市村ご夫妻から、各地の恵みの報告を伝えるServant Leader Newsletter、感謝

Servant Leader Newsletter
November, 2018
Andrew Ichimura

“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV)

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
and who tremble at my word.“ Isaiah 66:2b (NIV)

“2018 VIP Parliament Christmas Banquet” will be held on Nov 26th (Mon) 6-9pm at the Fuyo banquet hall, Hotel New Otani Tokyo. (400 people)

The main speaker will be Tommy Nakajima (pro golfer). Special guests include: H.E. Mr. Paul Madden (British diplomat and ambassador to Japan), Ms. Yaffa Ben-Ari (Ambassador of Israel in Japan), Mr. Shigeru Ishiba (former secretary of LDP), Mr. Banri Kaieda (former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry), Mr. Motohisa Furukawa (Secretary General of National Democratic Party), Mr. Toru Hashimoto (Honorary advisor of Mizuho financial group), Mr. Junichi Ujiie (Honorary advisor of Namura Holdings), Mr. Masayuki Muneyuki (Former CEO of Fuji Film) and others. Ms. Junko Akisawa (TBS-TV) will be the MC. Please pray that influential leaders of Japan will come to know personally and have faith in Christ as Lord.

There are still a few seats available, please join and inform your friends about the event.
Please let me know by Friday, November 16th, if you are interested in attending by contacting me at Hqn04153@nifty.com 090-2743-8854.

· “VIP Hong Kong” (Chairman: Tomoyuki Hisano) held its 4th gathering. Mr. Fujishiro and Mr. Itabashi from VIP Tokyo station have been able to join the fellowship time while they were in HK for business. The theme of VIP HK’s 1st gathering was “Learn from Mr. Toyohiko Kagawa”. The 2nd meeting’s theme was “Bible and Human Resource Management”. The 3rd one was “1st chapter of the gospel of Matthew”. The 4th one on Oct 19th was entitled “Jesus Christ and the Meiji Restoration by Katsu Kaishu”: how Christianity impacted Japanese influential leaders such as Katsu Kaishu, Saigo Takamori and Sakamoto Ryoma during the Meiji Restoration and how it affected the foundations of modernized Japan. Please pray that many come to faith in Christ through the ministries of VIP HK.

· “VIP Osaka” (Chairman: Tsutomu Nakayama) was held on Nov 13th at 8F Kitahama Square, VIP Kansai Center and the guest speaker was Mr. Katsuyuki Akutagawa (Chairman of VIP Tokushima, director of intellectual property div., Nichia Corp.). His speech was entitled: “Learning from Nichia corp. when it was a small medium business – Intellectual property strategy can drive high growth for a small medium business”. Please continue to pray for the salvation of regular participants and seekers.

· “VIP Funabashi” (Chairman: Masahiko Udagawa) will host a special gathering and its guest speaker is M. Hiromi Hataji (Japan regional director of ZOE. ZOE means LIFE in Greek) Her presentation is “Stop the human trafficking”. Some statistics show there are more than 20 million people under human trafficking (slavery) worldwide. ZOE is supporting victims to rescue children from traffickers and regain new life. The rescued children will receive education at Zoe's protective facility and will be restored human rights and confidence. She will report about ZOE’s activities regarding the actual situation of trafficking being done in modern Japan. Ms. Hataji became a Christian in 1994 after studying the Bible with Navigators Japan and established “ZOE Japan” institute in 2017 after about 30 years working for a medical company. She is actively supporting children at “ZOE’s children’s house” in Thailand and also focusing on enlightenment activities in Japan and overseas.

“Kansai Navigators - Mission 50th year anniversary appreciation party report”
“Kansai Navigator mission 50th year anniversary appreciation party” was held at “Mother house Bethel” in Mikage, Kobe to celebrate its 50th year anniversary on Oct 8th and 50 people attended. 18 year old college students at that time have been transformed into 68 year old gray haired men during these 50 years. I was involved in the Navigators student ministry for about 4 years from 1971 to 1975 and in the first year, more than 100 students at Kobe Univ. attended Bible Study and about 10 of them became Christians and were connected to local churches. It’s a great memory, and I am grateful that I was a part of that ministry to students. During those 4 years, Rev. Yasunoni Ichikawa (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies), Rev. Kenji Hata (Kobe University), Rev. Masamitsu Futagawa (Kobe Univ), Rev. Masaki Hayashi (Kobe Univ) and Rev. Aso Kotsuka (Kobe Univ) became pastors. Mr. Takahisa Kusuda (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies), Mr. Noriaki Sugimoto (Kobe Univ) and Mr. Akira Doi (Kobe Univ) became staff of the Navigators, Japan. I would appreciate your continued support and prayers for Kansai Navigators.