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Covenant Missions in Japan
Missions
Jay & Ellen Haworth Vol. 15 No. 1 March 15, 2007 The River City Connection One of our Japan Covenant Churches, International Bible Fellowship, will send a group of 20 young people on a mission trip to the River City Church in Lewiston, Idaho from March 23 to April 3. While in Lewiston our Japanese young people will experience life in a Christian home and participate in a variety of outreach programs designed to introduce them to Jesus Christ. This trip follows a short term mission’s trip last summer where the River City Church sent a team of 30 people to minister among our Japanese Covenant churches. They prepared testimonies, skits, special music and dance as a means of sharing their faith here in Japan. These two home stay exchanges give a glimpseof River City Church’s long term goal of reaching Japan for Christ one person at a time. We are beginning to see this approach more often as American churches want to become more directly involved in missions around the world. River City’s approach is to develop a long-term sister church relationship with one of our Japan Covenant churches through which there is a yearly exchange of visits and committed missionary support. Our young people at International Bible Fellowship and Kuki Grace Church are coming to know the Lord on both sides of the Pacific. Please pray for a fruitful visit by the IBF group at the end of March. May the Lord touch many of these young lives. Ellen and I look forward to resuming our ministry at Kuki Grace Church and International Bible Fellowship when we return to Japan in January, 2008. Short-term Missions in Detroit Christ Covenant Church in Novi, Michigan is another example of a local church with an international focus on missions. In Novi’s case, they are developing an international approach in reaching the German and Japanese residents who come to the Detroit area to work in the auto industry. They hope to welcome these newcomers into their fellowship, introduce them to Christ, and then ultimately partner in missions as these new Christians return to their home countries. An exciting first step in their local outreach is to add a short term missionary from Japan on their staff to better facilitate outreach to the thousands of Japanese living in their area. In early March, Larry and Debbie Sherman and Nathan Pawl, Covenant pastors from the Great Lakes Conference went to Japan to discuss such a partnership with pastors of the Japan Covenant Church. It is their hope that the Japanese Covenant will send missionaries to the Detroit area to help reach out to the growing Japanese population there. Once again, we see the local and international bodies of Christ partnering to reach the world for Christ. Please pray for wisdom as the Japan Covenant talks about possible candidates and funding for this missions venture. Haworth Home Assignment Ellen and I were planning to take a three month home assignment this summer, but health concerns and Amy’s transition to college later this year led us to request a full year home assignment beginning January 1 of this year. Since Amy was already prepared to graduate from Kingsburg High School in California, we decided to return to the U.S. on January 1 so that Amy could complete her senior year at Kingsburg. For missionary kids “saying good-bye” is perhaps one of the most frequent and difficult experiences they face. It certainly has been for Amy, but now that she is back among her friends here in California she is actually looking forward to school. Last week as Amy was reflecting on her current experience and transition to college said: “Dad, I think I feel so happy because for the first time in my life I don’t have to say good-bye to my friends.” We are so thankful for her smooth transition home and optimistic outlook for the future. We also discovered that Ellen and I have several physical problems that really needed attention. I had four wisdom teeth removed several weeks ago and need 3 or 4 crowns in the coming months. Ellen, too, needs extensive dental work, so it looks like we will really get to know our dentist. In addition, Jay is scheduled for a CT scan to check into disturbing symptoms in his renal system. I realize that my description is a bit vague, but we will give you an update as soon as the doctor has more information. In the mean time, we are doing well here in Kingsburg and up to our chins in medical evaluations. We will make several short visits to local supporting churches, but full time itineration is on hold until several medical issues have been cleared up. We gave the Kingsburg Church very little notice of our return to the United States, but within weeks we had a condo rented and church members had gathered furniture for us to use during this year. We are so thankful to God for our supporting churches and a wonderful team of administrators in the Department of Prayer Needs Jay and Ellen’s Medical needs “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. In our Lord’s service, |