How Your Contribution Can Make A Difference in Japan

Dear friends,

A tide of bodies washed up along Japan’s coastline Monday, overwhelming crematoriums, exhausting supplies of body bags and adding to the spiraling humanitarian, economic and nuclear crisis after the massive earthquake and tsunami.

Millions of people faced a fourth night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures along the northeast coast devastated by Friday’s disasters. Meanwhile, a third reactor at a nuclear power plant lost its cooling capacity and its fuel rods were fully exposed, raising fears of a meltdown. The stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries including big names such as Toyota and Honda.

On the coastline of Miyagi prefecture, which took the full force of the tsunami, a Japanese police official said 1,000 bodies were found scattered across the coastline. Kyodo, the Japanese news agency, reported that 2,000 bodies washed up on two shorelines in Miyagi.

I am extremely excited to see so many of you who are eager to help out those people who have lost their family members and most of their earthly possessions due to the earthquake and tsunami. As we have been placed in the center of Tokyo by God’s sovereignty, we are also eager to be used by God to bring healing and hope, both physically and spiritually to the people in Japan.

It goes without saying our goal would be to respond to the current crisis in a Christ-like manner so that we can help our fellow humankind and ultimately allow them to see God and His truth through the way we extend our compassion. As many churches and Christians have different expectations of what that should look like, I have decided to inform you what we are capable and incapable of doing during these difficult times. Not everyone may agree with the approach that we are planning on taking, but I will say we are making important decisions urgently based on reliable facts and wisdom so that our limited time and financial resources, not to mention your sacrificial giving, will not be wasted. We would like you to trust our discernment and our assessment of the current situation based on the fact that we actually live here and have firsthand knowledge of what people are experiencing in our area.

So, before I explain our plan of action, I need to share what we are incapable of doing. This may disappoint some of you, but we cannot get closer to where people are being deprived of food and water at this time. This has nothing to do with our desire, but to do with the decision of the government. Currently more than 50,000 Japan Self-Defense Force soldiers have been deployed and many doctors and nurses, international rescue teams, the US military have also joined their effort to bring relief. Moreover, we have been informed that due to the extent of devastation and the potential secondary dangers from large scale aftershocks and instable building structures, civilians are told not to help without the approval of the authority. We want to rescue people but not end up being rescued ourselves.

Furthermore, since Tokyo is somewhat distant from the actual center of the damage, even if we were permitted to go up there, it would be unwise for us to do so. First, if well intended people rush to the areas, we will create a greater food and water shortage for those who are already there. Secondly, we will use up limited gas and other natural resources the workers need to complete their jobs. Thirdly, we will contribute to further traffic/transportation chaos. And, fourthly, it would be an unwise way for us to use our limited funds that have been donated by generous people like you. Hypothetically, if a church provides $1,000 for us to use, and if we rent a van, and recruit four or five other volunteers to travel with us, that alone will cost about $800 and the actual money we can spend on people would be unjustifiable.

So, here are some of the things that we are planning on doing to make a difference.

First of all, we are getting in touch with pastors and churches around Miyagi area where the disaster struck the hardest and see if we can help out the Christians there by providing food, water, and clothing. Paul said to the Galatians that, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (6:10). While it is still difficult to get in touch with those people in those affected areas due to lack of electricity and cell towers, we are utilizing Facebook and other means to get in touch with them. The majority of the support which we will receive will be used to provide them with these necessities. Our plan is to send boxes of water and dry food as soon as possible, but if it cannot be done (due to delivery companies not providing services to those areas) we will have to arrange a mutual meeting point to hand them directly into their hands. However, based on the condition of the roads, our plan-B might not even work. In that case, you can count on us to be creative somehow and help people before it is too late. We would like to spend a few thousand dollars to provide drinking water to those people so that through the demonstration of Christian love and their generosity, they would also be able to share the message of the living water which Christ provides.

Next, and more locally, we are providing physical and spiritual relief to those people in Tokyo who have been affected by the tragedy in one way or another. We have sent a letter to everyone who is on our church devotional subscription list, offering prayers and physical assistance to those who are in need or know others in need. So far we have received a few messages from people who have missing friends and family members. Your generous support will allow us to meet their needs as we can mobilize more people to be with them and comfort them.

We are also going to invest a limited amount of funds to upgrade our technological equipment to increase the quality of tools and resources we want to distribute through our media ministry. We believe that there are many people, both Christians and non-Christians, who are plagued with spiritual questions and concerns due to these events. The best way to provide hope to these people is to give comfort and answers from the Bible. And the best way to accomplish this is not to stand on the street corners, shouting our lungs out, but using social media and other means to spread them as widely as possible. We also want to present them in a professional way so that more people would be inclined to share them with others who are troubled.

While we are serious about meeting the physical needs of those in the affected areas now, we are also aware that we need to start focusing on long term issues as well. Many Japanese Christians are realizing the fragility of human life and how their wealth which they accumulated and rely on for security can be taken away in a moment. We need to continue to disciple and encourage these people so that they can be strong in their faith, in which will directly result in them sharing the Gospel with conviction. I believe many people are very interested in Japanese people right now because of the media attention it is getting, but as things are eventually going to be restored, many will stop thinking about them, just as many of us do not think and pray for all the southeastern Asian countries that were hit by tsunamis that took over 250,000 lives about seven years ago. If you truly care about the Japanese people and their spiritual needs, I highly encourage you to become our regular giver, as we are committed to spread the hope of Christ through continually loving them not only with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth (cf. 1John 3:18 ).

At the end, if you would like to contribute to make a difference in Japan through us and our ministry, I encourage you to do it with confidence that every donation that is sent to us will be used to assist people with both physical and spiritual needs. We will always strive to be both socially conscious and biblically driven. We are committed to be faithful and wise stewards of God’s resources and we desire to use all of them to bring people to understand, believe, and to enjoy Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you feel uncomfortable with our strategy to respond to the needs of people in Japan, please consider giving to any other relief efforts that are known to be trustworthy. However, if you feel like donating to our ministry can bring realistic benefits to the people in Japan both physically and spiritually, and short term and long term, please give generously so that we can have more freedom to serve and love people in need generously. Every donation you entrust us with will be used directly to help Bible believing Christians and churches in the affected area or be used to strengthen the effectiveness of the spiritual relief that we will continue to provide for the coming years. Please pray that though our effort, those believers who receive our resources will be encouraged and use them wisely to share the Gospel to those who are in need.

“And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” Matt 10:42

” Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.” Proverbs 19:17