Ministry Updates and News from the Mehns
Everyone is sent to share God’s Word with everyone in the world. One great privilege we have is sharing the Bible with many people in Japan. Just last month we had several opportunities to share God’s Word. As an outreach at the Crossroad Church Elaine teaches a class on making greeting cards. Each time Elaine shares a short Bible talk and discussion (Psalm 23). The Agape Group met to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. John…
GOD ANSWERED Thank you for praying for the CPI Leadership Team retreat last month. God really met us personally and corporately with vision, deep prayer, and encouragement. The JEMA Plenary meeting and the Rengo meetings last week all went very well. Relationships for ministry are growing and encouraging. PRAYER PARTNER SPOTLIGHTS 3/11 is the fourth year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Tokoku. During this time many have troubled feelings. Pray that the church…
Share Christ with the Japanese Reach Japanese International Students – Like other unreached people groups, Japan has one of the largest groups of international students in the US. There are many in our home state of Illinois and other areas. See this article. There may be Japanese high school exchange students in your area. Host an English Homestay through your church. Japanese can come to experience America for 7-10 days and spend time with you.…
Both of us spend much time with leaders both Japanese and missionary. One of our key objectives is to help grow transformational leaders for Japan. We would like to take you to some scenes over the last several weeks that involved growing leaders. Spiritual Renewal Mentoring One couple attended the Church Planting Institute (CPI) Conference in 2013, their lives were changed there from performance-based Christianity to a more grace-based orientation. They approached us for…
The Rengo celebrates its 50 anniversary this year. There are many events planned this year including the big party in November in Tokyo. Recently 5 Rengo pastors went to the US for the Transform meetings in California. Read this article for more on these pastors and pictures of the event.
Frequently Asked Question: How do you partner with Japanese leaders and churches? Elaine partners with our “home church” Crossroad church in a card making craft class each month. Participating are several new people and many who do not yet know Christ. John signed up for another year as a cooperating missionary at the Nerima Baptist Church. This past year John led training for leadership, evangelism and missions. Thank you for praying for the key meetings…
Gearing Up Feb 2015 Get out your calendars, notepads, and spreadsheets. We plan for successful ministry. Preparation in any endeavor is crucial. Planning is essential preparation. We both have an ongoing process of planning, praying, and preparing for ministry ahead. We plan for multiplication. Much of our mentoring and coaching ministry envisions others who will multiply our leadership. Last month we finished key gospel renewal material with one young couple who could be potential trainers…
Looking back God orchestrated several new avenues for ministry that shaped what last year looked like. Along with our local evangelism, Elaine’s outreach ministries to women, partnering with Rengo churches and leaders, and leadership for the Japan mission God shaped some new openings for significant ministry development in Japan and beyond. CPI in its 20th year embarked on several regional seminars training at least 300 leaders throughout Japan. Several leaders came to us for spiritual…
Well you prayed and it happened. We were planning to have maybe 50 people at this year’s last Church Planting Institute (CPI) regional training seminar in Tokyo. When registration closed there were 98 listed. This made it the largest regional training seminar of this year, or any year. What a way to celebrate 20 years of CPI! We offered two seminars one on Church Planting Next Steps and another on Walking in the Gospel for…
For many years we have partnered in the CPI Leadership Team with Dan Iverson missionary with Mission to the World (a fellow JEMA member) of the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA). These are adapted comments from one of his letters… “The statistics for those spiritually lost in Japan make me weep. 70,000 new churches are needed. Is this “Mission Impossible”? These numbers here show why Japan continues to be listed as the second largest…