sims harold lois 1969 japan

8/12/2019 Sims Harold Lois 1969 Japan

1/22

Chr i s t i anGo ye intoalLthe world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15

68 January 1969 Num

Minafo Church CelebratesTwentieth Anniversary

Congregation at 20th Anniversary celebration of Minato Church.On November 3 th e Minato Church of

(which s ince 1964 has been locatedthe river south of Tokyo in Hiyoshi,

held a special service commemt he 20t h anniversary of the founding

the church. Thi s cong reg at io n b eg anMrs. Tsujio, one of t he membe rs of

e p re -war Yocho-machi church, who hadto Minato ward of Tokyo, opened herme for Sunday school and p reach ingled by Mr. and Mrs. Owen Still andlijima. She was p re se nt for thisal service, as she usually Is , quietly

at th e recollect ions and commentsvarious speakers.Different members of th e congregation

d several projec ts on their own initiativecelebrate the anniversary. Most of them

gave special offerings, with a total ofthan S400 rece ived The most interthing to me was an 88 page chronobooklet prepared by th e minister s

fe fol lowing weeks of going through oldand o ther materials. It lists everypreached, al l bapt isms , weddings ,preaching trips to other places byminister and other events of importance.is a storehouse of interesting informa

and wou ld be good source material fo ron homiletics , church g rowth andsubjec t s

Stephen Iijima,the minister to t his co nfrom it s beginning, told me thathad set a goal in his hear t ea rly in theof having 20 baptisms during this 20th

Since they had only about 60 activea year ago this v i s u a l i z e d aof approximately 33 in memberBut h is p ray er an d des ir e was more

realizedwich at le as t 24 baptisms durth e year. They a re e nj oy ing a period of

house one Sunday morning; and everyone isfull of joy and zeal. They had to rent a hallfor their Christmas program December 22because t hey h ard ly h ad space to seat th e80 peopl e who attended and found it impossible to serve that number a meal w iththeir l imited fac i l i t i es

During th e service Ce r t i f i c a t e s ofThanks were given to several people. Ireceived one of these. It says (my translation) During the 20 years since you cameto Japan for preaching the Gospelyou havecontributed to t he g rowth of the Church ofChrist with rarely seen love and understanding. Today all of the members of thi s congregation, as on e part of you r work, whilewe offer our t ha nk s t o th e Lord on the 20thanniversary of our founding, w ith love an drespect for you in the Lord, we offer youthis expression of our deepestappreciation.November 3,1968, Kozo Kobayashi, elder.It was my first receipt of such recognition,and, of course, I appreciated it deeply.Bro the r s lijima and Kobayashi bothgave good talks about the history of th econgregation. I do no t have space here togo into i t, bu t will list s e v e r a l of th eperiods that were mentioned that day.1. A revival that included 40 straightnights of preaching services.

2. Interest in the writings and Biblestudies of Kanzo Uchimura , t he founder ofJapan s non-church movemen t, a nd inwhat missionaries call indigenous principles.

Excommunica t ion of th e church andminister by th e Pastor s Association agroup of the Tokyo preachers who were atthat time working with Eloise Cunningham.4. Formation of a religious corporationfor local ownership of l and and building.

7. Brother lijlma s trip to the US t a t e s

Through all of this , there is somof primary importance that doesn tand tha t is th e cons t a n t s t ream ofCaching. A glance t hrough t he chronment ioned above would show a se rsermons on Luke stretching over sey ea rs a s well as months spent on GalaPhillipians and other New Testament bBesides these regular study-sermoSundays, t he re wer e Bible studies inissue of t he month ly paper Bokka andwere week-night classes for th os eested enough to come includingfor some young men zealous enoughfor it so theycould study the Bible onown. In the long run I bel ieve thi s sBible diet has been the greatest faproducing the results we ca n see.

The tr ip Stephen lijima made toic a in I967 did a lo t of good for all .it m ade a l l of th e members more consof t h e i r responsibilities. The menturns preaching and also made callcarried on all th e business. So they leto function as a church and not l eavething to the preacher. Secondly, Blijima saw many things in the Amchu rche s t ha t gave him new ide avis ions fo r h is work . When he re turnfound achu rch ready to work and coopThey soon had a well-organized Cheducation program for all ages, s t agiving the invitation at every worshivice and o th er things.

Finally,the Minato church is onefew congregations of our brotherhoJapan that has elders and deacons. Sam one of th e th r ee e l de r s 1 w a s in vijoin nin e men from th e church for abination business an d pleasure trip itober. (In fact, it was partly a weback party for me.) We went to a ho t shotel on the seacoas t an d stayed overOf course we had a lo t of fu n and feship, as we ate, took baths in th e stewaters, etc., but we also had someserious an d enlightening discussionschurch business, evangelism an d ourvidua l hristi n l ives I can thinothing that has done more to strenmy faith and zeal than this short timethese men who are a part of J a p a nsociety (government officials, high steachers, factory execu ti ves , e t c. ) athe same time solid Christians. Yes, C


2/22

Tokyo ChristianVol. 68 J a n 1969 No . 1Published tour times a year inApril, July and November forh e missionaries of the Church ofhrist Cunningham Mission, Tokyo ,by Mission Services, 509 W.

Joliet, I llin ois. S eco ndpostage paid at Joliet, Illinois.Ml. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 2-26-4

amiochiai, Shinjuku-ku. Tokyo, JapanForwarding Agent: Mrs. Homer AndersonCullum Street, Meadville, Pa . 16335.Mr. And Mrs . And rew Patton, 3-7-8

Nakano-ku, Tokyo,Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs.

Wade Fletcher, 621 E. 10th St.,Rushville, in d. 4 6173Mr. and Mrs. H a r o l d Sims, 1210

Isehara-cho, Kanagawa-259-11, Japan. Forwarding Agent:Church of Christ, Orange at CenterEustls, Fla. 32726.subscription .50ubscription and Flaming Torch SI.00

FROM THE PATTONSThe evangelistic meeting held at thc

Church on October 2 i 27 wasmoderate .succe.ss. Two pcrson.s madeto accept Christ as Saviour onf in al n ig ht . But unfortunately neither

them ha s ye t been baptized.We have been incontact with a po.ss ible

fo r t h i s C hurch an d we had himto the-gToup-garhrrcd-for th c Christ-

s meeting. But nothing definite ha s beenided concerning c a l l i n g him yet. Weto have another four-day meeting soonwhich he will be invited to preach. Thataf ford an o p p o r t u n i t y to know himand for him tojudge the pos.sibilitiess e r v i c e a t the c h u r c hThe Thanksgiving program and dinnerthe missionaries of the Tokyo area wasld at the Sakurayama Church thi s year.luding the children, there were-19 presentenjoy the sumptous pot luck dinne r andfel lowship that followed. The feast,merriment, and the r e v e r e n t time of

made one surmise that this was notmuch unlike the first Thanksgivingby our forefathers on American soil.One of the most enjoyable experienceshad in December was a t t e n d i n g the

Christmasprogram and the Christ-.s mus ical of the Christian Academy wherec h il d re n a tt e nd s c h o o l The c h i l d r e n s

was especially good this year, andugh the whole musical was well done,numbers by the brass band were espe-

good.'Ihe C.hri stmas program for the Sundayof th e Sakur ay ama Chu rch was hel dSunday afternoon, December 22 . A fairly

group of children were present. Thedinner and Christmas program for

adults was held in the evening of thee d ay .Two children who have been attendingArakawa Sunday school s ince January

On one of the national holidays la.si fall a few members of the Kamioehiai (ihuand the Bible school w nt on an ensoku* a mountain climbingpicnic.ITiosc four persons standing in the center foreground are some of those th(Stanley Huttray) went hiking with on that day.Tven though this wa.s not the busy time of the day, .still about half of us hadstand most of the hour and a half train ride. What was at the top of th* mountain? Yguessed it a shrine

.\ Christmas partv for the llihb- schoo l ehildrul t)ne half of tin- children that gathered together the Sunday vMung before Chri.slmas f)r llie 4-an


3/22


4/22


5/22

APS 4 isSims J\lewsletter January, 9 9

The y e a r t h a t j u s t e n d e d b r o u g h t t o us many c ha ng es , J o ur n ey s,and . a d j u s t m e n t s , a s w e l l a s a l o t o f j o y . We c o n t i n u e t o t h a n k Godf o r H is c a r e an d f a i t h f u l l o v e ; a nd we a l s o t h a n k e a c h o n e o f t h e .g r e a t c i r c l e o f o u r . f r i e n d s f o r g e n e r o u s s u p p o r t b o t h s p i r i t u a l l yand M a t e r i a l l y t h a t has e n a b l e d us t o b e where we a r e h a v i n g th et h i n g s t h a t have b e e n e n t r u st e d t o u s and d o i n g w h a t we b e l i e v e weh a v e b e e n c lled t o d o .

One o f o u r p r i m e j o y s t h i s f a l l h as b e e n r e n e w i n g a c q u a i n ta n c e s w i t h some o f o u r o l d f r i e n d s . The first w e d d i n g I p e r f o r m e di n J a p a n w as f o r a YMGA E n g l i s h S c h o o l an d B i b l e S e m i n a r y s t u d e n t .Klmiko Sakamoto, and a t y p e w r i t e r r e pa ir m a n, Haruo Goto. L a t e r heg o t a Job w i t h t h e N a t i o n a l Cash R e g i s t e r Company a n d t h e y moved t oa n a p a r t m e n t i n H i r a t s u k a C i t y . t w as s o f a r from N a k a n o t h a t weo n l y w e n t t o visit them o n c e o r t w i c e a nd k e p t i n t o u c h b y C h r i s t m a sc a r d s . Now we l i v e o n ly a b o u t e i g h t m i l e s from t h e i r tow n, and Mrs.Goto and t h e i r 17 y e a r o ld son have been v ery r e g u l a r in a t t e n d a n c ea t o u r w o r s h i p s e r v i c e s l a t e l y . The b o y i s v e r y i n te re st e d i nC h r i s t i a n i t y a good p r o s p e c t . I b e l i e v e God i n H i s p r o v i d e n c e b r o u g h t us t o g e t h e r a t t h i s t i m e i n o r d e r f o r t h i s young ma n t o knowt h e way o f s al v a t i o n a n d t h e f a i t h o f t h i s f a m i l y t o b e r e v i v e d .

We h e a r d th t M r . a n d M r s I m a d a a n d little M a r i - c h a n w e r e n ol o ng er a bl e t o a t t e n d Nakano c hu rc h b ec au se t h e y had moved down t ot h e e t h e r s i d e o f Yokohama, We v i s i t e d them i n t h e i r a p a r t m e n t home,which i s one o f more t h a n f i v e t h o u s a n d a l r e a d y b u i l t i n a n u l t r amodern o i t y o f f i v e s t o r y b u i l d i n g s on a l a r g e h i l l and found t h a tt h e y can g e t h e r e i n a b o u t a n h o u r w i t h o n l y o n e change o f t r a i n s .

M r . K i o k a w a , b a p t i z e d f i f t y y e a r s ago a t e i g h t e e n y e a r s o f :a g e and. vrho u s e d t o i n t e r p r e t f o r my S a t u r d a y n i g h t B i b l e c l a s s a tMikawashima y e a r s a g o , a l s o oame one day b e f o r e C hr istm a s, He had*re c e ive d our g r e e t i n g an d was, happy to know we l i v e d only s i x t r a i ns t o p s away from h i s p l a c e now. We had a good v i s i t and he o f f e r e dt o h e l p u s i n t h e w o r k - h e r e .

Of c o u r s e , th e r e a r e a-lso many ne w f r i e n d s i n c l u d i n g some o ft h e f a r m e r s wh o l i v e i n t h a t o h e d r o o f h ou se s n ea r b y.

I w i l l j u s t b r i e f l y m e n t i o n some o f t h e t h i n g s t h a t have happ e n e d i n t h e t h r e e m o n t h s s i n c e t h e l st n e w s l e t t e r .

O cto ber 6 -1 0 we ha d an e v a n g e l i s t i c meeting h e r e a t I s e h a r a .The s t u d e n t s an d f a c u l t y o f O saka B i b l e S e m i n a r y go o u t i n ll d ir e c t io ns f o r - p r a c t i c a l e x p e r i e n c e once a y e a r , so a team o f t h r e ecarae up to h e lp u s. We d id n o t have much t i m e to . a d v e r t i s e b u t th eattendance was 6, 1^, 17, and 25 not counti ng our family o f 5) onth e f o u r n i g h t which wa s an en co u rag i n g r a t e of. i n c r e a s e . We werea l s o p l e a s e d t o h a v e some o f t h e f a r m e r s from o u r n e i g h b o r h o o d a tt e n d . Tarn c r i r i g made t h e . o o n f e s s l o n o f f a it h a ft e r t h e m e e t i n g . Onevras b a p t T z ^ on October 27 and the other awaits- parental permission,

O c t o b e r 20 a b o u t s i x t y o f t h e young p e o p l e o f - t h e c h u r c h h e r ean d many f r i e n d s t h e y had i n v i t e d went by c h a r t e r e d b u s t o a - l a k esome d i s t a n c e away. A worship s e r v i c e lu n ch , games, and h i k i n g tog e t h e r a s w e l l a s s i n g i n g a l l th e way g o i n g and coming in t h e bu smade it a v e r y p l e a s a n t d a y f o r ll a n d g a v e us a good o p p o r t u n i t yt o g e t a c q u a i n t e d


6/22

SIMS NEWSIETTER p a g e 2 JANUARY, 1969November 21-23 I a t t e n d e d and preached a t t h e Tanemaki-kai

c o n v e n t i o n i n O s a k a .^ Christmaswegk-Wgan when we weri^'to Zama U. S. Army BaseDeceiifee3^StS^^-t^-45ce^rr tHe School Band oopcert in which Jennieplayed h is clar inet- . December -20 we Were i P v i t e d to a t t e n d the speci a l Christmas candle service and program a t the nearby Keisen G i r l sJunior College, where Lois teaches English on Monday nights . Satur

day night , December 21, we had a Sukiyaki party and g i f t exchange a to u r home f o r 15 o f t h e C h r i s t i a n s h e r eDecember 22 we had a s p e c i a l worship s e r v i c e a t I s e h a r a i n t h e M and then were among the 50 who attended the candle service, r ice-cake, supper, program, and g i f t exchange a t Nakano church t h a t evening. Our family sang There s- A Song in the Air as one p a r t of t h a t

p r o g r a m . Ben Vance from C l o v e r n o o k C h r i s t i a n C h u r c h i n C i n c i n n a t ivras w i t h us dur ing a l l o f th e above p o r t i o n o f Christmas week whileo n l e a v e f r o m V i e t Nam. . '

December 23 we had our family Christmas, The boys got a l o to f joy out o f shopping f o r each o t h e r . December 2^ n i n e o f us wentto a National TB hospital and gave a program, t reats , and t racts tothe sixty children among the five hundred pat ients . That evening wehad the same rented Christmas movie and carol singing for the peopleof our neighborhood. The forty-f ive present was twice the regulara t t e n d a n c e . .

Jus t after,,3Vybody l e f t a t ruck pulled up and a man askedwher.a^to put th l ianiol What a surprise After making sure therewps n[omistal^ with the. three Japanese men about wearingwhi te beards and red suits for such occasions, we just sat down f u l lof wonder and amazement. Soon there was a phone c a l l from o.ur goodfr iend, Stephen l i j ima, explaining t h a t Sylvia had the or ig ina l ideaand with his help and t h a t of friends in Eust is , Flor ida and e l s ewhere had arranged in secre t for phis big g i f t to be given a t t h i stime,- He said that a l l the Japanese knew about i t and i t had beena g r e a t tes t lmnny nrd e-nnonrngpmey^t: t o n f hlP-ciHlrg o fC h r i s t i a n homes. Sylvia c e r t a i n l y gave on a s c a l e beyond what weimagined. While we were worrying ^about her being lonely she was giving us the b i g g e s t and b e s t Christmas g i f t we ever had. We a r e verythankful . appsaclat ion of and conf.idehoe in bur. daugh-Jbers . God noP oiSy takes oare'^Di'' us^ He has'^^b^dance'.' '

December 25 we l e f t e a r l y i n the morning f o r Nakano. Lois hadher l a d i e s meeting t h a t day. She has been going twice a month tot e a c h t h i s Wednesday B i b l e c l a s s a s she used t o do. Af ter t h a t p a r t ywas o v e r we went t o c a l l on two o f t h e group who could n o t come because o f s i c k n e s s . Then i n t h e evening we a t t e n d e d t h e Sunday Schoolprogram and had another t h r i l l . ThejB,jMena^2;. Qhil4j;en^^ parents^aind i n t h a n in y e a r s . Many o f t h e c h i l d r e nquoted verses d r s o r i p t u r e from memory. Obviously the Bible i t s e l fi s being - taught and the c h i l d r e n a r e l e a r n i n g and l i k i n g it B r i g h thopeg from . t h e f u t u r e .

December 27 we went back t o Tokyo f o r t h e g e t - t o g e t h e r o f llt h e m i s s i o n a r i e s t P l e e n o r s home.

At 8 P.M. on December 31> s e v e r a l young people from here andf o u r from Minato and one from Nakano came t o o u r home. We p l a y e dgames f o r a w h i l e a n d a t e t h e t r a d i t i o n a l n o o d l e s . Then f r o m l l P.Mowe had a p r a y e r meet ing and t e sti m o ny t i m e . At 1 2 : 3 0 t w e l v e o f us


7/22


8/22

Tokyo Christian68 April 1969 No. 2Published four times a year InApril, July and November for

e miss ionar i es of the Church ofCunningham Mis si on , Tokyo ,by Mission Services, 50 9 W.

Joliet , Illinois. Secondpostage paid at Joliet, Illinois.

Mr .andMrs. Stan ley Buttray, 2-26-4och ia i , Sh in juku-ku , Tokyo , Japan

Agent: Mrs. Homer Anderson2 Cullum Street , Meadvil le, Pa. 16335.Mr. And Mrs. Andrew Patton, 3-7-8

Nakano-ku, Tokyo,Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs.

Wade Fletcher, 621 E. 10th St..Ind. 46173Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims, House

Sayama-shi, Saitama-ken 350-13,Forwarding Agent: First Church

Christ, Orange at Center St., Eustis,32726.subscription .50and Flaming Torch Sl.OO

Note About the Sims'Relocation Plans

We know many people have been prayfor God's guidance upon our relocationannounced in previous issues of theChristian, and we are thankful totha t progress is being made on sel l

the house and land at Nakano whe reiisetl'to iive.~A~d'oc(6r m the rieighbof-wants very much to buy it if he ca n

the funds together.But it became obv ious some weeks agowe w ou ld n ot be able to f inish a ll th etape connected with incorporation oflocal church at Nakano, the sale andregistration of th e house and land, thehase of another piece of land and buildof a house on it befor e th e Paul Prattsfrom their furlough in the U.S. inof t hi s yea r.Some time ago t he John Kache lmyersasked us if we would live in and lookr t he ir boys' home during their furlough

begins this summer. So we haveto do that. This will help theand at the same time give ustime to do all of the things necessary

relocating. It seem s to us that God isthings ou t for the best for all conso we are happy abou t this andto be patient inwalting for decisions

many ar e involved and to be carefulto make hasty moves that might belater. Please continue to prayGod will guide us in those importantand that we may be deliveredcrooked real estate operators andsuch evil men and various temptations.we dread the task of packing and

again, but will probably survive i t.From the last half of June our addressb e :Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sims

HRISTI N nNVFNTION

On April 3 the 20th Japan Christian Convention honored those missionaries whogiven 20 years or more of service to Christ in Japan. Lef t to right: George BeckAndrew Patton, Lois Sims , Haro ld Sims , Vivian Lemmon, Harold Cole, Leone Cole , HWoodruff, and Kozo Kobayashi the president of the convention for this year. Mrs. Becand Mrs. Woodruff were not at the convent ion. Also Grace Famham who is living intirement in Oregon was given a Certif icate of Thanks in absentia.

yasukuni ShRineThe Arlington Cemetery of Japan,

with a difference, the Yasukuni Sh r i n esituated on Kudan Hil l, Tokyo , is one ofthe most sacrosanct and revered places inJapan. The ashes of soldiers and sailorswho have given the last full measure oftheir.Jevotion to_their CQu.atry are.en---shrined here. Also, by special dispensation, other important personages who havegiven up t he ir lives for their country havebeen allow ed an honored burial in thei rhallowed shrine. From the beginning ofthe Meiji Restoration in 1867 until now thethe remains of many thousands of personshave been enshr ined he re

One charac ter i s t i c of S hin to is m a ndBuddhism in Japan is ancestor worship.Therefore, the spirits of these honoreddead are special objects of worship, withthousands of people from far and nea r paying their r es pe ct s e ach year. So highlyrevered ar e the spiri ts of these heroes thatthe emperor visits the shrine on specialoccasions to pay his respects.En sh r in emen t c e remoni es a re held inthe evening and conducted by the chiefpiest of the shrine. Elaborate Shinto ritesare said, including purification r i tes, thelighting of bonfires, the playing of Shintoclassical music, the placement of offeringson the altar, and other acts comprising theinitial part of t he ceremony. Then, a ft eral l lights have been extinguished, the doorsof t he i nn er shrine are opened, and in thedarkness the casket is deposited alongw ith the names of othe r e ns hr in ed d e adThe fire s are relighted, and t he inne r shrineis closed, completing the ceremony. Inaddition, the shrine holds regular festivalsat certain times of the year.

At the present time a heated contro

State Shinto an d Shine Shinto, the fobeing controlled and supported by thewhile the l at te r enjoyed neither. YasuShrine was a part of th e former.

After the war, the American Occupauthorities purged Sta te Shinto, alongthe Yasukuni Sh rine , aad_che specialationship with the government enjoyethis branch of t he rel ig ion became aof the past. However, a movement ha sbegun in gov e r nmen t circles to rYasukuni Shrine to loose gove rnmen tt rol T his d oes not m ean t ha t S hin towill become a sta te religion againthat t he Shr ine will be supervised bgovernment. So the ruling Liberal-Dcrat party is now seeking to pass aplacing Yasukuni Shr ine under governsupervision again.

Whether the politicians are thus sing to take a step closer to establisShinto as a state r e l i g i on again ice r t a i n bu t th e w ri te r doubts it .Buddhists and Christians in Japanoppos ing the movement toward governcontrol of t he Shr ine because th ey fewil l enhance the power of Shintoismth at th is is bu t a step on the road b astate Shinto. No doubt, no th i ng wplease the Shintoists more than goment recognition as th e state religionth at r ea so n, others are wary of theposed law and they refuse to allowbitter past, when Shinto reigned supunder governmen t control, to be efrom their memory. As long as suchnes s p re va il s, it will be quite di ff icerase demcxracy from Japan.

But w ha te ve r th e outcome of thistroversy, the spirits of these herow ho se re ma in s have been laid to r e


9/22

i , rKobayashi, of the Hiyoshi church just outside of Tokyo, giving the opening

add r e s s o f t h e c onv e nt io n .

THE 20th ALL-JAPAN CONVENTION continued from poge 1)an expen si ve phot og ra ph a lb um wit hfol lowing message in English : Thist is a token of app rec i a t i on for your

serv ice to C hrist and His ChurchJapan over a period of more t han 20s, giv en by the Japanese Chr is tianat the 20th all-Japan Conventiont he C hu rc he s of Christ in Mt. Amagi,April 3, 1969. (signed) Kozo Korecognition, and the way in

icwas presented was an unforgettablefor every missionary present.fa r as I know th is w as th e f i rs t time inhistory of missions in our brotherhoodthis kind of expression of gratitude

given a group of missionaries by theof the land to whic h th ey have

We are most thankful for the maturi tythe Chris tian spi ri t of thankfulnesslove that brought forth this kind ofThere were many moments of inspirationthe convention. We had frank andu la ti ng panel discussions on topicspractical significance for the growth ofchurches . A lso th ere were t imes fo rby small groups of similar ageinterests. There were p raye r meetingsmorning before breakfast. Then therethree meetings called The publicor wide place) of grace, in which

Christians from various placesthemselves and gave testimoniesexhortat ions. On e man told how he hadl as t y ea r's convention down in

prefecture just two months afterbaptized. He got such a thrill out ofhe wanted to come to Tokyo very muchd id n't s ee how he cou ld a ff or d it . Soquit smoking and was able to come al lway from southern Kyushu on the moneysaved in a year. Old brother Suganoptized 61 years ago and now 84 yearsa faithful Christian in Osaka and longco-worker with Maddens, was t he re . Ang woman, who with her mother hasservices in their home for seven yearsin Niigata prefec ture about 200 milesthe nearest church of Chri st , was at

large bathtub about 11:30 one night. Hehad belonged to one of the radical univers ity s tudent organizations and had participated in many street demonstrations. Buthe was deeply impressed by some of thethings he was seeing and hea r ing andasked many questions about both Communism and Christianity.To me, one of the most noteworthy andencouraging things about this conventionwas the visibility of a group of men whoare in all kinds of business and emp loyment in Japanese society, and at the sametime are real, believing Christians, capableof and actually beg inn ing to exerciseleadership in the churches. There wereabout 20 of these men present, and how wethank God for each one, and pray for themand o ther s to c om e.

On Saturday afternoon we had five hoursof free time, so about 50 of us chartered abus and went by a narrow, winding roadover the mountain range, t h r ough somebreathtaking scenery down to the coastand the historic port city of Shimoda,whereAdmiral Perry's black ships made America's f ir st contac t wit h th e feudal g ov ernment of Japan in 1853. We also saw theBuddhist temple which was assigned asthe living place for Townsend Harris, thef i r s t Amer ican c on s u l .Resurrection Sunday morning we had amost edifying and inspirational two-hourworship service a t t ended by about 200people. Most of our young Christians fromIsehara (eight were there) had neve r beenin a worship service with more than 20 or30 present, and it was thri ll ing beyondwords to them to hear th e powerfu l congregat iona l s inging , the preaching and thespecial music.

Bro ther Aki ra Oda, who just returnedfour months ago from two years of study inAthens Unive rs it y, p reached a powerfuland scriptural sermon The Gospel ofth e Resurrection. Following that, Stephenlijima gave the invitation and communionmeditation. He told of his arr iva l in Athens

Lord's supper in the little apartmenfar from where Paul preached the rest ion. Fol lowing the moving account osma ll s er vi ce t he re b eg an the largem os t m em ora ble c omm un io n s e rv i c eye t seen in Japan. Eight men from sechurches s e rv e d a bout lOOtimes th e nof sa in t s who had ce lebra ted th e Lsupper 15 months before in Greecesense of t he mee ti ng was: THE LORDRISEN INDEED

At least three of the Tokyo chuclosed th e doors for that Sunday anentire congregations went to Amagi foconvention and Lord's Day worship.readers will object that the church bushould not have been closed on Smorning , and of course I am no t for clup churches. But I do agre e wi th othe preachers whosaidthat if some mhad missed enough services to havheard any of the announcements aboconvention plans, and thenshould sudappear at church on Easter morninshock of finding the doors closed mias good for hi s spiritual well-beinglong run a s s ever al sermons.One of the great experiences of mthus fa r was being at the 20th NaMissionary Convention held in DodgeKansas in September 1967. This 20tJapan Convention was cer ta inly a

The Aff luent SocietyThe other day one of the young m

th e Kamiochiai church told me t ha t20 years the ave r age income wou200 ,000 yen ($555) per month. At thaJapan would be enjoying the highestard of living in the world. This repobeen published in the newspapers,by one of Japan's well-known econoMy son, Paul Buttray, living iGallie, Florida mentioned on oneletter tapes recently that he was liviand a part of, an affluent soc ie twhich the average salaried man owown home (buying it ) and two cars (them). This is the status symbol ofe n c y .Evidently, Japan's government,on the h ighes t economic peak thfourth in th e world) of it s en ti re h is toaiming to make the nation the mosten t in th e world b y 1988

According to God's Word, any pernation who plans to ride into the 21stury on wings of dollars or yen is dto miserable f ai lu re and to ta l dest rujust as surely as the civilizationdays of Noah, the twin cities SodoGomorrah, or Babylon have beendestroyedIn this age of affluencywe (Chridare not be ignorant of the devil 'san d intentions Cor. 2:I lb . Hi s das always, is to occupy our mindmater ia l t hi ng s so that we have nt o c ar e fo r ou r sou l s .Therefore, whether in J a p anUnited States, th e truly a ff lu en t


10/22

EVANGELISMFor three days during the f irst week ofh I attended a Film Seminar being heldsuburb of Tokyo about an hour's trainfrom my home in Shinjuku. There were70 missionaries and Japanese preachfrom ail over Japan gathered togetherthis sec ond int ensi ve st udy on filmThe purpose of this s eminar was toand inform of the tremendous posof film evangelism. Of course,emphasis was on the Moody Institute

film ser ies and th e Life ofseries which h av e been revised,and pu t into an accep table upJapanese language.These films definitely make possibleeffective method of evangelism whichbeen overlooked by many missionariesnative preachers.A young Japanese man on the program

he had at t ended th e f i rs t film semtwo years ago and was so impressedhe gave up hi s job in order to beginevangelism. He used what money heto buy a couple of films. He thenin God for a projector, screen, car,other equipment . In a reasonable lengthime God provided all He traveled al lJapan showing these films wherever

including churches, homes, andIn. one year he had witnessed to17,000 persons. The results will conto be reaped for years to come.

Study closely the chart below and youfind that a person remembetu muchr what he sees and hears at the sameNo wonder Jesus commanded to goal l the world and witness to everyAccording to Jesus the Masterthe most effective method ofelism is making it possible for othersee and Aear your living testimony.

ofAfter

3Hours

After3Days

Only 70% 10%

SeeingOnly 72% 20%

Seeingand 85% 65%

I have just cxdered two of the Moodyof Science film s a nd as th e Lordwill obtain projector and screen.

NEWS FROM THE PATTONSThis is being writ ten immediately afterour return from the all-Japan Conventionof the churches of Christ in Japan. We gotsuch a spiritual uplift from the conventionthat ou r hearts ar e f i l l ed with joy and

gratitude in the Lord. Though the conventions we have had in the past have beenexcellent, in our opinion this was the bestconvention our people have had in Japan.Al l six of us Patrons were a ble to a tt en d,since the convent ion was h eld durin g thechildren's Easter vacation, and each onewas able to join a group of hi s own agel eve l a t the convent ion .

The s tre ng th and encouragement received at the convention is now helping usface our ordinary l ife situations with joy.The children have returned to their school,Betty to her housework and meetings, andAndrew to h is church and miss ion work .

A fe w of the miss ionar ies who at t endedthe convention returned to Tokyo with usbefore returning home. Bro the r HarlanWoodruff and Brother Onaga, one of thechurch leaders of Okinawa, spent a night ortwo with us before returning to Okinawa.We were greatly enriched by the fellowship.

Brother Hiroaki Sato seems to be doingvery well in his ministry at the Arakawachurch. T he w ork of th e Bible school thereis enjoying a greater success than thatamong the adults. Many children have cont in ue d to attend th e Bible schoo l s ince th ework began there over three years ago. Theminister is planning a special meeting in^he firct week of May^ which should jrelpin hi s evangelistic work w ith the adults.Andrew exchanges pulpits with BrotherSato once a month and this g ives an opportunity to fellowship with the church andencourage them. One young lady of thatchurch entered a seminary in April to prepare herself for Christian service. A youngs tudent has already decided to enter OsakaBible Seminary after he f i n i shes highschool. So this young church we startedt hre e yea rs ago is gradually making somesolid progress.

The Sakurayama church is still seaing and praying for a minister. Andrebeginning English classes on TuesdayFriday nights to draw people to t he chand to help with the minister's salaryone is called. An evangelistic meetiplanned for this church toward the enApril . The church stands in need of aof refreshing from the presence of theWe pray that this meeting will help.

We are very proud of the f ac t t ha tmember of the Sakurayama church wast o a tt end our national convention thisfor at least two days each. They alls ai d th at they go t a great dea l of goohelp from the convention. After the cot ion one of the members moved to anmissionary's home temporarily to carher home while sh e is on furlough. Dtha t time he w i l l not be ab le to at t enservices. Then, becau s e of i ll h eanother of our young men has returnedto Saitama Prefecture, and will no t beto attend the church services regularlywe are determined to pray and work hthan ever an d t rus t th e Lord to r ewarlabors. Your prayers for us and the chere would be appreciated.

It is a bit di ff icult for us to realibu t the time for our next furlough ising much nearer. We plan to return tStates in June 1970 , soon a fter th edren's summer vacat ion begins. We arsur e whe ther we will t r a v e l by shplane, bu t are contemplating taking afoi t he two-week vataiiou. Iii any cawill cost a great deal of money, anare beginning now to gather funds forpurpose. Your help toward this furfund would be appreciated. All offefor this purpose should be des igna Fu r l ough Fund and sent to G.Fletcher, our fo rward ing agent, waddress is printed on page two of this pThank you for your fellowship iservice of Christ. God be with your sp

Yours in Christ,Andrew and Betty F

1 61 them give glory unto the L ordand declare His praise in the Islands

BOX 3 6 8 J O L I E T l l - L INOIS 6 0 4 3 4


11/22

Chr i s t i an'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature h\ark 16:15

July 196968 Numb

A Preaching VentriloquistSeveral months ago we inserted

h ing about a zealous member of th er ayama Church, Mr. Uegaki, in th eChristian. Since then Brotherha s made remarkable progress inChristian growth and ability to serveHe ha s many remarkable qualitieshi s evangelistic zeal knows no bounds,

of which dese rve th e emula t ion ofe verywhe re. H is usefulnessbeen so widespread in churches and inChristian groups in Tokyo that,a lengthy and excel lent ar tic lehim was carried in The Chri st ian , a

spaper widely rea d by Christians ofpersuasions in Japan.Mr. Uegaki is a taxi driver by profes

owning and operating hi s own privatein Nakano Ward, Tokyo. He lives invicinity of the Sakurayama Churc h,he was baptized and where he holdschurch membership. I ns id e h is taxi ond ash n ear the meter he has a t tached abearing thi s inscr ip tion: Repent forkingdom of God is at hand. Every fareentering t hi s t ax i soon discovers thatis a t ax i dr iver who is a Chr is t iana difference. With kindness, ye t withforce, Uegaki San preaches Chris t to

cus tomers and hands them a New Tes t aportion and other Christian literatureth ey d isemba rk . Surel y this tax i

ver does not be l ieve in a s i l en t ortype of Christianity. Hi s faith iswith action and vitality.

Another area of hi s ministry for Christwhich he enjoys wide acclaim andIs hi s dummy evangelism. Aless than a year ago he saw a noticea newspaper by a Christian minister whoa ventriloquist. The minister proposed

t each Chr is t ians to use dummies as aof reaching a l arger aud ience withG os pel of Christ. Mr. Uegaki immediengaged this man as a teacher and

studying to be a ventriloquist. In atime he began to use what he hadin speaking to churches, childrens'in schools, hospitals, orphanas well as in evangelistic meetings.seems to possess a special ability

g this line and his voice lends itselfto being thrown. His messages ar eed w it h th e Gospeland they arereceivedmore readily than through ordinary

mr j i

2^ A. *

(front) Mr. Horiuchi, a Christian barber; Mr. Uegaki, Christianventriloquist and taxi driver; (back) Mrs. Uegaki and Mr. Horiuchi'smother .

When Mr. Uegaki has an invitation tospeak, he pa rks hi s taxi, takes the f inancial loss, and later resumes his driving.His services ar e done gratis . When timepermits he counsels unbelievers and youngChri s t i ans .

Mr. Uegaki has been a Christian alittle over a year, but he had attendedchurch off and on over a period of te nyears previous to h is c on ve rs io n. Heca r r ie s on an e xt en si ve t ra ct and Biblepor tion mini stry and ha s committed largeportions of Scripture to memory while driving. He practices tithing in addition to theofferings he gives to the Lord's work. Heis the kind of Chris t ian of which we needmore

Andrew Pa t ton

Patton FurloughJune 1970 is the date we Pattonscheduled to return home on furloughto the problem of Sharon's school inhave not ye t made a defin ite decis ito whether this furlough should be

months or a full year in duration.At any rate, we feel we must beSharon during her first year in colwhich will be in 1972. If we took a yfurlough in 1970, we would be back ofield only a year before returningagain. Fo r t ha t r eason we are consida three month fur lough next year, inof the disadvantage of the shortness o fWe will be able to t ak e adv an tathe specia l ai r fare rates arranged bPTA at our childrens' school. The onfare for our family of si x to Californiabe 1,440. At least 3 , 000 w il l be nfor die ro und t ri p. Contributions forpurpose ar e being received by our foring agent, the Wade Fletchers, waddress is printed on page two of TChristian. Your help in this project w


12/22


13/22

AVeef og In Mrs Sato s HomeMrs. Yoshi Sato, one of the membersNakano church, has a so n who works inJapanese Embassy in Kenya, Africa.has inv i ted h is mother over there tohim. She also has a m ar ri ed daughter

Arlington, Virginia whom sh e wants toagain. Her husb and die d some yearsand all four children ar e married an dfrom home now, so she is free ofresponsibilities and is f ina nci all yphysically able to go. This spring she

t her passport, visas and shots and madereservations and preparations for a oneround-the-world t ri p. Then the downof the American plane by North Koreathe build-up of U.S. Navy Forces inJapan Sea made he r so fearful of

th er w a r t h a t s he c an ce ll ed th e wholeThen when things settled down,she star ted talking of reschedulingtrip for J uly.

Her frien ds in th e Ladies Bible Clas sNakano, whi ch Lois teaches on th e

and fourth Wednesday every month,been int er es ted in he r plans andher. They planned to have awell meet ing for her sometime, so sh et ed the g ro up to meet at her home onJune 11. She also resolveduse this opportunity of *A Farewellto invite some of her neighbors andto a Christian home meeting.A total of about 10 people from Nakano10 of the neighbor ladies came, so he r

l l house was wel l f il le d. After a couplehymns and a prayer, the min is te r, Bro.

Sokvroyama ChorchNewsIn May an evangelistic meeting wasat the Sakurayama Chur ch with f air

Brother Hiroaki Sato, the youngof the Arakawa Church, did theOver thirty new prospectsthe church during the meeting-,it has been dif fi cu lt to keep theming to church since then. In spite ofit was an excellent thing for them tothe Gospe l even once. One Christian,

woman transferred to the churchthe meet ing.On June 29 two high school s tudents,o had attended the Sunday school fortime , confessed t he ir fai th in Christwere baptized. Two of the ir schoo l

ar e now attending church withand we expect them to be baptizedOn July 6 Andrew also baptized ang man who had been led to Christ byMabel Buttray dirough one of herCla s s e sAndrew is now teaching English classesthe Sakurayama Church on T ues da y andevenings and, as a result, some ofstudents have been a tt en di ng c hu rch .

Sunday evenings an English Bibleis be in g t au ght and some new pe opl eattending it. Some progress is beingfor which we thank th e Lord an d

Itagaki, brought a special message from theepistle of I Peter. Then Mrs. Sato served alunch of re d beans an d r ice an d a kind offruit and gelatin dessert. After the mealeach one introduced herself, and we weresurprised that among those present was thewife of the mayor of that ward of Tokyoand also wives of several executive levelbusinessmen and government officials.That Zempukuji neighborhood is a nicer e s i den t i a l d i s t r i c t

The next Sunday at church Mrs. Satowas very happy. She reported tha t severa lof th e lad ies had cal led her af ter th e m ee ting to say how much they had appreciatedthe invitation and oppor tuni ty for thatcontact with Christianity. One said shehad understood that Chr is ti an it y wasprogressive, if not leftist and was gladto know otherwise Another sa id she wasso glad to know the type of happy peopletha t were her f r iends. Ano ther h ad sa idsimply Kirisuto Chris tianity) is reallygood. It was an encouragement to all of usand a good lesson on th e evangelisticpotential and value of meetings in homes.It would have been difficult to ge t thoseladies inside of a church building. One ofthem said during the meeting that she livesnear a chu rch and they had even taken afamily picture in front of the b ui ld in g w hi chthey thought looked nice for backgroundbut none of them had ever been inside orheard a sermon

Ha r ol d S ims

SIMSES NOW IN SAYAMA continued from page 2)

are living with us. They are high schoolseniors from N iig ata P re f. i n Nor thwestJapan and the ir names are MAKOTO True)and SAKAE Prosperous). They are cooperative in helping with dishes and otherdetails involved in living and we are gettinga long fine. We are hoping they will helpour boys to learn Japanese and that ourboys may be a good influence on them,since neither of them is a Chris tian yet.

We started living here on June 17 , afterseeing the Kachelmyers off for t he Uni tedStates. We have been in the slow processof moving in ev er since that time. Kachelmyers left all of their furniture, dishes,linens etc. necessary for l iv ing here forour use, so we h av e b een bringing thingsup from Isehara l i tt le by little. We go backdown there every Saturday a trip of aboutforty miles which takes more than twohours because of the heavy traffic) forBible class in the evening and then stayovernight and for the Sunday scho ol andworship services on Sunday. Before returning each Sunday night we load up th e b ackof the station wagon with as many thingsas we can ge t in it . By t he end of t he summer we expect to be completely settleddown here. When schools tar ts th e boys will

Feas t O f The DeEach year July 13-15 the Jap

observe a memorial f es t iv a l c a ll edMatsuri . In rura l areas it is obsermonth l a ter It is also somet imesthe Festival of Lanterns, becauseextensive use of paper lanternsth e observance, and th e FestivSouls, because during that feaspirits of deceased relatives are supto revisit their l iv ing kin . It is oftepared to t he Catho li c observance oSou ls Day .

This festival is Buddhist inand observance, having been obserJ ap an s in ce th e introduction of Buthere over 1,300 years ago. Anworship forms an important element iJapanese Buddhism and Shintoism, apurpose of 0-Bon is to perpetuatworship and to foster filial pietywhole ritual takes the form of wo

On t he f ir st day of the festival ais made to the ceme tery where theof die deceased a re i nte rr ed , th er eis offered to their spirits and inceburned. Paper l an te rn s a re hunggraves toward evening to inv ite theto visit their o ld homes . During thefestival th e worshippers act asspirits of their dead were actually pin the f le sh , speak ing directly toduring th e festival. On the first evenipeople light the way for the spirits frograve back home, point ing out pitfathe road. Nothing is left un do ne fcomfort of the guests.

Ances t r a l t ab le t s on which the

of the deceased are inscr ibed, towith swee t s a nd o th er i t ems of foode nj oy ed by the guests, are placedthe family altar a god-shelf beforethe ancestors are worsh ipped durinwhole year). Often a Buddhist prical led in to chant th e Buddhist sutrthe dead

At th e conclusion of O-Bon, riclunches are prepared and offered tspirits to cheer their return to the reath e dead. Farewel l f ir es are lighfront of the house to light their path.th e devoted articles used during theva l are placed in a small, straw boat wis set afloat on a running stream or ose

Concerning this feast a few observmight not be inappropiate. 1) Howened the hearts of th e civilized,educated, but pagan Japanese are.Christ is the light of th e world. Howful w e should be that Ch ri st h a s t ra nus from darkness to l ight . 2 ) How grthe responsibility of Christians towapeople of Japan, ninety-nine percewhom ar e devotees of paganism. Woeif we do not preach Christ to them. 3diffusion of the light of Christ in thatened env ironment where paganismreigned supreme for over a milleniumeasy task and it will require a lot ofLet us dedicate ourse lves anew to ping to the Japanese, and le t us n


14/22

THESE WERE B A PT IZ ED A T MINATO

All of these people and one more a total of 23 were baptized in the inaco church during 1968. This was thegreatest period of numerical growth in the 20 year history of that congregatictf . Here are two businessmen and headsof families, one l ady who had been sprinkled previously in another church, a wife whose baptism unites a family inChrist and has been prayed for for years, and several rather small children. One of the little girls asked her fatherone night why she couldn't have the-same joy in being a Christian as she knew he had. Her confession and baptismled to others. All of these are rather rare occurrences in Japan and we rejoice much over this wonderful group ofCh r is ti an s t he Lord h a s added to His f lock here .

of a Samurain the period from 1603 to 1867 Japanruled by the Tokugawas, a family ofrulers. The founder of this dynastyleyasu, 1542-1616, who seem s to havea very remarkable and illustrious man.maxims and precepts are filled withand justice. e quote from them:Life is like unto a long journey withavy load. Let thy steps be slow andy tha t thou stumble not.Persuade thyself that imperfection and

is th e natural lo t of mortalsthere wil l be no room for discontentneither for despair.When ambit ious des ires ar i se in t hi nerecall the days of extremity thoupassed through.Forbearance is the root of quietnessa ssu r ance fo rever .Look upon wrath as thine enemy.If thou knowest only what it is touer, and knowest not what it is to bewoe unto thee it will fare il lthee .

BO X 368 JOL IET . lULINOIS 60434


15/22

.-m

NEWSLETTER : SEPT.. 1969 .Dear Friends, .

Ou r three hoys begin another sohool year tomorrow a t theChristian Academy In Japan; so summer Is over and l t*s time foranother n e w s l e t t e r . This summer we d i d n t have a v acatio n , b utwe did a number of things which were a change from the routine, andI n t e r e s t i n g and r e c r e a t i o n a l f o r a l l ;^ MOVING

On June 17 the Kachelmyer family and t h r e e Japanese boysfrom the Home l e f t on the missionary c h a r t e r f l i g h t f o r fur loughin the U.S..A. Along with many o th er frie nd s we saw them o f f andthen came out here to the Sayama house t o take up our new temporaryresponsibil i t ies, whloh center mainly on looking af ter two JapaneseHigh School seniors who are the only boys presently l iving a t theChris t ian Youth Home. The next morning we s t a r t e d a thorough clean-o f the housewashing w a l l s windows, f l o o r s etc .and somevolunteer help from other missionaries and some Japanese fr iendsduring those long, busy days was much appreciated.

have to go back to Isehara (over 40 miles) every week-endto teach and preach unti l the Prat ts return to Japan In l a t e September; so each time we load up the back of the Toyopet s t a t i o n wagon with a few more o f our th ings to take t o Sayama. This type o fmoving IS slow, but i t has at leas t one good pointit gives us timeto plan what to bring next and where to put i t . Of course, we hireda small truck to bring a load of things that would not f i t into theoar suoh as th e p iano , r e f r l g a t o r s o f a e t c

~ PCM MEETING. There are two organizat ions of missionaries in Japan. Thesmaller but older one which could be classified as l iberal , iscal led the Fellowship of C h r i s t i a n Missionaries . This year they met a t a small h o s t e l on Lake Motosu, July 15--17- Tn an e f f o r t tobecome more ecumenical they asked var ious conservatives to p a r t i c ipate in the program. I led two Bible studies and discussions asrequested. The program theme was Christian Attitudes Toward Non-Cur ls ti an Re ligions; and it included a guided tour of the headquart e r s temple o f the Soka Gakkal, which i s l o c a t e d Jus t about a onehour drive from the place where we met. I t was challenging, In thetrue sense of that word, to meet the leaders of t h i s mili tant Buddh i s t s e c t and t o h e a r t h e t e s t i m o n y o f one o f t h e young Americanoonvevts who i s studying there and also to hear the erudit-e l e c t u r e s

rf s e ve r a l o f t h e m i s s i o n a r i e s . But I found it i m p o s s i b l e t o g e t used to seeing missionaries s mo ki ng an d drinking beer, X came homea littl before t h e end o f t he mee ti ngarr iv ing a t t h e house Jus ti n t i m e t o w a t c h t h e lift off o f A p o l l o 1 1 .


16/22

SIMS NEWSLETTER Page 2 September ,

APOLLO 1 1 genera l ly spend very little tim e watch in g TV, bu t I wi l lconfess t h a t on Monday, July 21., I ea t from 5 a.iii^ un t i lwatching the walk on th e mcon and r e la ted even t s . I th ink everyonee l s e 3r.i Japan was doing th e same t h i ng . A fte r th e as t ronau t s wentto s leep In the module a t 5 P-m. I vrent down th e s t r e e t to buy some

bread and th e lady sa id nobody had been In t h e r e all day . Many o fth e people here cong ra tu l a t ed me on th e g re a t American accompl ishment, to which I modestly repl ied In the Japanese idiom, doItashlmashlte (usually t ranslated, don*t mention i t , but morel i t e ra l ly , What did I do? )HOUSE PAINTING

As a token o f a pp re cia tio n fo r l iv in g in th e P r a t t houser en t - f r e e fo r a yea r , we dec ided to pa i n t th e ou t s i de . We borroweda long ladder from Andrew Pat tonj and got the whole job done in 5.c r 6 days and 5 or,.6_^allpng. I guess it is fa r from professionalw^rk, bu t it looks a l o t be t t e r than it d id be fo re ; and Jenn ie andBobby and a couple of Japanese wi l l ing workers l ea rned a l o t aboutpa in t ing , and we all had a lo t o f fun and go t n i ce sun t a n s ,

VBS AT ISEHARAWe had wan t e d to hav e a Vac a t i o n B i b l e Soh o o l for t h e sehara Sunday Sohool children, but with the regular teacher (a colleg e se nio r a t home fo r the summer vacat ion and no one e lse av ai l

ab l e to he lp we were a bou t rea dy to g ive up th e i d e a . Then we go tall adver t i sement from the Chi ld Evangel ism F ellow sh ip a bo ut a f i veday Bible course wi th all o f the mate r i a l s r eady to use and easy toiLUderstand, That was fo r us , so we went and bought th e k i t . Theboys and I helped L ois wi th some hand-puppe t shows and th e r e f r e shments and in o the r ways. Also a High School g i r l from Mikawashimaxgi and-daughter of Mrs, Lee, our n eig hb or when we l ived there 19^8i.950) was l iv ing with us fo r two weeks to l earn American languageand customs, and she helped a l o t . The average Sunday Sohool a ttendance there i s only abou t 6, but we had a low of 8 and a high of13 felt it was we l l wor th t h e e f f o r t . We had th e c l a s s e s inth e evening which was coole r , and it was a lo t of fun fo r us a f t e rpa i n t i ng on th e house most o f th e day .

CAMPThis ye a r t h e pr eache r s cleoided no t to r e n t th e Motosu Campa s we had be en d oin g fo r abou t 12 yea r s , because th e r e n t had be

come i:\nreas0nabl3 high and th e sur rounding a r e a was be ing takenove r by t he p le a su re -s e ek in g crowd. We were ab l e to g e t a campground in a narrow va l l ey a long th e head wate r s o f th e Tama Rive rfo r August 8-12, so we bad our camp there th is year. had a t o t a lof about 60 present- from s ix chunches. I taught the ad ult c las sand led tTie music. 1x3is played the organ and taught the smallch i l d r en . One boy was bap t i z ed in an impress ive s e rv i ce i n th ec l e a r , c oo l w ate rs on Sunday a f t e r noon .


17/22

SIMS NEWSLETTER Page 3 September, 1^6^

August 20-22 I went to the Machlda City Youth House to helpPukuda-san, one of our preachers, with his English and Bible campfor a group of a dozen Middle Schoolers. All of them a re stu dentsof h is hut none a re Chris tia ns ye t and I t was a grea t opportunityto i n t r o d u c e them t o C h r i s t and H is Word.

TRAVELAugust 15 we l e f t a t dawn to v i s i t our good f r iends and co-workers, the Claude Llklns family. They l ive r ight on the shore ofthe Inland Sea, south of obe about 600 kilometers from here . enjoyed everything about i tthe drive down and back on the newfour- lane expressway tha t connects Tokyo and Kobe, the swimming inthe sea, the fellowship with the missionaries and Chris t ians In thatarea , the good cooking, ta lking e tc . While there we vis i ted therecent ly dedicated church building on Awaji Is land and I preachedon Sunday a t the Rokko and Akash l churches .

BAPTISMS AT ISEHARAOn August 31, Yuklo Goto, a senior in High School who hasbeen at tending services regularly th is year, and our youngest son,_Danny,._.made the i r confessions of fa i th and were baptized in a beaut i f u l t ree-shaded pool in the stream tha t flows down from Mt, Oyamathrough Isehara, I had baptized Yukio*s mother and aunt twenty vyears ago and h is fa th er a year l a t e r so he Is the f i r s t secondgeneration Christian for me to baptize into Christ . I t was a mostencouraging way to end our f i r s t year of service since returning

to Japan .NAKANO CHURCH INCORPORATED

n August 20 the Tokyo City government granted re l ig iouscorporation and tax free s ta tus to the Nakano Church of Chris t . This i s the eighth Cunningham Mission church to achieve th i s Inde- pendent and se l f suppor t ing condi t ion and we are thankful .

This opens the way fo r us to s e l l the por t ion o f the property where we formerly l ived and carry out our relocation plans. Wea n t i c i p a t e a busy f llGod has been guiding and answering prayer. A ll praise to -

Him fo r His goodness and His wonderful works to the c hild re n o f , men. We t r u s t Him to lead us to the place where we can serve Him ;^best, and we ask you to join us in prayer for His kingdom to come /and His wil l to be done here in Japan and a l l over the earth. ^ ^Yours i n His s e r v i c e

.-HAROLD AND LOIS SIMS


18/22

m Christian68

o ye into alUtbe world and preach the gospel to every creature Mark 16:15November 1969 NVm

RELOCATION RERORTWhen we were on furlough I spoke toy of you about a plan to sell a portione l and vd ie rewe used to live inNakanod and buy a place in another part of thearea to begin a new work.expressed interest and approval andmised to pray for God's guidance inproject. I know it must seem to you,we are progressing very slowly. So Idecided to ^ve you a detailed report.I am a l it tl e h es it an t t o t ak e th e spacethi s, because i t is not d irec tly conwith evangelism. But it does haveinite bearing on our future work forhere, and it will have some influenceour Japanese churches as a whole. Alsoink people generally are interested infinancial facts and figures, and I feelare responsible to give an account ofstewardship. This is by far the biggesthave ever been connected with.It is possible that some people mayclude after reading this, With that kindney th ey don't need any more support10 per month from us. But I am goingr is k t ha t, because I t ru st t ha t our supare mature enough in their mission

to re al iz e that I Small contriare the basis of our day-to-day lifework an d must continue, and (2) Wenot sell t he Mission property to liveor to make any personal profit. I knowsome of th e men in our churches areand rightly concerned about thematters over here, and will apprethis f ac tua l informat ion.

The lo t at Nakano, which was origina community k inde rga r t en , wasby the Yotsuya Mission in 1938,Mr. Toyoshima (now deceased) andwife conducted th e kindergarten anda church. The buildings were al lby bombing in May 1943, andafter the war Mr. and Mrs.erected a small bui ld ing andwork again. But Mrs. Cunningham

him from th e Mission becau sehis part in joining the United Church ofin Japan. They left and the Simsly moved into a house constructed byM ission of th e back of th e lo t in1950. After a big fire in 1951 thegovernment decided to carry out a planwidening and straightening the streetsthat area. Everyone lost from 20 tj3_ 25t he ir l and area for public use, but th e

The unit fo r measuring land area inJapan is th e TSUBO, which is just about36 square feet. The size of the l ot a ft erth e improvements is 208 tsubo. (Seediagram)The Nakano church began in ou r living-room at Thanksgiving time in 1950. InDecember 1952 the present church building on the front of the lot was dedicated,and later some parsonage rooms wereadded in th e back .Three young ministers served herebefore the I tagaki family came in September 1961.

Before we lef t for the U.S. in 1966there wa s some talk of dividing th e propertybe tw een the church and th e missionaryresidence, bu t because of t he locat ion ofthe prope rty we could never work out amutually satisfactory arrangement.HI THESE ARE THE ST EP S THAT HAVEBEEN TAKEN SINCE WE RETURNED TOJAPAN ON AUGUST 30 , 1968.(1) Th e Yotsuya Mission (of which theButtrays, Pattons and Simses are thetrustees) d ec id ed t o turn both th e missionary residence and the church the ent ir elo t and both buildings on it over to theNakano C hu rc h o f Chr is t when the churchbecame incorporated and officially recognized by th e government.Then it was understood tha t the churchwould sell part of the property and wewould use that money for purchase of newland and a building. There were two mainadvantages to this procedure; (a) Therewould be no ta x i f the land w ere sold inthe name of the church, (b) Getting government permission for the sale i s much moredifficult for t he Yotsu ya Mission, whichis a nonprofit holding corpora tion , thanthan fo r a local church.(2 ) The Nakano chu rch drew up bylaws, elected trustees and did the var iousother preparations required by th e Tokyocity government for incorporation.

(3 ) We contacted a real estate man,who almost immediately advised us to sella squared-of f piece (dotted line indiagram). He said we could sell it for(a t least) a 50% higher price than if wctried to sell narrow frontage getting widerat the back, and we would be far aheadfinancially to tear off the back end of thechurch bui ld ing and rebui ld it in order todo th i s .The church members thought this overan d decided that if that much of t he b ui ld

PARSONAOe

MISSIONARYReSIOENCE

to have a little exposure to light osouth side. So we decided to seewould happen if we tried to selsquared-off piece.(4) As soon as he hea rd th e land wbe for sale, the doctor who operasmall maternity hospital just in bathe missionary residence and wproperty adjoins ours wanted to buy i(5) We inquired around and quotewhat seemed to us a fair price. Afternegotiation he agreed to buy it at ^pimately our price 1000 per tsubnearly 28 pe r square foot.(6) The long-awaited goverapproval of the Nakano Church of CReligious Corporation came on AuguS in ce t hen we have had several meeto work ou t details, and t hi ng s a re malong.(7) We hope to sign the contracbegin removing the old Nakano cbuilding during October.(8) We are asking for the use omissionary residence as a tempchurch and parsonage until the new bing is completed about 6 months fromSo we will only receive one-third osale p ri ce unt il we completely turproperty over to the doctor earlyspring.

(9) The l and a rea being sold is apimate ly 120 tsubo, so the total incomebe around 120,000. We have budroughly 30,000 for the new Nakano c


19/22

Tokyo ChristianVol. 68 November 1969 No . 4Published four times a year inJanuary. April, July and November forth e missionar ies of th e Church ofChrist Cunni ngham Mis si on , Tokyo ,Japan by Mission Services, 509 W.Jefferson, Joliet, Illinois. Secondclass postage paid at Joliet, Illinois.Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Buttray, 2'26-4Kamioch ia i, Shinjuku-ku , Tokyo 161Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mrs. HomerAnderson, 622 Cullum Street, Mead-ville, Pa. 16335.Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Patton, 3-7-8Higashinakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164Japan. Forwarding Agent: Mr. and Mrs.G. Wade Fletcher, R.R. 2, Rushville,Ind. 46173.Mr. and Mrs. Harold S ims , Hou se2001, Sayama-shi, Saitama-ken 350-13Japan. Forwarding Agent: First Churchof Christ, Orange at Center St., Eustis,Fla 32726.Two-year subscription .50Subscription and Flaming Torch $1.00

1969 C JI IPOur c amp this summer was held at theuse of the Gospel, a facil ity operatedthe German Evangelical Liebenzeller

and located in a beautiful narrowv al le y c ut by the waters of thema River hot verylar out oTTolcyb. Thedates for which the p lace was availwere Augus t 8 -12.A total of 60 people from si x or morethe churches and from al l age groupsand we had a good time. Unlikewe didn't have to do our ownoking and dishwashing, which was achange.We swam a little In th e r iv er , b ut Its so cold no one stayed In long. Theimming hole was reached by crossing ah swinging bridge. One young man fromKumegawa church was baptized in theer on Sunday afternoon In an Impressive

d Scriptural scene that se t oth ers to Hammond was the manager, and

were taught and sermons preachedStephen lijima, Fum lo S at o and hi s so nroaki , Shige ru Akada, Andrew Pattond Har old a nd Lois Sims.

Haro ld S ims

Vaca t ion Bib le S choo l a t I s eha r aL o i s h ad w an te d to have a V S fo rthe Sunday school in Isehara. So one

summer day we received an advertisementfrom th e Child Evangelism Fellowshipabout a 5-day course with al l th e materials ready to use. We f igur ed tha t such asimple program was just exactly what weneeded, because the Yoshll boy whousually teaches In th e Sunday school wasgoing to his home In Kyushu for the summerand Tamura- san couldn' t get off from herjo b In th e bank t o h elp . So we went downand bought the kit for $10. It was mostlywritten In Japanese, but af ter spendingone-half a day reading through It I go t theIdea. P e r h a p s you have heard of thewordless book* which ha s the color goldfor heaven, red for the blood of Christ,black for sin, white for cleansing and greenfor Christian Growth. It follows tha t p lan,with a ll a tt en da nc e c ar ds and othe r materials In thecolors and a song for each colorand lesson to be sung to the same tune, Jesus bids us Shine.

We began at 6:30 In the evening. Thefirst night, just as we began the singing Ilooked ou t the window at a beautiful sunsetbehind th e mountains. The breeze wascool and gentle, and it was one of thosemoments when you feel deeply happy to bewhere you are, doing what you are doing .

* Ichiro Nakata, formerly a student In th eTokyo Bible Seminary, returned to Japan. th is .^m(nL.fo-a. .visit , wi th relat ives, an dfriends after five years of graduate studyIn th e Uni ted S ta te s a t Hebrew Union C o llege In Cincinnati and Columbia Universityin New York, majoring In the history andlanguage of th e Near East, financed byt he Fulbr lght and other scho la rship programs. Heretumed to America In Septemberto complete his work for the Doctor ofPhilosophy degree.* John Yolchi Muto, one of our TokyoChristians who preaches regularly for achurch In a house, v is it ed t he UnitedStatesfor six weeks In July and August asthe leader of a tour group sponsored bythe Tokyo Y.M.C.A. where he teaches fulltime In the English school. They visiteda camp In Estes Park, Colo, , spent several weeks In Louisville, Ky. and shortertimes in other cities along the way.* Mr. TakashI Iguma, a deacon of theMinato Church of Christ and professor inthe Tamagawa Univers i ty , went to theirsister school In Monmouth, III., for thesummer s ess ion as the leader of a largegroup of exchange students. He enjoyedvery much the warm fellowship given himby the people at First Christian ChurchI n M o nm o ut h* Mr. Susumu Kojima, also from the Minatochurch, Is taking graduate study at theUniversity of Chicago for two ye a r s Ibelieve hi s field is either accounting or

b u s in e s s a d m i n i s t r a t i o n* Mr. Yuj I Amemiya , also a young manfrom Minato church, Is in Los Angel es for

Because I cou ld r ead the Japanehad th e ib le l esson a nd I nt ro du cecolor for each night. Lois had somepuppets and used them every night tovariety and, to reinforce the memory vetc. by having a dumb lion who couremember very well as one of th e acOur boys wan ted to ge t In on the acshe had them help some with th e pupWhen we were singing Hallelu, Hallwith the boys standing up for one parthe girls for another, Bobby and Dsuddenly popped the puppets up. Thehad a big mouth, and when Bobby opIt widest on th e high note of Praisth e Lord* it couldn't have been morting. That, tickled th e Japanese k id sof a l lSo wemadethe V.B,S. a family proand had a w onde r f u l time. Theattendance was 13. It was raining onday, so the at tendance fell back to ewhich was the same as the first nFive children came every night , andaverage at ten dan ce w as be tter thansummer average for Sunday school.On th e last night we said we wh av e r ef re sh m en ts t ha t h ad a l l th e cwe ha d studied. They h ad a time tryinguess what It would be . Finally a fa tsmelled the watermelon and go t It (I ta few yellow streaks In It.)

Harold

Baptisms at IseharaOn-August-31-Yukio Goto, a seni

high school who has been a ttendingvices regularly this year, and our youson, Danny made their confessions ofand were baptized In a beautifulshaded pool In th e stream that flowsfrom Mt. Oyama through Isehara. 1baptized Yuklo's mother and aunt 20ago, and his father a year later, soth e first second generation Christiame to baptize into Christ. It wa s aencouraging way to end our first yeservice s ince returning to Japan.

H a r o l d

RELOCATiOH REPORT(continued from page 1)

new work, an d $30,000 for the SIms'sidence and a modest and practical meroom for th e new church . This newand bui ld ing will be owned by th e Nachurch until th e n ew chu rch work glarge enough to be an independent cogation.

(10) We expect to have a lo t pickeand a down payment made on It bend of this year, and be ready toconstruction when th e f in al paymenth e Nakano property is received, proin M arc h 1970.We plan to give further r ep or ts o nIn future Issues of the Tokyo Chri

H a ro l d


20/22


21/22

FURLOUGHThere ar e so many decisions to bethat our furlough plans for 1970 at eit indefinite. We are earnestly prayingi t and request that you join us inWe a re espec ia lly thinking of the

church wluch has a memberalmost exclusively of young peopleyoung Christians. It ha s one elderwho is capable of leadership, bu t hebeen a Christian only about a yeara half. As ye t this church has no minon which to rely for leadership. Wet rust ing the Lord to provide a way tocare of the leadership of this churchng our absence.We thank al l of you friends who havecontributions toward our furloughd. As of the end of August $226.30 had

r ec ei ved for this purpose. At least75 more is needed fo r ou r travel. Yourinued help toward the r ai sin g o f our

travel funds would be appreciAll c on tr ib uti on s s ho uld b e s en t toforwarding agent.

Andrew Pa t t onNEWS NOTES(continued from page 2)

Mr. Takashi Nakagawa, originally fromHayashino church in Okayama Pref.now attending the Minato church inwas recently sent by his companyDiesel) to Taiwan on some imporbus i nes s connec ted with a machinefactory there. H e came b ack t o Japanbe m a r r i e d on Oct. 3 bu t wil l s oonto T aiwan for another year of foraid work.r . and Mrs. P a ul P ra tt re turned to t h e i rk in Isehara on Sept. 30 after one yearfurlough in th e U.S. They left three ofi r children in colleges in the U.S.

The Harold Sims family v i s i t ed theLikins family in AkashiCi ty , southKobe, Japan, and also t h r e e of thein th at a re a from August 15-19.

-r-in:: s.

i m m s M

This group of junior high school stus repre sent some of the hundreds thatreached with Gospel chorus and tesFourdays at noon we visited SunPoint, a tourist a tt rac tion point onof on e of the mountains above th e townruizawa. Stanley Buttray, Mr. and Mrs.

K o w o s o re ta Yo'Kowasareta Yo ' were Japanese words

that l eaped at me from a mimeographedshee the ld in th e h an ds o f one of t hr ee s tudents standing beside me on a crowdedtrain recently. Naturally, my first impulsewas , Surely it d idn' t s ay that I musthave made a mistake Knowing the Japanese custom on crowded trains of lookingover each other 's shoulder and reading anewspaper, magaz ine , etc., I quicklydec ided I s ho ul d t ak e anothe r look.My f ir st g la nc e had not failed me, itdid say 'Kowasareta Yo ' which means,Break, Crush, or Destroy the World Whowould have thought, or even forseen thatjust twenty-five years af ter the war endedwith SUCH a defeat for Japan, that SUCHa breed of youth would arise with it s soleaim of life to destroy under th e guise ofpeace and freedom. How could this be?

To find th e answer for this dilemma,one doesn ' t need to consu l t a medium nora computer machine. And even if one werepermitted to view this situation from th eSea of Tranquility on the Moon, it couldno t be camouflaged.

Upon th e removal of Ethics from al lschools after th e war e nd ed , th e outcomew as never in d ou bt . I t s ho ul d t he re fo re benoted tha t t h e s e permissive twenty-fiveyears of no direction in the moral life ofJapan's post-war youth has resulted in amultiple-headed mons t e r of four R's :Rebellious Youth, Radical Youth, RiotingYouth, and Revolutionary Youth.A few minutes' dialogue with almostany student is suff icient to confirm what Ihave stated above is 3_shocking reality. Aconversation with a student j us t t hi s weekrevealed that th e r ad ica l f ac t ions , including the Communists, may be a minority,yet sympathizers increase th e to tal to al i t t le more than 50% of a ll s tu d en ts . EvenChri st ian s tudent s have not escaped th ebrainwashing.As I look at the fermenting unrest andupheaval of multitudes here in Japan, therein the United States, and in every nationof the world, I am no t deceived (as manyare) into thinking . . . youth should be permitted to do it s thing denying andrejecting authority of parents, school officials, governments, and God.B O X 3 6 3 . JOLIET I L LI N O IS 6 0 43 4

Unless th e s t u d en t s abstain orwithheld from doing their thing, 1 sethis present hour of history the PrincePower of th e Air, Satan, makinggreatest effort s ince the Garden of Eto destroy God's highest creation, ML ik e Gene ra l Cus te r, Sa tan , underpretense of giving to the world pepeace, absolute freedom, and true equthrough t he sub tl e t ea ch ings of Karl

(Communism), is making hi s LAST STANNature r evea ls and God 's Word dec l

the en d resu l t o f i t a l l in a t ime -worn athat never fai ls God is not Mockedswhatsoever a man soweth that shalalso reap.Are you wondering why I am socerned, and why I am bring ing this proto your a tte nt ion ? The answe r is simto share our burdens with you andful f i l l th e law of Chr is t .Because of Christ and you at homecare, an unwave r ing faith in t hemercies of God and a Loving HeavFather, . . . regardless of if th e goades troy ing the wor ld is gained, . .future is brighter t ha n ev er, becauseIS COMING Stanley Bu

1

This is the group of children and tagers from the Yokosuka Church asattended camp this year at KaruizThree are Christian, and one was bapta w eek l a t e r .The young preacher, Morohashiand Stanley Buttray are standing onright. A daughte r was Iwrn to Mrs. Mhashi on September Isl. This is theirchild. Due to hemorage before andthe birth, sh e ha s only now recovered.


22/22

i . -

Christmas 1969Dear PV lend s,

Greetings from the land of the r ising sun, r is in g p ri ce s, uprisingstudents and enterprising business-men. We would a l l do well th es e days totake heed to God s Word as unto a l igh t t ha t shines in a dark place unt i l theday dawns and the day s t a r r i ses in our hear ts .

iga in has been a good year fo r us:JOIINIE (11th grade) i s growing t a l l e r and has begun shaving. In February hebegan studying piano. Ho also played the clar inet in the Zama High School Bandand i s now in the Choir a t Chris t ian icademy.SOBBI (9th grade) has changed his hobby from scale model trains to electronics.He is pic lc ing up some Japanese language abi l -yy and also takes piano lessons.DiiOT was baptized in to Chris t on August 31 > making our f am ily unanimous andvery happy. He learned to_ride a bicycle and has s ta r tg^v io l inmoving to Sayama he has a good friend, Tiiimiy a neighbor who is in the fourthgrade and the son of Danny s th i rd grade teacher. He also has had 3 petki t tens , but a l l of them ran a^/jay.LOIS has espec ia l ly enjoyed teaching English. She taught in Keisen Gir l sHoricul tural College un t i l we moved from Isehara , and also teaches one day aweek a t a largo g i r l s middle school in Tokyo where the principal and a ntimbero f th e te ac he rs a r e C h r is ti an s . She s t a r t e d c l a s s e s i n ou r home f o r some o f th eneighborhood Japanese women and about 10 middle schoo l s tuden tsmost ly from theJapanese A ir Force Base acro ss th e road . She has become a member o f a l ad iesBible Study group on the U.S . Johnson Air Base nearby too, and of course theladies Bib le Class a t Nakano church continues twice a month. Being the onlyfemale In a house fu l l of 6 boys (Including the 2 Japanese High SchoolersDAving with u s) must be a re l i e f for her to be out with the gir ls sometimes.For HiROLD th i s has been a year of di f f i cu l t decisionsmoving to Sayama,sel l ing the place where v/e used to l ive in Nakano, searching for a new place tolocate our i)rk for the next few years , and many others. He enjoyed th e i nte rimminis t ry a t Isehara , and a f t e r the Prat t s returned from furlough he s tar ted aBib le C la ss fo r High School students and another one fo r adul ts a t Sayama.HOPE (llrs. Tom Schmidt) and her husband are l iving in Cincinnati, where Tom i snow in his s en io r y ea r a t the Seminary. Hope works a t a downtown bank and takesone n igh t c l a s s .SYLVIA, a f t e r 2 summer sess ions , i s al ready a Junior a t C.B.S. and taking anactive pa r t in the World Mission Volunteers. She works part- t ime a t a department store to h elp w ith the expenses.

We i^ere hopija^^^^SS52^Bss^^s letter the place we had picked forrelocation, but i jS.a^^^till lookin|c.only have vie been spiritually sustainedby the assurance nrrt us , bu t we a re convinced t h a t God i shearir^ and ansirering your prayers. How thankful we are for the grace and goodness of God and the fellowship of His people. ndwe do believe our l iving,loving God has kept us from ev i l men and our own mistaken ambit ions and wil ldefini tely guide us by quiet , invisible providences to the r ight and best placefo r us . We vjant God s wi l l to be done i n our l i v e s , and to be used by Chr i s t inthe good vjork of building His Church in Japan. Our greates t happiness comeswhen we fee l th is desire i s being fu lf i l led .May you have a l l joy and peace in believing, and may God by His love^grace guide and keep you through the new year and dei^yg,^ ^

Yours i]^*ms service ,HAROLD SD iS FAI i:g:,Y

sims harold lois 1969 japan

Documents