A letter from Bill and Ann Moore in Japan
March 2012
Dear Friends,
Installing the cross on the new church
In our last letter we wrote of the excitement that members of the Reformed Church of Christ in Japan Nishitani Chapel were experiencing as they anticipated completion of their new place of worship. After meeting for over 10 years in the home of our partners in new church development, Dr. and Mrs. Haruki Kondo, the congregation was able to construct a place of worship and service. The building was completed on schedule and we worshiped in it for the first time on December 4. The following Sunday afternoon we offered the building to God’s use with a service of dedication and celebration concert. Over 120 people from the local community and other Reformed churches attended, leaving even standing room scarce.
Even without considering that the new chapel is a renovated small office building, we are delighted with the results. There is seating for 60 people in the barrier-free worship space, with overflow seating that can accommodate 30 more. Also, on the first floor we have a spacious kitchen and two restrooms. On the second floor we have two Sunday School/multipurpose rooms and the church office.
We are blessed to have such a beautiful facility. While there were some advantages to the homey atmosphere of a house church, we now have space for programming during the week. Better still, at worship we even have empty seats with which to welcome newcomers.
Ann teaches a new song at Sunday School
After moving into the new chapel an important issue immediately came up that caused a bit of controversy. That was whether to make it a shoes off or a shoes on church. As you may know, Japanese homes are strictly shoes off; it is unthinkable to enter a home without removing one’s “dirty” shoes and changing into slippers in the entryway before entering the clean house. These days many churches are like that, but the trend is toward entering with shoes. One of the reasons is to make it easier for elderly and handicapped people who find it difficult to change from shoes to slippers and vice versa. Also, others like the convenience of coming and going without bothering to change footwear. The Building Committee recommended that we be a shoes on church in deference to the handicapped, but there were members who felt strongly that we should take our shoes off before entering. Their reason was that it is fitting to remove one's shoes before entering a holy place. Also, leaving dirty shoes at the entry would make cleaning easier and keep the church looking new longer. We called a congregational meeting to deal with this controversial issue and after much discussion it was decided that making it easier for disabled folk to come to church was more important than making cleaning easier. Furthermore, we all realized that a holy place is made holy by the use to which it is put rather than by what is on one’s feet. Now we have a couple of large door mats at the entrance to the church which we all use “religiously,” but just in case someone comes straight to church from working in the muddy fields of rural Nishitani, we also have some backup slippers ready.
The handbell choir performs at Christmas
At Easter we will complete the building project with the dedication of two stained glass windows in the front of the sanctuary. Mrs. Kawai, a member of the church and an artist, designed them and a local stained glass studio is doing the fabrication. The respective themes of the windows are the Advent and Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The windows are abstract in style, allowing the viewer to decide how they express the meaning of these important events of our faith. As people who live between the first and second comings, the windows will also serve to remind us of our mission and hope.
Having made progress on the hardware front, this year our goal is to work on the software, mainly on the governance of the church. Up until this time most decisions have been made by a committee of the two of us and Dr. and Mrs. Kondo, elder and deacon respectively of our mother church. Major issues have gone to congregational meetings. In the first half of this year the members will elect a committee to represent them in the management of the church. We are praying that through this election good leaders will be selected to serve the chapel and become elders and deacons once we are officially organized as a self-supporting church.
In addition to her work at the church, Ann continues to serve the community through the Kobe YWCA. She has recently been re-elected to an unprecedented third year as president. Her calling has been to maintain and strengthen the Christian identity and foundation of the Kobe Y. As most members are not Christian this is a challenge, but even the non-Christian members have come to appreciate how the teachings of Jesus inform the direction and work of the Y. Ann is now working on a Y project to take high school students from the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation–affected Fukushima area to Korea this summer for a camp with their Korean peers. This will give them a time of respite from dealing with the effects of the disaster. In addition it is hoped that this grassroots interaction will help to heal the legacy of the difficult history between Korea and Japan.
We are blessed to represent Jesus Christ and you here in Japan. God is at work in this land and it is a joy to be part of that work. We thank you for you generous offerings and faithful prayer that not only make our ministry here possible but also make you our partners in God’s mission.
Peace and Grace,
Bill and Ann Moore
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 200
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