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A quarterly publication of Mennonite World Conference
Second Quarter 2002, Volume 17, Number 2
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Mennonite congregations in profile:
Nihon Menonaito Betsukai Kirisuto Kyokai
(Japan Mennonite Betsukai Christ Church)

Editor’s note: In this issue, Courier begins a new feature focusing on Anabaptist-related congregations throughout the world. Our aim is to acquaint readers with church life among our global fellowships. Each profile will describe the congregation’s membership, some facts about its history, and information about its current life and challenges.

     In 1979, Kaoji and Teiko Saeki moved to Betsukai Town from Nakashibetsu Church with seven other members to start Betsukai Church. Earlier, Lee and Adella Kanagy, missionaries at Nakashibetsu Church, had started a kindergarten in Betsukai as an outreach. Soon there was a small group meeting once a month at the kindergarten.
     Today the church building is located near the downtown of Betsukai. This city is located in a dairy farm area east of Hokkaido province. The congregation, with about 37 members, is made up of families of all ages. There is a three-generation family among them. The 30- and 40-year-olds are few, since they are busy with their jobs and not able to be involved in church activities as they would wish. There is a youth group, but teens and young adults are few. There are some seekers. Occupations vary: retired, office workers, housewives, dairy farmers, and some with their own businesses.

MWC opens new office

     In the morning worship on December 9, the Mennonite Brethren College Community Church of Fresno, California, USA, included a dedication for a recently opened Mennonite World Conference office for Global Networks and Projects in Clovis, California. MWC now has three offices; others are located in Strasbourg, France, and Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

     The three-member leadership team includes one pastor. Members take turns preaching for worship services. They sometimes have singing worships led by brothers and sisters gifted in music.
     The congregation continues to run a kindergarten and uses the church building for meetings of the children’s parents and for lessons in flower arrangement and English. They organize volunteer activities at a nursing home, have lectures on parenting, and sponsor a charity concert once a year.
     Since 1997, there has been a Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF) base in Betsukai, which conducts live-fire artillery practice and night exercises. The unit has practised there some 300 days a year, doing live-fire practice for about 170 days. Noise and toxic smoke from the exercises affect family life, children’s studies, and the dairy industry. Residents are apprehensive that the harmful effects are cumulative.
     The town of Betsukai receives a huge subsidy from the national government because of the SDF maneuvering ground. This money is used for roads, schools, and maintenance of other public facilities. The town leadership and administration are glad for the benefit, mostly silencing those who may be opposed. At the same time, much of the cost of maintaining the U.S. military in Japan is born by the Japanese government through taxing the Japanese citizens.
     Believing that military force is not the way to realize peace, the Betsukai congregation is taking action to witness against these exercises. As the result of these and other protests, activity has been reduced at the JSDF site. The congregation asks the global Mennonite community for prayers that God would use its efforts for making peace in their part of Japan.
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