If you are interested in supporting a unified effort in Japan to show Christ's love through the church, here is an opportunity. The little church I attend supports some missionaries who are involved with this program.
The computer I am using blocked the website can you tell me what it is on this forum please.
Basically it is a network of a great deal of the churches in Japan who have been working together to prepare for catastrophe. In the event that catastrophe were to occur they see it as an opportunity to share the love of Christ and "Be the Church" as they help others through disaster relief and the sharing of the gospel.
Here is another link to associates that might work and also be helpful to gather what they are doing.
http://asianaccess.org/A2-Japan-Tsunami-Relief-Fund.html
I think both of these organizations are working together, along with as many Japanese churches as possible.
Here is a quote from the Asian Access website in case you are unable to read it.
We have been praying fervently and are convinced that this is a "kairos" moment for the Church in Japan. This is a historic opportunity for the Church to be the Church and rise up to serve the needs of the country in the name of Christ. We at Asian Access believe that God has called us "for such a time as this" just as He called Esther centuries ago. The Lord has uniquely positioned us with one of the largest and broadest networks of churches across the country. We believe the Lord would have us serve as a catalyst to "unite the church" and to "extend the transforming power of the Gospel" as our mission statement directs. Interestingly enough, our new VP for Japan had been planning a luncheon for this retreat to help us look at disaster preparations on March 12, the day after the earthquake hit! In addition, several of our staff just went through a special course to assist the country in catastrophes just like this one. So, we are poised and ready to respond and now looks like the kairos moment for the church to rise up and make a difference, and in so doing, see transformation happen on multiple levels (spiritual, physical, social, etc.). We are networking with the Church across the nation to mobilize the body of Christ for action and we invite you to join us in this 'kairos" opportunity. Pray for Japan, for the Church and for us as we prepare to come alongside the Church and other partners to deliver aid and respond with well-prepared teams as the opportunities arise. In this effort, we have set up a special Japan Tsunami Relief Fund in which you can help (see below). This will provide aid to hard-hit areas, delivered primarily through local churches. There may be no greater opportunity for the gospel’s advance in Japan than this very hour. In the coming weeks, we'll also inform you of service opportunities, but we need to plan these in cooperation with others to maximize our efforts.
Thank you I was able to access both of those sites.
So are there any definite plans, or are there people that are meeting right now to decide what to do?
One of the strategies I read, I think it was on the crash site, was they are helping to establish communications through satellite phones since the communication infrastructure is massively burdened and preventing coordination all across the damaged sites.
That will be good, at least families will be able to get definite answers. Has there been any discussion about the areas affected by radiation. I am still in class so I can not read extensively on the websites you gave me.
Here is a recent email from the missionary I mentioned.
Dear praying friends,
I just returned from Tokyo (over 8hr drive) after delivering a 2 ton truck of much needed supplies (that are mostly unavailable in Tokyo). We went out and purchased bottled water, rice, diapers, formula, depends, etc. to add to the 2 ton rental truck that I was driving. From Tokyo it gets taken up with teams going to the devastated areas. It looked like we weren't going to have enough to fill the truck but God showed up. On the morning we were loading up, many Japanese people came with extra donations to add to our
load.
This morning we were trying to see if the rental company would allow this truck to be taken for extra days but then God showed up. A 747 with supplies (many needed medical supplies included) from Samaritans Purse is coming on Sunday. My teammate Kent describes below how God is providing so that we and crash can respond.
Until the Whole World Hears,
**** & ****** ******
Asian Access Missionaries
WWW.asianaccess.org
An update from my teammate **** *****
Dear praying friends,
We just pulled out of the CRASH headquarters, on our way north to Sendai. Here is what has been happening: The original plan last night was for our 3-man team to go up to Ibaraki, south of the nuclear reactor area of Fukushima, and scout out a couple possible base camp locations, then begin networking with the churches in that area, in order to create a distribution network once supplies and
volunteers begin to arrive.
We we're about to leave for the night when the head of CRASH came back in to tell us that he had just gotten off the phone with Samaritan's Purse - a 747 is coming into a US airbase here in Japan with about 90 tons of relief supplies, which the military will fly up to Sendai airport. Samaritan's Purse wants to get it into the hands of Christians to distribute in the name of Christ. Otherwise the Japanese civil service will take it to distribute - not a bad thing, but then no one will know that the relief came from Christians and there will be no testimony to the love of Christ.
So last night and this morning everyone was scrambling to try to come up with a plan for how to transport and distribute that amount of relief supplies. When you consider that CRASH is a small volunteer organization,
the task is a bit overwhelming.
Then, later this morning we found out that Samaritan had arranged for three (I think) huge trucks to transport the supplies. Praise God! One huge problem answered.
Next, those trucks will deliver the supplies to...that's where we come in. There is one base camp in Sendai already, plus another base being operated independently by a Japanese church. How much storage space do we have? How
much. Do we need? Who else might be willing and able to help store and distribute that much relief? That's what we're going up to figure out.
So basically we'll help take delivery of the supplies, then scout out the base camp situation and start networking with churches in the area to begin setting up a distribution network.
Let me try to give you a picture of what we're really facing. There are less than 1% Christians in Japan, but over 100 denominations, and so there is no communication or cooperation outside of each little group doing their
own thing to help. In terms of coordinating a larger organized effort by the Japanese Christian community, CRASH is all there is.
Add to this the fact that CRASH is a volunteer organization of mostly English-speaking missionaries, and there is therefore somewhat of a language barrier between us and the Japanese church. In some cases it is simply easier for a Japanese denomination to do their own thing, which is also
fine, except that when someone offers 90 tons of relief supplies, where in the world are you going to store it, and who is going to distribute it? This is an all-hands effort, but it is a huge challenge to get "all hands" communicating and working together.
So here are my 2 main prayer requests today: First, for the reception, transport, and distribution of the relief supplies when they arrive tomorrow (Sunday). Second, that the Lord would work mightily among the churches in
Japan to bring unity and motivate them to action in huge numbers. As the head of CRASH, Jonathan Wilson, said, "We want to help get the 'big wheel' of the entire Japanese Christian community rolling."
Thank you for praying!
**** ******
(I deleted the missionaries names not knowing if they would want this on a forum or not.)
This discussion is locked.
