Greetings from Japan! A big “thank you” to WLUMC for your continued faithful support allowing us, in part, to serve here as missionaries for the past 40+ years. We wanted to give you an update on what has been happening here in the past year.

We continue to see an increase in our weekly attendance, although we are still not at pre-Covid levels. We have gained some new families with children (both Christian and non-Christian), and our Sunday School program continues to grow as well.
 
Nancy continues to hold her weekly women’s group, and Chris hosts online prayer meetings as well as posting regular up-to-date news in Japanese and English on persecuted Christians around the world (hakugai.org) with people attending from many different countries.  In addition to his Chapel meetings, Chris meets online once a week with Christian men in Africa to study the Bible and talk about the serious theological and social issues facing the Church in Africa.
 
We have been thinking (and praying) about when we will hand down the leadership of the mission to the next generation.  As a result, the Ikoma Chapel has voted to invite Pastor Yamada (a Japanese pastor) and his wife who are currently serving in Korea to come to Chapel when they return to Japan in early summer.  He will serve at Chapel in various ways, and hopefully will eventually be asked to formally become a pastor at Chapel. Chris will remain in the lead pastor role for some time to train Pastor Yamada and prepare him to take on Chris’s responsibilities.  We ask for prayers that the Lord will guide this transition to new leadership.

We hope to visit the States again this year, and we will be sure to let you know our schedule so we can set up a time to visit. Again, we are so grateful for your support, both financial and in prayer. May the Lord continue to richly bless your church and its various ministries in 2025.

Your fellow servants in Christ,
-Chris & Nancy