Tokyo Marketplace Outreach & Church Planting
Project Focus:
Tokyo Metro Community (TMC) is a unique and experimental church planting project targeting young white-collar workers in the countless business and government offices of central Tokyo. The population of the greater Tokyo area is about 32 million and many of them work downtown. The central business area of Tokyo is the epicenter for finance, media, the arts, education and government for the nation. It's like having Washington D.C. , New York , Boston , and Los Angeles all rolled up into one. The project began with intentional outreach and discipleship activities starting in Spring 2005.
Evangelistic Need:
Only about 0.2 percent of Japanese are Protestant church-going Christians, only about half of those are evangelical believers, and the figures are much lower in the target group. A recent survey has shown that 2/3 of Tokyo residents have no meaningful knowledge of the gospel of Christ. But about 10 percent have some interest in Christianity and about 1 percent think (for whatever reason) that they themselves would like to become a Christian.
Partners:
The project is a partnership effort involving the Campus Crusade for Christ (Kazu Kurihara, Leaders Led Movement) and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (Richard Oue, Strategy Coordinator for Central Tokyo). Several other IMB missionaries and CCC staff members are also involved. Short-term mission teams from the U.S., Singapore and Taiwan have contributed to the ministry. An executive discipleship group in the home office of BB&T Corporation, related to Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, has an ongoing commitment to the project and is sending small volunteer teams once a year for outreach activities particularly targeting people in the finance industry. Plans are now in the works for developing a similar partnership with a group of businessmen in Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in the Marietta, GA.
Approaches:
Many young workers in central Tokyo "sleep" in the suburbs but the "live" downtown. There they work and play. Central Tokyo is the setting for most of their activities and relationships. This generation is more interested in relationships than religion, more in personal spirituality than organization or ritual. For these reasons TMC is emphasizing witness and discipleship in the context of personal relationships and small groups. The TMC leadership team is formatting ministry in terms of "life coaching" and "personal growth seminars" (based on the Bible and Christian values of course) rather than traditional church approaches. The goal is the development of a closely related multiplying network of small group "cell churches" that meet regularly any time or day of the week with bi-vocational or non-professional leadership. These groups may eventually gather monthly for celebration and/or special training.
Volunteer Needs: We are most interested in developing ongoing partnerships that could send small teams (3-6 men and/or women) to develop witness and ministry in specific professions or industries, in the way that the BB&T team is working in the world of finance. In a one week trip such a team would be involved in informal outreach activities (lunches, dinners, etc.) helping Japanese believers reach out to their friends and co-workers; typically one more formal seminar or lecture meeting reaching out to non-Christians with some sort of meaningful professional/personal content as a way of sharing personal testimonies and an introduction to the gospel; some interaction with Japanese Christians for the purpose of encouraging their walk with Christ and lifestyle witness; and some prayer visits to spiritually significant places in Tokyo.
Other more generic teams could also be used if they are made up of young businesspeople able to share in broader ways concerning life and business, or do direct witness ministry in downtown parks or through on-the-street literature distribution. Prayerwalking & prayer ministry teams would be helpful. We are also in need of some IT help in improving effectiveness of the TMC website as a tool for witness and spiritual growth, and in facilitating the work of the TMC with web-based tools for calendaring, planning, collaboration, and managing client/prospect data.
Tokyo Metro Community (TMC) is a unique and experimental church planting project targeting young white-collar workers in the countless business and government offices of central Tokyo. The population of the greater Tokyo area is about 32 million and many of them work downtown. The central business area of Tokyo is the epicenter for finance, media, the arts, education and government for the nation. It's like having Washington D.C. , New York , Boston , and Los Angeles all rolled up into one. The project began with intentional outreach and discipleship activities starting in Spring 2005.
Evangelistic Need:
Only about 0.2 percent of Japanese are Protestant church-going Christians, only about half of those are evangelical believers, and the figures are much lower in the target group. A recent survey has shown that 2/3 of Tokyo residents have no meaningful knowledge of the gospel of Christ. But about 10 percent have some interest in Christianity and about 1 percent think (for whatever reason) that they themselves would like to become a Christian.
Partners:
The project is a partnership effort involving the Campus Crusade for Christ (Kazu Kurihara, Leaders Led Movement) and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention (Richard Oue, Strategy Coordinator for Central Tokyo). Several other IMB missionaries and CCC staff members are also involved. Short-term mission teams from the U.S., Singapore and Taiwan have contributed to the ministry. An executive discipleship group in the home office of BB&T Corporation, related to Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, has an ongoing commitment to the project and is sending small volunteer teams once a year for outreach activities particularly targeting people in the finance industry. Plans are now in the works for developing a similar partnership with a group of businessmen in Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in the Marietta, GA.
Approaches:
Many young workers in central Tokyo "sleep" in the suburbs but the "live" downtown. There they work and play. Central Tokyo is the setting for most of their activities and relationships. This generation is more interested in relationships than religion, more in personal spirituality than organization or ritual. For these reasons TMC is emphasizing witness and discipleship in the context of personal relationships and small groups. The TMC leadership team is formatting ministry in terms of "life coaching" and "personal growth seminars" (based on the Bible and Christian values of course) rather than traditional church approaches. The goal is the development of a closely related multiplying network of small group "cell churches" that meet regularly any time or day of the week with bi-vocational or non-professional leadership. These groups may eventually gather monthly for celebration and/or special training.
Volunteer Needs: We are most interested in developing ongoing partnerships that could send small teams (3-6 men and/or women) to develop witness and ministry in specific professions or industries, in the way that the BB&T team is working in the world of finance. In a one week trip such a team would be involved in informal outreach activities (lunches, dinners, etc.) helping Japanese believers reach out to their friends and co-workers; typically one more formal seminar or lecture meeting reaching out to non-Christians with some sort of meaningful professional/personal content as a way of sharing personal testimonies and an introduction to the gospel; some interaction with Japanese Christians for the purpose of encouraging their walk with Christ and lifestyle witness; and some prayer visits to spiritually significant places in Tokyo.
Other more generic teams could also be used if they are made up of young businesspeople able to share in broader ways concerning life and business, or do direct witness ministry in downtown parks or through on-the-street literature distribution. Prayerwalking & prayer ministry teams would be helpful. We are also in need of some IT help in improving effectiveness of the TMC website as a tool for witness and spiritual growth, and in facilitating the work of the TMC with web-based tools for calendaring, planning, collaboration, and managing client/prospect data.
Also we are looking for business young
couples or singles who are eager to be marketplace missionaries in Tokyo.
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For More Information:
Contact Kazu Kurihara (asktmc@gmail.com) Richard Oue (kawasakidawgoue@gmail.com)
Contact Kazu Kurihara (asktmc@gmail.com) Richard Oue (kawasakidawgoue@gmail.com)
Carlton Walker (ccwalker2nihon82@world.odn.ne.jp)
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