Quake and tsunami ravaged Japan needs prayer

BY KAREN THORNTON

With somewhat ironic timing, newly installed National Director of the Presbyterian Church of Australia’s mission arm, Kevin Murray, was having lunch with some recently returned missionaries from Japan when the news broke about the devastating earthquake and tsunami which left over 10,000 people dead, 590,000 homeless, 1.4 million without power and water.

Mr Murray, said he was sitting with Yas and Nerida ShimizudiscussingJapaneseministrywhenthe disaster – described as Japan’s greatest humanitarian crisis since World War II – occurred.

“Naturally I felt stunned by the magnitude of the disaster,” Mr    Murray    said. “I    was    immediately    very concerned for the one missionary we have serving in Japan and how the very small Christian population would cope.”

Thankfully, Mr Murray was soon to hear that missio, Sue Poynter, who is serving with OMF, was safe, as was the couple sitting with him, who had returned to Australia several months ago so Mr Shimizu could study at Presbyterian Theological Centre.
Mrs Shimizu (maiden name Bell), met her husband during her time in Japan and they plan to return to Japaninafewyears’time.Theyhadbeenworking in Chiba, just outside Tokyo. Mission Partners is currently in the process of helping Rev John and Mrs Rosemary Evans from the Helensvale, Queensland, congregation leave to serve in Japan from 2012.

“In addition it is assisting Rev Peter and Mrs Ayumi Tamsett from Chatswood as they also plan to serve in Japan in the next few years,”Mr Murray said. “In a society where only two per cent of the population claim to be Christian and the suicide rate is appalling, it is only the gospel of God's grace in Christ that can provide any answers.”

Mission Partners missionaries in Japan work with the Presbyterian Church of America's missions arm Mission to the World, so as far as up to date information on the tsunami goes, Mr Murray and his team are relying on information from team leader Dan Iverson.

“Nerida has received an email from Dan, asking forprayerful support from Australian Christians,” he said. “It appears that in the first few days after the disaster,theMTWteamhadrentedatruckandwas seeking to distribute aid, but the full effects of the damage to property and life were yet to be realised.”

In his email, Mr Iverson requested prayer as the team decided where to go and help with hands, food, water, diapers, and money, etc.

“At this writing there are more than 1100 dead or missing, and we have the sad expectation that this number will go much higher considering how big and widespread the tsunamis were,” he said.

“There is 130 miles (200 km) of coastal area devastation from this monster earthquake and resulting tsunamis, so it is difficult to know where we should go to help. We are looking for missionariesorchurchesinanareatopartnerwith and that could be our base. Pray for wisdom: when to go, where to go, who to go to, and what to take.

“So, as we and so many Christians mobilize and seek to relieve incredible suffering and pain in the name of Christ to the five million people of the devastated areas, pray that this will bring a turning to the true and living God, and to Christ and his grace and love. Japan really needs true hope that does not disappoint.

“It needs to also break our heart that this very rich country is really so spiritually impoverished, with so many with no hope. To put the spiritual darknessofJapaninperspective,Japanaverages about 90 suicides per day.

“It is so sad that already 1100 people appear to have died in the earthquake/tsunami, and yet a normal 12 days in Japan brings about this many suicides. Japan has grown strong economically and educationally and has "made it", with 100 per cent literacy, longest life expectancy in the world, etc. But like in Ecclesiastes 2, so many Japanese people who sought the "abundant" life have found that "all is vanity." Pray for a new turning to the One who really does give abundant life (John 10:10b).

Mr Iverson said the areas affected by the earthquake and tsunamis of Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki were some of the most spiritually needy places in Japan.
With more than 4.9 million people yet only about 9000 active Christians (about 0.15 per cent; about 1/6 of one per cent), Fukushima has the lowest
average worship attendance in all of Japan with only 19 per church.

“There are one city and 44 towns with no church at all,” he said. “There are 86 missionaries (adults, including husband and wife) assigned to these prefectures. One town in Ibaraki has over 46,000 people with no church and several others have over 24,000 people with no churches. Average attendance for all the churches in Japan is the lowest in Fukushima prefecture. Ibaraki prefecture has the least number of people claiming to have any religious beliefs.”

As The Pulse went to press, the magnitude of the earthquake which triggered the tsunami had been upgraded to 9.0 and bodies were being found along the coastal beaches. Prime Minister Naoto Kandescribeditasthe“toughestcrisisinJapan’s65 yearsofpostwarhistory”andsaid“whetherJapan can overcome this crisis depends on each of us”.

Prayer Points

• Pray for team members: to be prepared with earthquake necessities, to experience the peace of Christ that is greater than any tremor, and to be able to pass that on to others.
• Pray they would be able to set aside their own fears to comfort others. Pray as they seek to assemble a team of volunteers to go and help in the affected areas, that it would be in God’s timing and the location that would give Him the most glory.
• Pray for the Japanese Christians: Pray that after beingjoltedfromtheirroutinestheywouldlook to Christ, and as they contact family members and secure their safety, that God would fill them with a new desire and urgency to love and share the gospel with their families and friends. Pray that God would put it into their heart to give generously of supplies and food, time and labor, to reach their fellow countrymen for Christ.
• Pray against hopelessness – pray that many would not give in to the hopelessness that surrounds them, but would reach out to the true hope found only in Christ.
• Pray specifically for the salvation of contacts and friends as they process the “whys?” of this catastrophe. Many students have relatives in the affected areas and may have experienced death directly. Pray that they would be comforted and counselled with the love of Jesus.