high. Pray for the many Japanese who are having difficulty living in this type of environment. 3. Pray for Japanese Christians. It is common for Japanese Christians to feel as though they are outsiders or alienated from their culture. Pray for these Christians, especially that their churches would give them the fellowship they need and that they can fearlessly live Christian lives in Japan. 4. Pray for Japanese Churches. Pray that Japanese churches will experience growth and that the Holy Spirit will give them revival. Pray that they will be bold in their faith and that God will provide a new generation of Christian leaders. Prayer requests Prayer Requests 1) Success in continual rescue effort and quick relief for the people in the tsunami stricken areas (especially north eastern Japan). 2) The whole Eastern Japan is shaking both physically and emotionally. The original earthquake is triggering other (large) earthquakes in various areas in Eastern Japan. We need peace of mind, courage, strength. 3) There has been chaos. In most grocery stores, all sorts of basic food is out of stock: rice, water, bread, milk, etc. Gas stations are out of gas as well. The trains are not running normally. Please pray for quick recovery of order. 4) Stability in the nuclear plants and prevention of the spread of radiation; 5) God may use this time to turn people to Himself. This is a very surreal experience. I’ve never felt this unsafe in this country. Your prayer is much much appreciated! Thank you! Fellowship of Christian Athletes Japan 1. That God would continue to provide for His ministry as He has already done in 2012. That He would stir people's hearts to give (Hag. 1:14; Phil. 4:10-20) and that I would have wisdom and the right words and spirit (Dan. 2:14; Neh. 2:4-5) in appealing to potential donors. 2. That God would provide a sponsor for a visa to stay and serve in Japan long term. Since FCA is not established in Japan and I will be the first FCA staff member in Japan, we need an established ministry, church, or other organization to sponsor me for a visa to stay long term. 3. That God would continue mold me into the man He would have me to be to be His hands and feet to the people of Japan. 4. That God would make Himself known and that He would be glorified in Japan. That Japanese people everywhere would come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. 5. That "His Kingdom come and His will be done" through the ministry of FCA Japan. That it would be His ministry. 6. That God would continue to bless and use Matt Murton and other Christian baseball players in Japan. That God would use www.murtonbaseball.com as a powerful tool to reveal Himself to the Japanese baseball fans. *For more current and specific prayer requests, follow the FCA Japan Prayer Feed on Twitter at @FCAJapanPRAY **Click here to download my prayer card (front and back). If you would like me to mail you one please contact me at wthompson@fca.org.  Prayer Requests Japan Evangelical Association  Prayer Requests:  (1) Christ’s love and hope will touch those affected people who are suffering from 3.11 Disaster. Also many care-givers and disaster chaplains will be trained and will protect relief workers from burn-outs.  (2) For churches, relief organizations and regional networks to be able to continue relief ministries – especially for provision of staff and funds, as well as establishing sustainable framework for those relief ministries.  (3) For Japanese Christians and churches to continue to pray for and engage in recovery of churches and people’s lives in the disaster stricken Tohoku area, especially for churches in Fukushima that are struggling with radioactive contamination.  (4) For harmonious collaboration among different church groups and organizations, as well as unity among existing churches and new churches to reach out and witness Christ’s love to their local communities.  (5) For churches in Japan outside of devastated areas to reconsider their engagement to local communities as they prepare for the next disaster, so that they would be ready to share Christ’s love at the time of disaster, which in turn paves the way for a revival across the nation of Japan.  TEAM Prayer Requests