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stepping
stones a prayer letter of Iwa
Transforming Ministry and Leadership in our Community
November 1999, Number 99-2
A Sharing Tool for Personal Evangelism
In
Iwa’s evangelism workshop, a traditional widely-used
sharing tool for personal evangelism is evaluated using cultural
criteria and is found to be more culturally appropriate for
people of Western culture than for people of Asian culture.
Over the past year, Iwa took a crack at developing a sharing
tool that would be more culturally appropriate and effective
for people of Asian ancestry.
We,
at Iwa, believe that an effective sharing tool would help
the Asian Christian introduce one person—the non-Christian—whom
they know and love, to another person—the real and living
Jesus Christ—whom they also know and love. To do this,
the sharing tool must give the non-Christian a sense of who
Jesus Christ is—His character, personality, relationships
with people—and not just what He did, for example, dying
on the cross for their sins.
So,
we have created a booklet with seven stories taken from the
Gospels which give a picture of who Jesus is and which are
linked with each of Jesus’ seven statements of self-disclosure
found in the Gospel of John. Jesus’ story and His “I
am” statement are printed on one page. A story of our
Executive Director Cyril Nishimoto is printed on the opposite
page. In it he shares his encounter with the Jesus described
in the Bible story. So there are seven different stories which
are “Jesus’ story” linked with seven testimonies
which are “My (or Cyril’s) story.”
We
hope that the booklet will serve as an example of the kind
of sharing tool that can be created, and that it would encourage
individuals and groups to try making their own. We are even
willing to supply as a template “Jesus’ story.”
Individuals and groups can then just supply “My (or their
own) story.” We see
great potential in churches, families, youth groups, campus
groups, small groups, and groups of friends developing group
booklets of members’ stories to use in their own outreach
efforts.
This
tool is very personalized and will require a good deal of
work on the part of those of us who want to make one. It is
a tool that is dynamic, not static, and grows with us. As
we grow in our faith, and increasingly come to know Jesus,
the more effectively we will be able to share Him, and our
encounters with Him. And in the age of desktop publishing,
the tool can be easily composed, modified and printed on the
computer. For non-confrontational people, this tool is very
easy to use. We can give it to a non-Christian friend or family
member, adding a few words about sharing a piece of our lives,
and wanting to know what the person thinks after reading it.
If
you and others use the template to develop your own sharing
tools, Iwa can collect samples and use them in helpful ways.
Perhaps someone else’s testimony would be more effective
in reaching a loved one than your own. Iwa can help you find
an appropriate one by drawing on Iwa’s archives of testimonies.
The more testimonies we become aware of, the more effective
all of us can become in introducing the diverse members in
our community to Christ.
Iwa
would like to sponsor workshops to help people design their
own personal sharing tools. We could also offer technical
assistance at our office for those who need individual consultation.
A future possibility would be to offer the template on the
internet so people can download it for their own use.
For
those who would feel comfortable in giving Iwa’s booklet
with Cyril’s stories to non-Christian friends and family
members, we have printed a quantity of the booklets. Please
contact the Iwa office if you would like to obtain copies
of the booklet.
Here’s
a sample of one of the seven stories in the booklet: Jesus
Heals the Blind—
And behold, two blind men sitting by the
road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying,
“Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” And the
multitude sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried
out all the more, saying, “Lord, have mercy on us,
Son of David!” And Jesus stopped and called them, and
said, “What do you wish Me to do for you?” They
said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.”
And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes, and
immediately they received their sight, and followed Him.
(Matthew 20:30-34 NASB)
Jesus
first passed by me when I was a child. I was introduced to
him by my Christian parents and the church I grew up in. I
saw him as someone who could wipe my slate clean and as my
ticket to heaven. To Jesus’ question, “What do you
wish me to do for you?” I answered, “Come into my
heart and cleanse me of my sin so that I could go to heaven
when I die.” And he did. He gave me security. When I
was 14 years old I encountered Jesus in a new way. I saw him
as a revolutionary who could change individual hearts and
thereby change the world. To his question, “What do you
wish me to do for you?” I answered, “Change my heart,
let me live and die for you and your cause, and help me change
the world.” And he did. He gave me purpose. I was so
excited about my newfound cause that I helped my high school
friends make commitments to Jesus, too. I looked for and found
ways to serve him in my church. His life of caring for social
outcasts inspired me to pursue an education and career in
which I could help bring social justice for the poor and minorities.
So I ended up working for 20 years as a grassroots advocate
for Japanese people in need. About 10 years ago, after burning
myself out tryingto serve him through church and community
activities, I met and saw Jesus in yet a new way. He was not
some-one who was there to give me something—entry into
heaven or a changed world—although he was quite capable
of doing those things. He was not a means to an end. He was
the end in himself. To his question, “What do you wish
me to do for you?” I answered, “Nothing. You did
it all for me already. I just want to be close to you and
appreciate you for who you are.” Now I can enjoy a closeness
to him that I never had before. I’ve found him to be
the treasure in life that I seek. He is the light of the world
who compassionately touches and opens the eyes of blind people
like me. The more of him I see, the more of life I enjoy.
A
Writer’s First Step by Joyce Bhang
“Today I will be a writer, perhaps not an author,
but a finger calloused, side-of-the-hand-blackened writer.”
(Written in my journal, 1993)
I
write simply because I like it. It is an indulgence. I savor
it. It is a passion and a delight, and every bit as good as
trudging through the forest and finding the snowy white cap
of a matsutake pushing through the earth.
When
my friend, Pastor Jonathan, said to me one day that a passion
could very well be the Lord’s prompting, I remember feeling
for the first time that writing—my writing—could
be a ministry. So I practiced, and I attended two writer’s
conferences. Finally, last July, I found myself at the Iwa
writer’s workshop where I met Essie and Naomi, (they
were in charge of making the workshop happen). In the sequence
of things, the workshop was one of my latest writing ventures,
yet for me, it was a beginning. It was my first step toward
learning to write under grace. Iwa, “the rock”,
through Jesus, “The Rock”, was made a secure and
steady stepping stone for me into a new place.
As
I sat to write this article, I pondered what great analogies
and visuals I might create to convey the warmth and support
I felt at Iwa’s first writer’s workshop: a firm
pat on the back...a mother’s womb...a warmed flannel
sheet on a wet winter’s day (I’m from Seattle)...my
grand-mother’s blue sweatered bosom...her soft, unwavering
smile. Somehow, Essie and Naomi miraculously created a warm
flannel writing womb, with a smiling blue sweater. I felt
that the workshop was made just for me. I was nurtured and
encouraged by their words.
In
contrast, the writer’s conferences that I attended before,
were a bit disheartening. One was for children’s book
writers, the other for Christian book writers. Both were large,
busy, and the seminars seemed far more concerned with weeding
out the weak rather than encouraging the fledgling. I was
weak and fledgling. I felt like the weed. The hoe was at my
neck, threatening to sever the feeble young roots of my writing.
No matter, I patted myself awkwardly, I will write for myself.
There
are people for whom this conference system works. These are
people who understand how to “network”. (I find
that word alone to be intimidating; it is much too “entangled”
sounding.) These are people who possess the ability to talk
to strangers and promote their ideas verbally, all the while
maintaining eye-contact without appearing glazed. Some who
attend the confer-ences are spurred on to greater works. For
me, I felt my 5’2” frame shrivel into an unappealing,
unidentifiable piece of failed shrink art. There are already
too many books, too many talented people, and too few editors
to read my story.
Beyond
going to these horrific forced social gatherings of writers,
there is always “the reading” hanging over my head.
“The reading” is my own dark, heart-wrenching nightmare.
It consists of agonizing over a portion of writing and then
reading it out loud to others as if it were the most natural
thing in the world to do. It seems to me that all “real”
writers are able do this. I cannot. As much as the white lilies
of prose bloom whenever I read my own work in the sanctuary
of my own head, let those same words be read aloud and whatever
brilliance, whatever it was that made me think that my words
were worth writing, wither in the dry air. The mere suggestion
of reading my writing aloud to strangers makes me nervous.
I become ill. My mouth sphincters up, my throat constricts
until it hurts, and my heart starts doing aikido rolls against
my rib cage. I would be the nail that sticks out (which, as
those of Japanese ancestry know, is the one that is nailed
down). I would never read my writing out loud. No matter,
I patted myself awkwardly, I will write for myself.
One
cheap Alaska Airlines flight later, as I sat suspended in
the air between Seattle and Burbank, I wondered what my “Iwa
Writing Experience” would be. In pursuit of a passion
that seemed ever shrouded in my own self-doubt and deep-seated
privacy issues, I began to entertain thoughts that I must
have masochistic tendencies. Would this be another experience
where I lick my wounds and talk myself into believing that
the pain was just making me stronger? Probably. Well, that
would be okay too, I decided, and sighed. It would be more
of the same. Bracing myself, I entered the workshop. No matter,
I patted myself awkwardly, I will write for myself.
I
sat in a brown, hard, standard folding chair, within four
walls without any major decorating theme, except maybe beige.
Essie and Nancy stood in the front of the room and beamed
a warm welcome to all twenty of us. We wrote together and
some of us actually read our writing. Despite the cardiac
martial arts demon-stration going on in my ribs, I read a
small bit of my writing. I read. Out loud.
I
was not wounded. I was still terrified, but I was not wounded.
There were no bursts of critique or blasts of bored coughs,
and as I read, I felt Essie’s firm, steadying hand on
my shoulder. She must know what this
feels like. She knows the horror of “the reading”.
“Write
and remember,” Essie said.
I
wrote about how my father took me fishing on a cold gray day
after a storm. The rough bearded, growly-voiced fishermen
called out to us as we launched our little aluminum boat,
“There’s nothing out there today.” We caught
two salmon in the choppy Puget Sound waters just before noon.
We concluded that no one knew the secret to backing up the
boat. As we pulled our shiny lures through the water, occasionally
my father would stop the boat and put it into reverse. This
made the lures take a sudden dive into deeper waters. The
salmon could not resist the flickering appearance of an easy
meal. For weeks afterward, my father and I could encourage
and make each other smile with the whispered phrase: “You
just back up the boat.”
“Write
about your father,” Essie said.
I
wrote again about my father as he sat at the long table in
our favorite Mexican restaurant, eating tortilla chips, sipping
his lemon water. He told us about when he crawled through
the fence at the Tule Lake relocation camp. “I was just
looking for arrowheads, that’s all,” he said, “and
I got to ride back in a jeep.” As I wrote, I felt better,
and more comfortable with myself. Something was happening
to me.
This
was my first step in presenting my writing with a new confidence
under grace. The workshop was not, as I feared, more of the
same. Maybe it was because it was small. Maybe it was because
the time was bathed in prayer. Maybe it was because Essie
and Naomi intuitively knew how to coax the writer out of us.
Something made it different for me.
My
friend, Ruby, who is a psychologist, said to me once, “I
see writing is to you what psychology is to me; hard work
that I cannot resist. To
be a good psychologist I must know myself and face my fears,
otherwise I am of no use to my patients. My work I think,
is God-given for my sake as much as for others... God heals
me with each small step I make toward being a better listener
and a better interpreter of stories...writing does this for
you. Your writing is as much a gift to you as a gift from
you to the reader.” I see she is right.
Now
the workshop is over. I continue to write for myself, but
no longer need to pat myself awkwardly in the solace of my
own thoughts. To do my utmost for His Highest has been my
calling of late. I give all I can to my writing. This means
reaching beyond myself; a difficult habit to learn. I am learning
to trust in God. I am learning to filter out the voices of
self-doubt before I say “No, I can’t do that.”
I am learning to trust Him, the author of grace; the Word
Himself, and so I write.
There
has been such freedom in my first step.
“Hearing
the Gospel” Seminar Reaches Two Very Different Audiences
Stan
Inouye presented the Hearing the Gospel with Asian American
Ears seminar in September for Trinity United Presbyterian
Church of Santa Ana. Although the church was not Asian American,
the response by the group of over 20 people was so positive
that, according to one of the organizers, “people that
were not there were talking about it.” Some of the comments
we received were: “The focus on one subculture was enlightening!
Strategies on how to be effective with this group were wonderful.”
“(U)seful to think of the impact of cultures on our Christian
witness.” Due to the great success of the seminar, Stan
was informed, “We will have you back.”
Every
year, the Japanese Evangelization Center (JEC) sponsors an
all-day seminar at which issues related to evangelism of Japanese
and Japanese Americans are addressed and discussed. This year,
the Director of JEC, the Rev. Dr. John Mizuki, invited Stan
to make a presentation on omoiyari evangelism because he had
read Stan’s article, Hearing the Gospel with Asian American
Ears. In October, Stan put on the Hearing seminar for 35 or
so mostly Japanese American participants. The discussion was
lively and they even shared their own experiences to reinforce
what Stan described. Dr. Mizuki later wrote Stan: “The
Japanese speaking people also revealed interest in your presenta-tion
of Japanese-Americans as omoiyari people. Your relational,
non-confrontational, non-verbal approach made people rethink
how to go about communicating the gospel to Nikkei. I thought
your insights on methodology, message, media, and milieu for
Japanese American evangelism very helpful.”
“Sharing
the Gospel” Seminar Is Tested
After
receiving positive response at the JEMS Pacific Northwest
Career Young Adults Conference in Seattle, Cyril Nishimoto
conducted the Sharing the Gospel with Asian American Hearts
seminar twice at the 50th JEMS Mt. Hermon Adult Family Conference
in June. The seminars were well-attended with 39 on the first
day, and 22 on the second. To the question, “Was this
Workshop useful to you?” came such responses as: “Yes,
it helped me to be able to share about the Lord in a more
personal way.” “Seeing evangelism as a process (centered
set)...really is a paradigm shift.”
The
evening before Iwa’s Annual Meeting of the National Board
in October, Cyril conducted the Sharing seminar for
a small group of Board members and their guests. About the
sharing tool, one person wrote, “It is beautiful, and
provides a nice template for creating my own book.” Another
said, “I think it might
be or could be a ‘revolutionary’ means to get Asian
Americans out of the doldrums of not witnessing.” About
the seminar as a whole came the following feedback: “I
think it helps to push the traditional barriers of what we
consider ‘evangelism.’” “Helped me realize
that evangelism is not getting people to pray the prayer but
bringing people closer to Jesus.”
While
Stan was presenting the Hearing seminar for JEC, Cyril
was presenting the Sharing seminar for the campus ministry,
JEMS Asian American Christian Fellowship (AACF). About 100
Asian American student leaders from many college campuses
throughout Southern California gather once a quarter for mutual
support and encour-agement and for training. At this first
gathering of the new school year, Cyril provided the training
component with Iwa’s seminar. To the question, “Was
this Workshop useful to you?” they offered such comments
as: “Yes, it got me to think of ways to share my faith
w/my non-Christian friends & of how to share w/non-Christian
family members.” “Yes, it helped me to learn how
to tell my story in the most clear and effective way. It also
helped me to learn how to become a good listener.” About
the sharing tool they wrote: “I love it. I am going to
use this idea for my own life. And I agree with the effectiveness
in this approach...” “Very useful & helpful.
The stories really encourage me to share the gospel.”
Cyril
Delivers “Sharing” Sermon for PV Baptist
Taking
the content of the Sharing seminar and developing it
into a full-blown sermon, Cyril spoke at the worship service
of Palos Verdes Baptist Church on September 26. Presenting
a new paradigm for evange-lism, he contrasted the old “closed
set” (say the “Sinner’s Prayer” and you’re
in, don’t say it and you’re out) with the “centered
set” (moving toward a center, into a closer and closer
relationship with a person, Jesus Christ). Comparing the process
of evangelism to the development of a relationship leading
to marriage, he made the point that it’s a huge jump
from initial meeting to marriage, so our efforts need to focus
on helping people take one step at a time toward a committed
relationship with Christ.
Using
the Bible stories of the two Pentecosts, he encouraged people
to tell their stories of the living and real Christ in their
lives as a means of sharing the gospel. He explained how at
the “First Pentecost,” God, in a fire, came down
on a mountain (Mt. Sinai) and created a new nation (Israel)
with only one man (Moses) getting close to the Fire and speaking
about “the wonderful works of man” (in obedience
to the Law). He went on to describe how at the “Second
Pentecost,” God, in a fire, came down on a group of individuals
(120 disciples in Jerusalem) and created a new people (the
church) with all of them getting close to the Fire
and all opening their mouths to speak about “the
wonderful works of God.” We need to make the shift from
the First Pentecost to the Second
if we want to reach those who don’t know Christ.
He
pointed out that since we can all now, because of Christ,
experience the white-hot holy God without being destroyed,
we all have stories to tell about Him
and His “wonderful works” in our lives that we can
share with those who don’t know Him. And it will be through
our storytelling that relational, non- confrontational, right-brain
oriented Japanese- and Asian Americans—the 97%—can
be reached.
Stewardship
Foundation Gives a Second Grant in 1999
The
Stewardship Foundation, a faithful long-time supporter and
partner, gave an additional grant this year of $10,000 to
help Iwa move to a new level of ministry. In August 1998,
the Foundation encouraged Iwa to “think big” and
come up with a “dream budget.” With that encouragement
and with prayer, we began to seek the personnel we would need
to produce the evangelism resources that would take us into
our next phase of ministry. We asked our close friends and
supporters to pray with us about our personnel needs. And
the Lord began to bring to us media experts, writers, and
artists, so we had something to go back to the Foundation
with. In a letter dated September 30, Stewardship wrote that
it approved a grant “designated towards media tools for
ministry, evangelism ‘tackle box,’ testimony development
and the Evangelistic Leadership Training Series.” We
thank the Lord, Stewardship Foundation, and our friends and
supporters for enabling us to move toward that dream.
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