stepping stones a prayer letter of Iwa
Transforming Ministry and Leadership in our Community
December 2002, Number 01-1

Celebrating the Lord’s Faithfulness
The celebration was extremely uplifting. Iwa’s 20th Anniversary banquet in March had a positive, upbeat atmosphere that caused good feelings to flow. Stan Inouye kicked it off with a moving welcome in which he gave special tribute to his daughter Joelle, who had been called Home to the Lord just three weeks before. A memorable dinner catered by Three Brothers Restaurant; an energizing time of worship led by three Iwa Board members; three dynamic testimonies about Iwa’s influence on their lives and ministries given by Board members Steve Yamaguchi (Senior Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church where the banquet was held) and Keith Tsujimoto, and Associate Nancy Sugikawa; and three engaging media presentations about Iwa, all gave the program a certain rhythm that made the whole evening awe-inspiring. One of the media presentations was called “What Are People Saying About Iwa?” It featured various leaders in our community and their words about the impact Iwa has had. Some of the voices from that presentation are highlighted below to provide a sense of what the Lord has given Iwa to celebrate:

I have considered Iwa a think tank for Asian American theology and practice. I personally describe this ministry in the following ways: Investigation . . . Writing . . . Application. . . . The context of Iwa’s work is critical because it seeks to minister to the 97% of Japanese and Asian background that have yet to respond to Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the staff and ministry of Iwa. —Carolyn Shimabukuro, JEMS Pacific Northwest Director

Stan, Cyril and the rest of the staff produce thoughtful tools for us to use with our constituencies. I personally use Stan’s material on omoiyari extensively in my own workshops on ethnic identity devel-opment and evangelism. —Paul Tokunaga, National Asian American Ministry Coordinator, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA

Iwa has been instrumental in helping us through issues like rapid growth challenges, financial stewardship, and leadership transitions. . . . Using Iwa-developed tools, we have learned to better identify our target groups, develop emerging leaders, and prepare for leadership succession. —
Calvin Yim, Interim Executive Pastor, Christian Layman Church, Oakland, California

Our church . . . as well as many Asian American churches in the Seattle area have benefited from the resources Iwa has provided over the years including visioning conferences, leadership development and evangelism material and workshops. Iwa has assisted our church to be one of the few surviving and growing ethnic Presbyterian churches in the urban core of Seattle. —John Okamoto, Japanese Presbyterian Church, Seattle, Washington

As a local church pastor, I have deeply appreciated the ministry of Iwa and have seen firsthand the impact of its ministry. Iwa presented a Saturday workshop at our church called “From Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones.” Our people came away from that workshop changed—they were informed, they were inspired, and they were better equipped to share the gospel with their families and friends. —
Keith Tsujimoto, Pastor, Stonebridge Christian Church, Huntington Beach, California

I thank God for not only the staff, but Board members, Associates, and others, who have just been willing to hang in there with this ministry. There have often been challenges of financial shortages. There’s often been discouragement. There have also been struggles to focus the ministry and prioritize. . . . But the thing that I see now is that we’re seeing some of the fruit of that. And I think the best is yet to come. . . . (M)uch of the groundwork . . . (has) been laid down over the last 20 years . . . (such as) the research, the consulting, the networking, the workshops, and the training. And now we’re starting to see more and more tools and things that can actually be put in people’s hands. . . . So I feel like it’s been maybe 20 years of a lot of sowing, and a little bit of harvesting. But we’re going to see much greater harvesting
in the years ahead. —Wayne Ogimachi, Senior Pastor, Lighthouse Christian Church, Issaquah, Washington

With a slew of new tools and resources almost ready to be put in people’s hands, Iwa has moved forward since the banquet toward the vision of a greater harvest. Without the support of churches and individuals who share that vision, there would be nothing to celebrate. Holding onto the hope that “the best is yet to come,” Iwa looks forward to much more celebrating in the years ahead.

Evangelism Training
This year, Iwa conducted one-day workshops on evangelism as an alternative to its eight-week course. Cyril Nishimoto conducted a workshop at Christ Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. He covered four major topics, which were: The Centered Set vs. Closed Set Approach to Evangelism (an introduction to a paradigm-shifting, non-traditional, relational approach to evangelism); Hearing the Gospel with Asian American Ears, Part I (an exploration of a key Japanese cultural characteristic—omoiyari— and an assessment of the cultural appropriateness of traditional sharing tools); Hearing the Gospel with Asian American Ears, Part II (a discussion of how to reach a hypothetical Asian American couple with the approach described in Iwa’s Fishing With a Bamboo Pole booklet), and Sharing the Gospel with Asian American Hearts (an exercise in sharing our stories about Jesus in our lives as a means of introducing Asian Americans to our Lord and Savior). The response was very positive. Feedback on the overall workshop included such remarks as “very helpful,” “informative,” “new and different,” and “innovative.”

In August, he conducted the same one-day workshop for Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church in Seattle. Participants found it relevant, insightful, and helpful. Many commented that the sharing of personal stories was especially powerful and meaningful.

While in Seattle, Cyril also led a seminar for the Adult English Division at the annual JEMS Warm Beach Conference. This year’s seminar, offered on two different days, was entitled, Seeing the Gospel with Asian American Eyes. Participants took a look at traditional explanations of the gospel from the perspective of Asian Americans who have no experience with church, the Bible, or Christianity. They also considered more relational explanations of the gospel, such as the ones recently developed by Iwa—Finding Father and Becoming Family and The Love Booklet. Approaching the gospel from such relational paradigms as “family” and “love,” these explanations gave participants alternative ways to share the gospel with unreached Asian Americans.

Appreciative Inquiry and New Partnerships
Iwa has been exploring new partnerships with churches which are facing the challenge of moving in new directions, seeking a new unifying vision for their future. Iwa has found a process for organizational change that can be helpful because it is consistent with biblical principles as well as with Asian American cultural values. It is called “Appreciative Inquiry,” and Iwa has already tested it with a couple of churches.

Appreciative Inquiry (A.I.) is a strategy for helping a group build upon a positive foundation of what has worked in the past—what has given energy, joy, hope, and inspiration. Unlike traditional, problem-solving—focusing on what’s not working and what needs fixing—it focuses on the positive— helping the group discover the best of “what is” so that it can pursue dreams and possibilities of “what could be.” If successes in the past can be seen and understood, they can become the foundation of even greater success.

The appreciative approach involves an inquiry of the entire community, using interviews to collect and celebrate their good news stories. The stories reveal the passions, strengths, and life-giving forces found in every community. With an understanding of the “best of what is,” a vision can be discerned for what the community might become by enhancing these strengths and then taking steps to move toward that vision.

Stan Inouye became familiar with A.I. when his church, First Presbyterian, Altadena, used it to obtain information necessary to complete a study of the church in preparation for the calling of a new senior pastor. It helped the congregation appreciate how God worked in the past enabling them to catch a glimpse of His vision for the future of their church. It also brought about significant positive change in the way that people see and relate to one another. As old and young, newcomer and long-time attender shared their “good news” stories about the church with each other, change began to take place.

At the end of July, Iwa received an e-mail from the Japanese American United Church (JAUC) in New York inquiring if a team might be available to help with a leadership retreat. The church was facing issues that emerged in response to the 9/11 attack, and needed a strategy to foster greater unity and cooperation, and to discern a shared vision toward which they could move together. Believing that A.I. could be helpful, Iwa offered to introduce the process at the retreat.

So in September, Iwa took the leadership of JAUC through the “Discover” phase of the A.I. process. Over 30 leaders participated, learning from each other what JAUC is like at its “best.” Since the retreat, the church has been conducting appreciative interviews with a wider spectrum of the church, and plans to call again upon Iwa’s help as it moves to the “Dream,” “Design,” and “Deliver” phases.

Iwa also had the privilege of sharing A.I. with Grace Presbyterian Church where Board member Steve Yamaguchi serves as Senior Pastor. Grace has been in transition as it discerns whether the Lord is leading them to merge with Lakewood First Presbyterian Church which has been temporarily renting facilities to Grace during its search for a new site. In September, Iwa took both pastoral staffs through the initial interviewing phase of the process which equipped them with a strategy that could help a newly merged congregation get to know each other and move together toward a new, shared vision. Grace and Iwa have laid the groundwork for a continuing partnership that will help the merged congregation complete the A.I. process, and may also include the full regimen of training in Iwa’s resources for leadership and evangelism.

Funding News
The Lord has faithfully provided for us again. We were able to survive, even with the loss of virtually all of our foundation grant money this year. Part of His provision came through a successful 20 for the 20th Campaign through which we obtained new commitments from individuals and churches for gifts totaling over $20,000 per year for five years. We are so grateful to our Corner Stone and Building Stone Partners who readily answered our call. Another part of it came, like last year, through a generous donor. Moved by the experience of the 20th Anniversary Banquet, this donor gave enough to help Iwa meet the budget for this year, with an amount that can help toward next year’s budget. But even with that, at the Annual Meeting, we estimated that we could fall over $30,000 short of our budget in 2003. So we still need significant help from churches and individuals to enable us to produce what is needed to help reach the 97% of Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans who don’t yet know Christ. We hope that many will respond to our year-end appeal.

Annual Meeting of the Board
At the Annual Meeting in October, the Board was able to experience the Appreciative Inquiry interviewing process. The response was positive and the Board members also expressed a desire to see it offered as a consulting service to Asian American churches in the future. This year, the staff reported that, in accordance with the Board’s priorities, they focused on producing new evangelism sharing tools and resources and thus had much to include in the Iwa Tackle Box—several booklets that run the gamut of what is needed to equip people to reach Japanese- and Asian Americans with the gospel. They include foundational biblical and training material; practical handbooks that summarize the training material; pre-evangelism tools; faith stories; and relational presentations of the gospel. While some are already in print, many are in draft form just on the verge of publication. And, just having new tangible resources in hand generated increased excitement about the impact Iwa can have in the future on evangelism and ministry in our community.

Christmas Wish List
We are praying that the Lord will move someone to donate a second-hand PC that we can use to run our bookkeeping software, Quickbooks. The staff is Mac-based, but our Treasurer (who lives in Northern California) uses a PC; he suggested we integrate our systems so that information can be exchanged easily.

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