Abes and Kogas

October 18, Wednesday
6:45 a.m.


On Monday, Nobby took me to see two pastors and their wives serving in two different cities. The first was Pastor and Mrs. (Hiroshi and Michiko) Abe, who serve at the Ishikawa, which is a little more than an hour’s drive from the camp.

The Abes were trained at the Bible school operated by missionaries and located in Tama City, which is in the outlying area of Tokyo. Previously, Mrs. Abe had been a nurse and Pastor Abe had been a medical lab technician. Now they are serving full time in their church.

The church building at Ishikawa is beautiful both on the inside and outside. Repairs were made recently on the inside to fix cracks (due to settling) that had opened in the ceiling and some of the interior walls on the second level. The meeting space for the church is all on the second floor. The Abes live on the first floor.

Nobby and I spent the morning talking with the Abes about a couple of matters related to some former missionaries. It would not be appropriate for me to go into details here, but suffice it to say that the matters remain unresolved in the minds of the Japanese Christians who were affected by what happened. For most of the morning, a lady who is a member of the church, joined us to discuss one of the matters in particular. I believe I was able to help them with godly pastoral counsel, which they received with open hearts. Nobby told me he believed that it helped tremendously and that clearly the Lord was in the timing of our visit.

I do not think that the Japanese are easily offended. If anything, they look on gaijin (foreigners) with some understanding of their ignorance of Japanese language and customs. The situations the Abes and the woman from the church discussed with me would have been serious breaches of both ethical and Christian conduct anywhere in the world. When I return home, I will need to contact at least one of the persons involved to see if the person would be willing to do what they should to facilitate forgiveness and healing.

By the way, the woman who came to the church brought with her a selection of “box” lunches. I was able to choose from salmon, beef, or Chinese noodles. I chose the salmon, which came with rice, a few vegetables, a small slice of Japanese omelet, and a item or two that tasted sweet although I have no idea what they were.

In the afternoon, Nobby and I drove on to visit Pastor and Mrs. Koga (Kazuhiko and _____ ), who serve in the Satogaok Baptist Church in Iwakishi. The Kogas are a very young couple (Kazuhiko is 31 years old), having been married for only one year and now serving in their first church. Once again, the church building is a fine facility, consisting of two stories. A small auditorium is located on the first floor. Sunday School and fellowship space, including a large kitchen, is located on the second. The Kogas live in a house next to the church.

The work in Iwakishi is slow and difficult, as is the case most everywhere in Japan. There are sometimes ten or less in attendance, even though the building could easily accommodate more than 100 adults and children. Add to this that Kogas are paid very little, so in addition to everything else they also carry the burden of some financial stress.

I was able to identify with the Koga’s situation, because it is so similar to the way Dale and I started out in ministry. I explained to the Kogas that we started our first church with just five adults and four children in a similar size (but not nearly as good as shape) facility. I encouraged them to persevere and that I would pray for them faithfully. One additional burden so many Japanese pastors and wives carry is that they have such little Christian fellowship and encouragement. This is true for all, not just for pastors and their wives. One way our group will be able to minister in the future is simply by encouraging pastors, their wives, missionaries, their wives, their families, and other Christians with their presence in country.

Our discussions with the Abes and Kogas about next summer’s ministry also produced a few good insights for going forward. For example, I asked if the Japanese pastors thought it would be a good idea for our team to stay in one place for the entire time in country or to stay only for a week or so at a time and then go on to somewhere else. The consensus is for them to stay for the entire time in one place. The idea would be for everyone to stay together in one place for a couple of days initially to become oriented and then to split into smaller groups to go to the various locations for service until coming back together at the end for a few days of debriefing.

Nobby and I returned home Monday night at around 9 p.m. It was a long day, seeing that we had left from the camp a little past 8:30 a.m. It didn’t take me very long to climb into bed and fall asleep. It had been a tiring day, but it was worth every minute.