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stepping
stones a prayer letter of Iwa
Transforming Ministry and Leadership in our Community
May 1998, Number 98-1
A
Journey to a Theme
Iwa’s
theme for 1998 rose out of a process that began with our pondering
some practical implications of our personal evangelism workshop,
Fishing with a Bamboo Pole. During the workshop, those
who attend participate in an exercise which helps them appreciate
why the traditional approach to evangelism is so effective
among the majority of Americans, and why different approaches
and new evangelistic tools need to be developed for those
of Japanese ancestry. While we have developed a few pre-evangelistic
tools and made several attempts at evangelistic ones, we still
have yet to produce something that is ready for wide distribution.
As a consequence,
I have been doing a lot of praying, thinking and studying
about what would be effective and appropriate.
Because
Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans are so relational,
concrete, situational and non-confrontational, we have come
to the conclusion that effective evangelism involves introducing
our acquaintances, friends and family to Jesus Himself. This
process is far more relational than rational. It involves,
not just sharing information about Jesus or an abstract plan
of salvation, but rather actually introducing the people we
know to the Jesus we know - one, living breathing person to
another. And, the better we know both sides, the more sensitive
we can be in building a bridge of identification and common
interest that has the potential of leading to an ongoing relationship
that will grow on its own.
What
this has taught me is that I need to strengthen my relationships
in two directions; with non-Christian friends and family,
and with Jesus Himself. In order to get to know Jesus better,
I started by going to the Gospels. I have read a harmonized
version that combines all four into one story, so I could
relate to the sweep of Jesus’ life and ministry from
beginning to end. I have read a Pulitzer prize-winning Jew,
who seeks to identify with Jesus so closely that he writes
his view of the Gospels as if he were Jesus Himself. I have
listened to an incredible tape series on the “real Jesus”
delivered by a pastor in New York whose large congregation
includes about 40 percent of Asian ancestry. I have read a
refreshing account of what one actor learned as a result of
trying to empathize with Jesus in order to portray Him accurately
in a film. When he began, he felt he knew who Jesus was. What
he found out was that he really didn’t know what made
Jesus tick.
What
has happened to me in this journey, is that my life and ministry
have been radically reoriented. I, too, have come to realize
that I knew a lot about Jesus on the outside, but had not
deeply identified with Him on the inside. I had been so busy
for so long doing things for Jesus like Martha, that I had
failed to spend enough time at the feet of Jesus like Mary,
allowing Him to reveal His heart to me. Word by word, the
phrase has broken soil that might well be my personal mission
statement for the rest of my life, “I want to know what
is inside of Jesus so I can know the Jesus who is inside of
me - and wants to transform me to be just like Him from the
inside out!”
The
Lord has been working in similar ways in the lives of others,
whether on Iwa’s staff, board or among our associates.
As a result, we decided our Scriptural theme for the year
should be taken from Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes
on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...” (NIV).
And, to our surprise, the theme for this summer at the JEMS
Mount Hermon Conference happens to be the same verse. We were
tempted to change our theme, but we came to believe it to
be a confirmation that the Lord Himself is wanting to emphasize
the need for something critical if we are going to reach the
97% in our community who have yet to embrace Jesus as their
Savior and Lord. He is emphatically telling us to “fix
our eyes on Jesus” to which we say “Amen!”-ski-
“Ties
That Bind” Conference
Stan
and Cyril participated in “Ties That Bind: A Japanese
American Community Conference” and Iwa was one of the
sponsoring organizations. Held on April 3-5, at the Japanese
American Cultural & Community Center in Los Angeles, this
conference brought together over 300 people from all over
the country to explore the common threads that tie the diverse
Japanese American community together. They listened to panels
on Japanese American identity and Japanese American values,
participated in a small group in which individuals shared
about what makes them Japanese American and how being Japanese
American influenced their lives, and attended seminars on
topics important to the future of the community such as Japanese
American Leadership and Hapa Issues.
Iwa’s
participation in the conference was significant because it
gave Iwa a link to the community which it has the mission
to help reach. Some of the themes that seemed to run through
the conference included the diversity of the community
which now includes many with mixed racial or ethnic parentage
as well as recent immigrants from Japan; the need for something
like a Japanese American Federation of organizations
to serve as an advocate and resource developer for the community;
and the desire to find issues aside from redress and the
World War II camp experience around which the entire community
can rally. While this conference seemed to raise more questions
than it answered, it did set the stage for continuing dialogue
and for similar conferences in the future. Iwa hopes to participate
in future conferences and in the ongoing dialogue.
Speaking
in Pasadena
President
Stan Inouye led a seminar entitled Understanding Our Identity
As Asian Americans for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Asian American Staff Conference on March 6, in Pasadena.
Basing the content on insights presented in the Bicultural
Dynamics unit of the Leadership Training Series, he took the
staff workers through a learning experience which explored
the implications for identity and ministry of a clash of values
between people from two hypothetical cultures. They also imagined
what would happen if one individual is strongly influenced
by two value systems, and discussed a model of biculturalism
which Stan had developed. One participant expressed how the
seminar benefitted her in the following way: “Stan Inouye’s
seminar really hit home for me. I can be as American as apple
pie, but there is a core part of me that is Asian, and that
affects who I am and how I think and how I relate to others
and how I do ministry. It was a much-needed discovery and
I think I’m starting to understand how God made me a
little more.”
Executive
Director Cyril Nishimoto was the guest speaker on April 21,
at a weekly meeting of The Mustard Seed (Karashidane
No Kai), a group which meets for prayer and discussion of
issues relevant to ministry in Japan and among Japanese Americans,
at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. Many of the student
members have lived in Japan or had experience with Japanese
American churches, and all had a common passion for seeing
the people of Japanese ancestry come to know Christ. After
lunch together, the group heard Cyril share about his Christian
background, his calling to work at Iwa, and the ministry of
Iwa. With great interest in Iwa’s cultural insights and
resources, they prayed for Cyril and Iwa, and closed with
prayer for each other.
Grants
Give Boost To Start 1998
The Lord has blessed Iwa at the beginning of 1998 with grants
from two foundations which have been faithfully supporting
Iwa for the past few years. In January, Rivendell Stewards’
Trust gave a $15,000 grant toward the development, field testing,
publishing, and distribution of Iwa’s evangelistic leadership
training series. It is the third year that Rivendell has partnered
with Iwa. In April, Stewardship Foundation approved a grant
of $18,000 -- $12,000 for general operations, and $6,000,
which must be matched with funds raised by the end of the
year, for the Executive Director’s position. Stewardship
has been in partnership with Iwa since 1992.
Although
the Lord has provided significant funding from faithful partners
to start the year, Iwa is seeking new sources of funding from
foundations and individuals in order to support its expanded
ministry and programs. Please pray for the Lord’s continous
provision.
JPC
Pastors Retreat by
Steve Yamaguchi
Held from April 20 - 24, the Japanese Presbyterian Churches
(JPC) Pastors Retreat is an annual event which has been going
on for decades at Zephyr Point, Lake Tahoe. It was originally
convened as the JPC Ministers Cultural Seminar where Issei
pastors would help young Nisei pastors learn Japanese language
and cultural insights appropriate for ministry with their
Issei members. Over the years, the Issei pastors retired and
passed on, and the Nisei pastors ended up serving primarily
English-speaking congregations. In 1996, we changed the event's
name to "Pastors Retreat" when we realized the focus
had shifted to fellowship, support, and common experiences
we shared as pastors in the JPC churches and away from Japanese
culture and language. Last year, Rev. Mariko Yanagihara observed
how many new pastors were in JPC churches, and how many had
little or no experience in a Japanese American church or community.
We realized it was important to put the "cultural"
part back in the seminar, but the focus needed to be on our
evolving Japanese American culture. So we thought of Stan
Inouye and Iwa because we felt that better than anyone, Stan
could help us identify and understand the significance of
our Japanese American cultural realities. Stan did a great
job, and our time was very blessed.
Twenty
people participated. From among the five JPC churches outside
of California (Philadelphia, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Ogden,
and Seattle), came Jonathan Kobayashi, the new Nichigo minister
at Seattle, and Liz Kitamura, a pastor at Ogden. From Northern
California: Hiromi Yoneda from Watsonville (Westview); Art
van Beek from Sacramento (Parkview); Hei Takarabe from Monterey
(El Estero); Gerald Chinen, Taku Kusakabe, and Les Yee from
San Mateo (Sturge), and Dan Schwan from Stockton (Calvary).
From Southern California: David Manock from Altadena (First);
Ted Esaki from Hollywood (Christ); Charles McAllister from
L.A. (Union); Masaya Hibino from Garden Grove (Wintersburg);
Stan Inouye from Iwa; and Gerald Arata and I from Paramount
(Grace). Four seminary students also were there to get exposure
both to the pastors and to the conference. They were Masaki
Chiba (the JPC Pastoral Intern serving at Ogden), Grace Suwabe
from Sacramento, Ralph Fujitani from L.A., and Wendy Komori
from Rancho Palos Verdes.
One
thing that set this retreat apart was that the pastors and
seminarians were substantially younger than they were in past
years. The last Nisei JPC pastor (Rev. Dick Nishioka) retired
last year. Sansei and other pastors now serve the JPC churches.
Some of the pastors who had little exposure to Japanese American
communities or churches gained some important new insights.
But even those who have been pounding away at it (and sometimes
getting pounded) for several years now came at it fresh and
said, "Boy, I wish that I had this when I started."
It
was helpful for Stan to identify some of the key characteristics
of Japanese culture and how they transfer into Japanese American
culture. His explanation about how different values and behaviors
surface in different relational contexts was very useful.
It was especially enlightening for new pastors who have come
in without any cultural or ministry experience with Japanese
Americans. They sometimes expect certain responses or expect
faith to be expressed in a certain way, but they don't see
it in the way they expect or have always experienced it before.
I think Stan's insights helped them realize, "Oh, it's
not that simple - there are other things going on here - there
are reasons why people are not so assertive, why they are
not expressive, why they won't volunteer right off the bat."
With these fresh insights, a pastor may be free to expect
and approach things differently. The pastor might not make
the same judgments about what's going on or not going on.
The retreat, and especially Stan's input, was a good starting
point.
Although
I had been exposed to Stan's material before, it was encouraging
and affirming. It reminded me that the Japanese American community
has special needs and those of us in Japanese American churches
have the potential of being special instruments of evangelism.
I was also reminded that we don't always do a good job of
evangelizing Japanese American people, and sometimes we take
successful models from a different culture and try to make
it fit our own. It was a reminder of the need to be listening,
sensitive, and creative. I was encouraged that the pastors
of the various churches were exposed to Stan and to Iwa. It
was the first time for many to be made aware of what Iwa can
do and offer - the beginning of a good connection.
The
JPC's special thanks go to Stan and all the Iwa staff for
the great looking materials they prepared, and for all the
time and work they devoted to helping us JPC pastors become
more effective ministers for Jesus Christ.
Steve
Yamaguchi is the senior pastor at Grace Presbyterian Church,
Paramount (originally in Long Beach), husband of Alison and
father of Lydia and Joy. Steve is a member of the National
Board of Iwa and also a member of the Board of Trustees of
Westmont College where he chairs the board's Student Life
committee. He enjoys his fun family, joyful ministry, prayerful
bicycling and contemplative stream fishing. Steve’s church
is located at: 8025 Somerset Blvd., Paramount, CA 90723; Phone:
(562)633-3964; Fax: (562)633-3964, ext.15
Praying
For The 97%
The Lord has given us a wonderful gift
through which we can know Him intimately--prayer. As His children,
we have the privilege of coming boldly and directly into His
presence and making our requests known to Him. Even though
we have this wonderful gift available to us at any time and
any place, we do not always appreciate it or use it to cultivate
a relationship with Him, or ask Him for what we or others
need.
The
Lord longingly waits for us to come to Him in prayer. Like
a father who holds presents behind his back, eagerly coaxing
his child to “just ask” him for them, He entreats
us to “ask, and it shall be given to you” because
“if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your Father who is in
heaven give good things to those who ask him?” (Matthew
7: 7a, 11)
And
there is tremendous power that can be unleashed through prayer
when two or more of His children come together and ask: “(I)f
two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will
be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or
three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of
them.” (Matthew 18: 19-20). And one thing we know He
wants us to pray for is the harvesting of hearts for His kingdom:
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
pray, therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37)
Our
mission at Iwa is to help reach the 97% of Japanese, Japanese
Americans, and Asian Americans who don’t yet know Jesus
Christ as Savior and Lord.
To that end, we encourage prayer for a spiritual breakthrough
to the 97% and have been organizing interchurch meetings where
we gather together in Christ’s name and pray for the
harvest.
We
have had three prayer gatherings in the Pacific Northwest
and five in the Southern California area. It has been exciting
to see the Lord working at each one in new and different ways.
At Evergreen Baptist Church and Anaheim Japanese Free Methodist
Church we focused on praying for spiritual renewal in our
community. At Cerritos Baptist Church we highlighted several
key interchurch ministries and their leaders who shared about
what God is doing in their ministries. At Union Church of
Los Angeles, we held a “prayer walk” around Little
Tokyo during Nisei Week and prayed for the people and community
we saw around us. The theme of our most recent gathering in
Southern California held on January 31, at First Presbyterian
Church, Altadena, was “Seeking His Face in Every Generation.”
We learned and discussed the characteristics and concerns
of the Builder, Boomer, and Buster generations and then prayed
for unity and for the needs of each generation. Each gathering
has been an enjoyable, new prayer experience with the Lord
and others who know Him.
Our
next prayer gathering, “Unlocking Hearts for the Kingdom,”
will be held on Saturday, May 30, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at
Evergreen Baptist Church, Los Angeles. Hoping to encourage
greater participation in this gathering, we have obtained
the help of volunteers from various churches to plan it and
the endorsement of 22 pastors and leaders from our community.
We will also have an extensive time of worship at the beginning
and end led by an interchurch worship team, and two testimonies
about how seeking a deeper relationship with Christ led to
transformed praying and renewed lives. We eagerly encourage
you to come and join us in praying for the unlocking of our
hearts and the hearts of the 97% for a great harvest for His
kingdom.
May
His love and power be released through your prayers.
Praise
and Prayer Requests
Please pray for the following:
1. How we can support prayer in the Bay Area
2. The growth of ongoing prayer in the Pacific Northwest and
Southern California
3. The Lord’s intimate presence at the May 30 prayer
gathering at Evergreen Baptist of Los Angeles
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