Outreach Ministry Team
By Booyeon Lee
How have you seen God at work in your ministry over the year?
The Outreach Ministry reviewed our priorities and process this past year to consider where we have been and where we are headed. Through individual and group consultations with one another, the ministry concluded that we needed a clear vision and a stronger process. The Outreach Ministry voting members and friends of the ministry met monthly for a total of seven hours in the course of six months, planning and dreaming about the future on ways to best to serve the most defenseless and marginalized populations. We decided that they are, notably, the homeless, children (ex. orphans, underage care providers), those in poverty, vulnerable women (ex. domestic violence victims, single mothers), disaster victims, the imprisoned, those persecuted for faith, and internally, externally displaced people, and refugees. Based on an updated funding criteria, we also designed a new funding request form that we believe is accessible, inclusive, transparent, and responsible.
We look forward to continuing to strengthen the Outreach Ministry that connects TUC to serve our neighbors in need in Tokyo, in Japan, and beyond.
Please list the activities of your ministry this past year.
Tohoku Relief - Dima Kito
As we have done for the past 10 years, this year again we sent our Christmas and Easter greetings and blessings and our prayers and encouragement for March 11 to Heart Knit, Tohoku Help Disaster Recovery Organisation and the three churches in Tohoku we supported after the 2011 disaster: Miyako Community Church, Seaside Bible Church in Sendai and Senmaya United Church of Christ. We also sent 3.5 kg of mikan to each of the three Tohoku churches for Christmas.
Budou no Ki -- Booyeon Lee
Budou no Ki is a Christian domestic violence shelter and support organization that offers emergency shelter, pro-bono legal assistance, and counseling for battered women and children. In 2022, TUC Outreach increased its support for this organization, as one of the recipients of the Christmas Offering. We are supporting transportation costs associated with volunteers moving out victims from violent homes and accompanying them to social welfare and legal agencies. Thanks to our support, Budou no Ki is also able to rent pre-paid phones to victims for several weeks at a time as they seek safe haven and build a new life. Our funds also outfitted the shelter with a new couch and a food pantry.
MOHN - Larry Mojumdar
Prepare over 70 onigiri bentos to be delivered the next morning.
To deliver the above early every morning, excluding Sundays, by going to TUC first to receive the bentos prepared the day before, and deliver them to places in Shibuya 109, or other basement areas where many homeless survive overnight.
Prepare warm bentos every third Saturday of the month and deliver them to Yoyogi park where our homeless neighbors line up to receive these bentos.
Hand out warm undershirts (“Heat tech”) in the month of October during our monthly event. Last year we handed out a small packet of gifts as a Christmas present.
Hand out OSECHI foods on the first of January in Yoyogi park to let our neighbors taste a little favor of traditional Japanese New Year breakfast.
MOHN - Julie Fukuda
I do see God at work every Monday morning. God keeps me safe on the drive to town and back on a road full of speeding trucks and wild cyclists. I see him in Ichi-san, who greets me at my car when I arrive, and even moved the cones when the streets were blocked on Halloween, so I could pull over to the curb and park. And who often asks me about my daughter and granddaughter who have come from time to time with me. I hear God's voice in the voice of Suzuki-san, calling out to me to be careful on the stairs. I see God's hands in work as I place the packs of onigiri beside the sleeping brothers, those hands that make the packs so faithfully day after day, year after year for 30 years. I see God at work when summers get too hot for keeping the onigiri safely delivered, and supplies of dry food are donated to keep needs met. I see God in donations of warm socks and other items that meet the needs of many. Though I miss the Saturday meals in the fellowship hall, I hear god's voice in my young scouts, asking when we will be able to serve again. Yet, God speaks to the homeless these days through members who share not only food to Yoyogi, but God's word and deed. All through this pandemic, when we almost quit the program, I saw God in the determination to carry on regardless, even if they had to do the making in their own homes. How very faithful God has been. Sunday night a heavy snow was predicted for Tokyo. The piles of snow in my neighborhood from Friday's shovelling were still there, and ice was in the areas where sun never reaches. I went to bed in worry about driving into town in snow. I woke up at 3:am thinking if the snow was bad, I might have to find a safer route into town. Snow was falling on my greenhouse bedroom roof, but when I came down and opened the door, the snow was melting as it hit the ground and the only snow around were the piles I made shovelling on Friday. Thankfully, though I walked in the falling snow to my parking spot, when I neared town, it became rain. God had answered my prayers for a safe trip. My homeless brother met me at my car, I didn't slip on the wet stairs, and I drove safely to my parking spot and walked home in lightly falling snow, melting as it hit the ground. Yes, God is at work in every part of MOHN.
ARI - Audrey Thorne
TUC Outreach continues to grow our partnership with ARI. Our youth traveled to ARI this fall to learn from the team about organic farming, and ARI's vision for a just world. The youth helped garden, prepared food, and spent time with ARI staff and participants. We learned the value of an egg, and the time and labor that goes into producing the goods we take for granted in Tokyo. We were blessed by the opportunity to learn from ARI and continue our long relationship. ARI was also one of the recipients of the 2022 Christmas Offering donations, which is being used toward developing its Graduate Outreach program.
Bott Memorial Home - Akiko Adachi
Despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, I am grateful that God kept supporting and guiding us throughout the year 2021.
In spring we decided to grant a scholarship to a girl who had been studying at a vocational school for animal grooming and was going to go for the second year. She came to TUC to introduce herself and express gratitude to the church during a Livestream service in April, which was a good opportunity for the church to see her and know the program. As for the program called ‘Hayashi on Support’, five church members kept communications with five children at Hayashi Family by sending occasional letters and birthday presents. It is a shame that they could not have the annual tea party due to the pandemic. In December Audrey Thorn and Naomi Tokuda graciously and efficiently carried on with the Christmas Gifts Program when Akiko Adachi was away from Japan. The children enjoyed opening the gifts and had a joyful time on the 24th thanks to so many donors who were eager to send their love to the children.