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stepping
stones a prayer letter of Iwa
Transforming Ministry and Leadership in our Community
September 1998, Number 98-2
Evangelistic
Leadership Training
Have
you ever wondered whether or not Japanese American or other
ethnic-specific churches have a legitimate place among American
Christian churches? Have you ever thought about how your being
a product of two cultures, for example, Japanese and American,
affects the way you do ministry? Have you ever been puzzled
about why traditional methods of evangelism have had only
limited success in helping to reach the 97% of Japanese- and
Asian Americans who don’t know Jesus Christ? If so, you
may be interested in the Iwa Evangelistic Leadership Training
Series.
The
Series is a collection of the resources Iwa has developed
and used over the years to equip leaders to minister more
effectively in Japanese- and Asian American churches so the
97% can be reached. For example, Iwa presented several units
of the Series at its Coloring Beyond the Lines national
conference for Asian American Christian leaders. With funding
from Rivendell Stewards’ Trust, Iwa has been able to
compile these resources in a publication to make them more
accessible to those who can use them.
Unit
One: Incarnational Theology: Biblical Foundations for Asian
American Ministries is composed of two messages. The
first, Adopted and Adaptive: The Role of Biculturals in
World Redemption, presents how God uses bicultural people
like Moses and Paul as cultural bridges to accomplish His
mission in the world. The second, Reflections on Mirror
Christianity, describes the biblical account of the origin
of culture and gives a scriptural basis for ethnic-specific
ministry.
Unit
Two: Audience Identification Process describes how
to identify and identify with the particular Asian Americans
God wants a particular church to reach and serve.
Unit
Three: Ministry Evaluation and Development Process
explains how to design more effective ministries for the particular
Asian Americans God has called a particular church to reach
and serve.
Unit
Four: Cultural Dynamics describes how culture shapes
effective ministry to Asian Americans. It contains the basic
content of Iwa’s evangelism workshop and presents the
idea of omoiyari evangelism and the exercise of identifying
a culture’s orientation and values.
Unit
Five: Bicultural Dynamics explains how being bicultural
shapes effective ministry to Asian Americans. It contains
a structured learning experience in which two hypothetical
cultures are generated and two representatives from those
cultures are imagined as meeting to discuss a merger. A model
of biculturalism is presented and the process of acculturation
is described. Ministry implications of the insights described
are also discussed.
Unit
Six: Process for Introducing Change describes how
to introduce positive change in the Asian American church
and community. Jesus and Paul are presented as examples of
God’s models of positive change agents.
Unit
Seven: Leadership Identification Process is a practical,
biblically based, step-by-step process to identify and select
church leaders. It is the result of work done by Iwa in partnership
with the Ministry Development Team of Evergreen Baptist Church,
Rosemead, CA.
Iwa
looks forward to making the entire Series available for distribution
in the near future as Stan and the staff, together with a
team of Board members and associates, work together to prepare
it for publication.
Asian
American Ears Seminar At Mt. Hermon
It was my second time at Mt. Hermon since joining the staff
of Iwa, but this time I wasn’t going just as a camper.
This time I was a seminar leader. I joined 13 others who were
leading seminars on topics as diverse as interracial marriages,
self-esteem in children, healing power, and evangelism for
non- evangelists. Iwa Board member, Rev. Wayne Ogimachi, led
one entitled “Light the Fire Again: Rekindling Spiritual
Passion.” My seminar was one whose content has gotten
a lot of circulation these past two years. It was a one-hour
version of Iwa’s evangelism workshop. I gave it the title
of the Iwa paper on which it was based -- “Hearing
the Gospel with Asian American Ears” -- and presented
it once on Tuesday and again on Thursday.
Iwa
Board Chair, Dexter Yuen, and Board Member, Dave Akiyama,
were present both days to help out with logistics. They counted
27 participating in the first seminar and 39 in the second.
Seated in a circle outside in the Central Patio area, participants
ran for shade on the sunny first day, and ran for jackets
on the overcast second day. Despite the changes in the weather,
the Lord was faithful in giving us two lively sessions. We
explored differences between Asian American and American mainstream
cultures, and considered approaches to presenting the Gospel
which may be different because of those cultural differences.
It
was one of those mysterious, serendipitous things, when on
Tuesday, the evening speaker, Pastor Gary Tawa of Cerritos
Baptist Church, mentioned Stan’s paper which had the
same title as the seminar. Then on Wednesday night, he mentioned
it again. Perhaps it was God’s way of encouraging people
to attend Thursday’s seminar. And every time I entered
the auditorium, God reminded me of Iwa’s 1998 Theme,
which happened also to be this year’s Mt. Hermon theme,
as it was emblazoned above the pulpit: “Let Us Fix Our
Eyes On Jesus,” Hebrews 12:2 (NIV).
Several
participants told me that the seminar helped them to understand
their Asian cultural side better and to think about how that
would affect the sharing of the Gospel. Others told me about
how they were noticing some of the cultural characteristics
we talked about in the seminar. One woman wrote, “I’m
glad I attended your seminar at Mt. Hermon. It has helped
me to understand the Asian mind better. Even if I’m Asian
I never analyzed our way of thinking. Thank you again, and
my prayers are with you for helping the 97% come home to Jesus
Christ.” -cnn-
Funding
Report
The
Lord has been very gracious in providing Iwa with the resources
to continue the “brand new thing” He started last
year. In May, Crowell Trust in Chicago gave Iwa a grant of
$15,000 toward the general fund. A faithful partner with Iwa
over the past several years, Crowell took a break from funding
in 1997, but renewed support in 1998.
With
the theme, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author
and perfecter of our faith...” Hebrews 12:2 (NIV), Iwa
launched the 1998 Annual Campaign in July. Seeking to match
a $6,000 grant from the Stewardship Foundation to fund the
ministry expenses of the new Executive Director, Iwa received
about one-third of the match from new commitments and new
one-time donations. Thanks to all who gave toward the match
and renewed their commitments. Please pray that the rest of
the match will be raised by the end of the year.
Seeing
with His Eyes, Praying with His Heart
It was great to see over 20 people come
out to Iwa’s seventh prayer gathering in the Southern
California area at Gardena Valley Baptist Church on Saturday
morning, August 22. Jesus Christ was there, through His Spirit,
to warmly welcome us, bless us with His presence and receive
our heartfelt requests as we prayed for the Japanese- and
Asian American community.
In
accordance with our theme, “Seeing with His Eyes,
Praying with His Heart,” our desire was to pray with
the Lord’s heart as we focused on the concerns and needs
of Japanese- and Asian American families, both Christian and
non-Christian alike. As at other gatherings, people enjoyed
praying in groups of 3 to 5 with Christians from other churches
and having the opportunity to experience a sense of oneness
of purpose in Christ. Because “family” is a topic
close to our hearts, the fellowship in prayer was especially
sweet.
We
also had a fun time as we walked and prayed at various sites
in the neighborhood asking God to bless and protect and minister
to those who gathered there. We prayed specifically for the
area around the church but also asked God to extend our prayers
to include the Japanese- and Asian American community as a
whole. We prayed, with bottled water in hand, at different
gathering places in the community such as schools, community
center, pool and park.
It
was a meaningful way to spend our Saturday morning, and we
look forward to all the ways God is going to move through
our prayers to reach out to the 97% in our community who don’t
yet know Jesus Christ.
Because
it is our desire to see the whole community praying, and actively
and effectively reaching out to the 97%, we are continuing
to plan future gather-ings. Our next gathering will be November
14, at San Gabriel Valley Japanese Christian Church. We also
hope to plan a larger worship and prayer gathering, similar
to the one in May, at Evergreen Baptist Church, Los Angeles.
Please pray that God will snowball our efforts resulting in
renewal for the community and greater outreach to those who
don’t know the Lord.
------------
The
prayer gathering at Gardena Valley Baptist Church had special
meaning to me. I grew up at this church where my father was
the Nichigo pastor for 30 years. The gathering was held in
the Nichigo Chapel which was the main sanctuary until the
larger building was built, and which became the place where
my father preached Sunday after Sunday. It was also the place
where the Teenage Christian Fellowship met on Sunday nights
in the early ‘70s until it grew so big that it had to
move to the larger sanctuary. A lot of prayer and ministry
that I had a connection to had taken place there over the
years.
In
my small group, all of us shared about the non-Christians
in our families about whom we were concerned. One thing we
all had in common was the strong influence of Buddhism. We
were encouraged by a testimony from one of our members who
had grown up going to a Buddhist church but was led to the
Lord in college. She shared about how after many years, her
parents, and later, her brother came to know the Lord. I shared
about the aunts, uncles and cousins in my family who didn’t
know Christ and had associations with Buddhism. We prayed
for each other’s family members.
The
prayer walk was a great experience for me. I went with three
others, and we stopped and prayed for the people of Gardena
at Denker Elementary School, Gardena Buddhist Church, and
Peary Jr. High. One had a son who went to Denker for a year.
Another attended Japanese school at the Buddhist Church and
had in-laws who attended that church. Three of us graduated
from Peary and reminisced about teachers and experiences there.
Feeling a connection with the people, we asked the Lord to
bring His blessing on those represented by each place.
The
prayer gatherings may seem small and insignificant, but I
believe that as we gather together to see with His eyes and
pray with His heart, He meets us, transforms us, and brings
Himself to those we pray for. I hope you’ll join us at
our next prayer gathering. -cnn-
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