Thank you very much for your prayer and e-mail. Here is the UCCJ update:
The UCCJ established the Relief Planning Committee (chair: Rev. Naito) on
Saturday, March 12. It is responsible for the initial actions, i.e. investigation,
consolation visit & planning. Dispatched to Tohoku & Ou Districts are four
executives:
Rev. Ishibashi, moderator, Rev. Fujimori, executive secretary,
Rev. Morita, chair, Committee on Social Concerns & Rev. Kato, executive secretary.
They left Tokyo on Sunday, March 13, and arrived in Sendai by the evening. On
Monday noon they visited Rikuzen Furukawa Church, north of Sendai. They are
continuously heading north by vehicule, despite the limited supply of gasoline.
Attached, please find the document describing the damage related to the churches.
Attached, please find the document describing the damage related to the churches.
The UCCJ appreciates your prayer.
Sincerely,
Teruki Takada, staff
Commission on Ecumenical Ministries
* From CCJ
The CCJ has three churches in the disaster area, one in Sendai and two
in Fukushima. All three churches are undamaged and pastors and their
family are safe. and all three churches were able to celebrate Sunday
worship service on past Sunday, 13th. There are, however,still some
congregation members who can't be reached. I would like to ask you to
pray for them.
The situation in the disaster area seems to be getting worse and worse
as we're getting more detailed information, plus there are still many
strong aftershocks everyday that make the relief work harder. Although
the damage to the CCJ has been minimum, this historical quake and
tsunami brought literally irreversible damage to the area, and we
cannot imagine how long will it take to recover.
Our friends in the WCRC, Hungarian Reformed Church Aid is going to
send a small team to assess the situation tomorrow. Unfortunately, the
Japanese government is not currently accepting international NGOs, but
they decided to come hoping to find some a to do some work to help not
only the CCJ, but also the KCCJ and the RCJ. They'll arrive here
tomorrow, and we are going organize a joint meeting with these
churches.Although we are a very small church in the WCRC family, we
are strongly reassured that we are a part of the family.
Sincerely,
Teruki Takada, staff
Commission on Ecumenical Ministries
* From CCJ
The CCJ has three churches in the disaster area, one in Sendai and two
in Fukushima. All three churches are undamaged and pastors and their
family are safe. and all three churches were able to celebrate Sunday
worship service on past Sunday, 13th. There are, however,still some
congregation members who can't be reached. I would like to ask you to
pray for them.
The situation in the disaster area seems to be getting worse and worse
as we're getting more detailed information, plus there are still many
strong aftershocks everyday that make the relief work harder. Although
the damage to the CCJ has been minimum, this historical quake and
tsunami brought literally irreversible damage to the area, and we
cannot imagine how long will it take to recover.
Our friends in the WCRC, Hungarian Reformed Church Aid is going to
send a small team to assess the situation tomorrow. Unfortunately, the
Japanese government is not currently accepting international NGOs, but
they decided to come hoping to find some a to do some work to help not
only the CCJ, but also the KCCJ and the RCJ. They'll arrive here
tomorrow, and we are going organize a joint meeting with these
churches.Although we are a very small church in the WCRC family, we
are strongly reassured that we are a part of the family.
