Some History

Below is a letter I wrote to Toru in 1999. He and Talo were still in Hawaii, preparing to come plant new Hope Tokyo. Talo recently found it while going through some old files. Things have taken longer than I thought they would, and Tomomi and I aren't a "childless couple" any more, but it's amazing how close the letter is to what is actually happening almost six years later.

August 5 [1999]

Dear Toru,

Thanks for the phone call the other day. It’s always great to talk and pray with a bro in the Lord. I’ve been thinking a lot about the move to Tokyo and the new church. I’m interested to know what you and Talo are thinking that our (Tomomi and I) roles and responsibilities will be.

I’m doing a lot of dreaming and thinking, but I’d like to know if it fits with the overall vision of New Hope Tokyo and our roles as you see it. We are particularly interested in working with children (especially preschool age). Here is what I’m thinking so far:

• A Sunday School program for preschool children. Something fun, simple interactive, easy to understand, and especially, Christ-centered. We want to teach people from a very young age that Jesus is relevant to every area of their lives, not just Sunday mornings.

• A child-raising class/support/care group for parents with young children. Parents these days in Japan (and everywhere else) need help raising godly well-balanced children.

• Family activities for young families. I think it is important for families to fellowship together, not just adults with adults and children with children.

Out of these church activities and the experience gained from them, I believe that with God-led vision and planning, over time, a preschool (youchien or hoikuen) will develop. A preschool and Sunday School program has many advantages over a Sunday School program alone. For example:

• In a preschool we can disciple children in God’s ways five days a week throughout the whole curriculum, not just “Bible time.” This will have a much greater impact on their loves.

• A preschool will attract non-Christian families in ways that church never will. If we run an excellent international preschool and produce graduates who are well-equipped for elementary school, parents will gladly send their children to us whether they are already Christian or not.

• PTA and parenting seminars will make natural friendships between non-Christian parents, and Christian parents and teachers.

Of course all this is just dreams now. It is subject to the approval and covering of leadership, and there is no way that Tomomi and I can even begin to do all of this ourselves. (How could a childless couple teach a child-raising class?!?!) It would take a large group of people moving in unity, but at least the seeds are there in our hearts and, who knows, maybe other people's as well.

For the time being, we are planning to move to Tokyo in early November. I want to continue my Japanese studies there, and I’m thinking about starting an afternoon English [the letter continues on a second page which is lost].

First Dream Meeting

The New Hope Church School team held its first dream meeting today. About twenty people came. We opened with worship. Guy, Shoji, and I shared our vision for the project, and Shoji also presented what we've done so far and proposed beginning with the Narimasu site. I'll post my vision notes below and summarize the rest here.

Guy talked about the school being a bridge between the church and the community and detailed ways in which the school building could be used as a community outreach center. He focused on ways in which each New Hope member can use his or her gifts and on how we will be able to reach different groups in the community: children of all ages, mothers, fathers, and university students.

Shoji talked more about the big picture. He talked about how this has been a dream of New Hope Tokyo since the beginning. How he sees the church school project as an expression of our first core value (that Christians and non-Christians are equally loved by God and that we are committed to evangelism and discipleship). He said that the project will not end with the establishment of the first preschool, but that in the first five years we would like to start five or ten preschools in various local communities around Tokyo. Then an elementary school, junior high, high school and Bible college.

My perspective was that of the Sunday School director. Here are my notes:

Vision for New Hope School

Why New Hope School? Because Jesus loves children and wants to be with them every day, not just Sunday. Much of the ministry to which we are called cannot be accomplished in one hour a week. Jesus didn’t have a weekly one-hour meeting with his disciples; he spent time with them every day. Some children learn best in ways other than the worship/story/craft approach that we use in Sunday School. By integrating biblical principles throughout the curriculum, we can reach children whose learning styles are different and create natural opportunities not only to learn, but also to apply what has been learned.

In addition to serving our own children better, we will be able to reach children who would not otherwise hear the gospel. Many families would never come to a worship service, but part of being a church without walls is to step outside of the sanctuary and reach people where they are. Our school will not be a place to hide and protect our children from the world, but one more way of reaching out to the world.

Parents of young children are in a unique place of openness to the gospel. They feel a huge weight of responsibility, and though we are not perfect at raising and educating children, we can do our best and point them to the perfect God who will give them the wisdom and strength they need.

We had good feedback. People asked questions about student recruitment, whether we have teachers lined up, and our timeline for an elementary school. The next step is to put teams together to tackle specific issues like office work, curriculum development, recruiting, a building-use plan, and many more. We closed with prayer, and refreshments.

実感してきました！ It's beginning to feel real!

Getting a feel for it

I've started teaching English once a week at the small Christian school in my city. I team-teach with a Japanese woman who went to college in the US. She had been doing a wonderful job teaching English conversation by herself for the first year and a half of the school's existence. I'm glad she's let me in on the class. It's wonderful to be free to discuss God in the classroom. The kids are enthusiatic in their love for the Lord and for studying. I'm getting a feel for what a small Christian school feels like from the teacher's perspective (already been there as a student).

Shalom School

A couple years ago, Tomomi started taking our children to Shalom Kindergaten's Moms-and-Kids class once a week. Through it, Tomomi and the kids have made some very good friends and had lots of fun. The church that runs the kindergarten started an elementary through high school a year and a half ago. At present they have fewer than ten students, but I'm sure that will change. I spent a day in the class last year and was very impressed. The teachers are all volunteers. They obviously love the children and are devoted to their education and to raising them in God's ways. The kids interact so well with one another. It's a one-room school so the younger kids have good role models in the classroom and the older kids have opportunities to serve and teach. Since we won't be doing much with the New Hope School this year, I offered to help teach English at Shalom. It's a small way to pay back the kindess that they've shown to my family, and it will also be a good chance for me to get experience in a pioneering school before we start our own. For now, I'll be going once a week.

The entrance ceremony was held today (Japanese institutions have a lot of ceremonies). They introduced the new students and welcomed them. The principal/pastor gave a message about the triumphant entry with outstanding animal sound effects. The older kids sang a couple songs, one of which was the Lord's Prayer in English. I'm really excited about working there.

"Goliath"

"Goliath"
Originally uploaded by New Hope Kids.

Even though I don't really like my kids to have toy weapons or violent toys, we bowed to peer pressure last week after church and got Timothy a happy meal at McDonalds that came with this toy.

Timothy took it out of the package, set it down on the table, looked it straight in the eye and said, "You come at me with a sword and a spear, but I come at you in the name of the Lord!"

New Preschool?

New Preschool?
Originally uploaded by New Hope Kids.

This is the building in Narimasu that we are considering. We need to decide on it by the end of April.

First Post

Starting a Christian preschool in Japan has been a dream of mine since 1997. Now that it looks like it's getting closer to reality, I want to keep a record of how it comes about step by step. Some posts will be historical, how we got to this point. Others will be the latest news.

Now we have a small team of church members who are commited to the project and it looks like we will launch a pilot program in September. The place we are currently considering is in Narimasu, Itabashi Ward in Tokyo. I'll try to upload a photo of the building.