From left: Rev. Etsuya Kataoka, Mike Okamura and Terumi Kataoka at Wakamatsu Sakaemachi Church, UCC in Japan, Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, on Nov. 3.
Thirty U.S. churches of the United Church of Christ (UCC) and Disciples of Christ (DOC) denominations will be joining in the 2024 Christmas Card Project with partner churches in Japan.
The project was started in 2012 following the Great East Japan Earthquake, destructive tsunami and nuclear disaster that devasted northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011.
The 76 partner churches and two church-related centers in the northeastern Tohoku region have historic ties to the UCC and the DOC. The 30 churches in the U.S. will send to their partner churches a Christmas card and, just as important, lift up in prayer the churches that sustained damage and their members, the survivors, in and around Fukushima Prefecture during Advent season in December.
The Japanese churches are in the Tohoku Conference of the Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan (United Church of Christ in Japan), which represents the largest Protestant denomination in Japan. These strong, historical ties go back 138 years.
Leading the Christmas Card Project since its inception 12 years ago is Rev. Jeffrey Mensendiek, mission co-worker in Japan with the Common Global Ministries Board of the joint UCC and DOC witness mission. On a stateside home visit after the triple disaster, he was talking up the new Christmas Card Project and seeking UCC and DOC churches to participate.
This is when he met Mike Okamura, a long-time member of Altadena Community Church, UCC, and from that point on the church has been a project participant. Historical Nikkei UCC churches active in the project are Montebello Plymouth Congregational Church and Pioneer Oceanview in San Diego.
The Kyōdan churches in the Tohoku Conference have very small membership with a deep concern for the church’s future survival. Global Ministries is committed to the partner churches as they minister to the people living in a Fukushima post-nuclear disaster reality. The Christmas Card Project demonstrates from across the Pacific Ocean, “We care. We remember you. Your lives matter.”
To learn more about Mensendiek’s work with Global Ministries in Japan, you can follow his blog at: http://jeffreyfromjapan.blogspot.com/