House and Home

[simon at simon-cozens.org]

House and Home

   July has been a very "house"-themed month - follow me to see how!

House Churches

   We started the month with a visit to the first Japan House Church
   Conference; Henrietta and I went down to Osaka, about two hours from
   Nagahama, to see what's going on with the house churches. Particularly
   around Osaka, the house churches in Japan are seeing much more
   energetic growth and multiplication than the traditional churches.

   It was good to met a few of the people involved in house church and to
   see how they are getting on, as well as to hear some of the areas they
   are struggling with. I came away with perhaps more questions than
   answers, but sure that there's much I can learn from them as well.

   One couple we met were an American missionary couple involved in
   evangelism in the deaf community. Both Henrietta and I have
   independently had an interest in deaf evangelism and we are wondering
   if God might take us in that direction in the future. The week after
   the house church conference, we arranged to meet up with them again
   and go to a deaf church in Kyoto. We were very warmly welcomed, and it
   was a moving and humbling experience, and we will wait and see where
   things lead.

House Groups

   Last time I proudly announced that planting the Maibara house group
   would begin this month; well, God's timing is not my timing, and
   things always take longer than you'd expect to get off the ground.

   I mentioned back in February that one of our ladies, Naoko, had an
   ideal place for us to meet in Maibara city. In fact, she works as a
   private English teacher and has a classroom in her house. But she's
   also got a burden for teaching Japanese to new missionaries, so is
   retraining to become a Japanese language instructor. This will be
   fantastic for our new missionaries - Carla, our latest missionary, is
   already meeting Naoko for lessons - but it means that Naoko is putting
   in long hours both teaching and learning to teach! So we don't want to
   overburden her, and the plan to meet at her house is on hold at the
   moment.

   Instead, things are happening in a more roundabout, but probably a
   much better way. I'm now leading another of our established house
   groups, and training the members in how to both lead and multiply
   house groups themselves. Part of my goal for Maibara is not that I go
   out and do all the work, but as a church we together launch a new
   evangelistic group there. Getting a traditional, pastor-centered
   church to work in this way is going to take a bit of time, but I think
   it will be time well spent.

Working From Home

   As well as other people's houses, I have been working a lot from my
   own house this month! We have set up a media team here, with four of
   us younger missionaries helping to raise the profile of WEC Japan
   through newsletters, the Internet and videos. This month we launched a
   new web site, using new software that makes it easier for us to
   display lots of new kinds of material. I'm also working on a video to
   introduce WEC Japan and mission work in Japan. As a team, we're also
   thinking about how to raise the profile of world mission (specifically
   but not exclusively WEC) amongst our churches and  within the
   Christian community in Japan. Please do check out our new website, and
   our field newsletter!

Coming Home

   And finally, I'll be visiting the UK for a brief period between the
   17th of July and the 6th of August. I'm planning to be visiting WEC
   Headquarters in Gerrard's Cross, my home church in Oxford, and my
   mother's house in Wales. Let me know if you want to see me and I'll
   see if I can make it! Hope to see as many of you as possible!

Who?

   I am a full-time mission worker with WEC International in Japan.

   I believe that all Japanese people should be given the opportunity to
   hear and respond to the good news about Jesus Christ, and I hope to
   concentrate on working with the Japanese church to reach businessmen.

Contact


    Tonomachi 3-28 Nagahama-shi Shiga 526-0064 Japan

Prayer points

     * Thank God for the House Church movement in Japan and pray for
       wisdom for its leaders.
     * Pray also for us at Nagahama church as we learn how to do church
       in a bit of a different way, and hopefully use that to plant
       groups outside of Nagahama.
     * Pray for safety and a good time in the UK, that I would meet
       everyone I need to meet.
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