An update from Dan De Grima

My family and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for the privilege that we have had these past 5 years in journeying with, and being a small part of the wonderful community that is SCBC – my home church from when I was a child. We will miss people dearly, and our leaving is by no means a departure from our love for you all, but we do believe that it is the right time and the right step for us to take.

Interest in Japanese culture has perhaps never been higher, from trendy sushi bars and cat cafés, to the popular manga/anime scene and high-quality goods. Added to that, the weak yen means that record numbers of tourists are visiting the country year-on-year (I strongly recommend a trip!); but beneath the surface of this seemingly “model-society”, Japan is spiritually quite a dark, broken, lonely, and often overlooked place – referred to as “the missionary graveyard”.

With a population of 125 million, it is the second-largest “unreached” people group (less than 1% Christian) in the world, and the biggest that allows for religious freedoms. Half of Japan’s relatively few churches are expected to close by 2030, and 24 cities (and about half of all towns nationwide) have no evangelical church. What’s more, Christian resources within Japan are very limited, and so, to quote Jesus, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.” The reality is that the church in Japan is increasingly in need of Christians from outside the country to help support and start new churches in the great commission of making disciples of all nations.

Our heart and hope in going is to be available toward this end, in wanting to be fruitful for God’s kingdom and glory. Kimi and I previously lived in Osaka where we both worked for an international church before I trained with City to City as a church planter and we then were involved as a family in a church plant. This time, though, we will be initially heading to Kimi’s hometown, which is part of Greater Tokyo – the most populous metropolitan area in the world (41 million)!

We hope to spend time reconnecting with family during the first few weeks, as well as meeting with several churches and contacts that we have in exploring the possible ways in which we may be of most service. We are open to going wherever God leads – from the cold north to the tropical south – and staying in Japan for as long as He sees fit and enables us to. We may live out the rest of our days in Japan, we may be back in the UK within a year, or Jesus might return this evening! We don’t know, which we feel both excited and scared about, but we trust that God is with us as we seek to walk by faith.

In terms of prayer, it is wonderful to know that even from the other side of the world we can intercede for you, as you can for us! We would greatly appreciate it if we could kindly ask you to pray for God’s protection as we go out to Japan next week – not just in terms of our safe travels, but emotionally and spiritually too – as well as for those who might be sad at our leaving; we also only have a small room to begin with to stay in as a family, and so we hope for divine appointments and clear direction as to where God would want us to move to beyond the immediate future; but above all, that we (and you!) would abide more and more in Jesus and in his love.

Once again, thank you to everyone for your care and kindness to us, and we are excited for this new season ahead too for SCBC. We would be delighted to stay in touch with those who would want to. If anyone would like to receive updates regarding our time away, has any questions, is interested in supporting us, or just wants to say, “hi!”, do email us at our new address (which we hope is more memorable than it is cheesy)!

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!

We won’t say sayonara (farewell), but rather, mata ne (see you again)!

Dan, Kimi, Amie & Luna x

 

Psalm 113

3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
    the name of the Lord is to be praised!
4 The Lord is high above all nations,
    and his glory above the heavens!