In January 2019 Dale became the part time Asia Director of the Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission. Read More…

TMC Christmas Sunday worship service on Dec 23 included Christmas carols and Japanese interpretation of the English sermon. After enjoying a potluck lunch some TMCers went caroling at our nearby park and train stations while offering gift bags for children. Read More…

Ann led our family Christmas event on Dec 16, with the help of a number of TMCers. She had lost her voice due to a virus a few weeks earlier and was still recovering, so she was delighted with all the help.

18 children (27 were invited), 10 moms, and 5 dads showed up. It was very noisy and chaotic at times, but it was happy noise and chaos! The children watched a Christmas segment of the Super Book video in Japanese with subtitles in English. A TV channel in Japan is showing Super Book segments on Sunday mornings in Nov and Dec.

One of our TMC mothers who lives in our neighborhood near TMC invited two of her friends who are also moms. One was able to attend. It was the first time for this mom and her children to be at TMC. We hope they will be able to come again in order to hear about Jesus.

Our American Thanksgiving dinner at TMC was Nov 25, aligning with a national Japanese holiday. Janet D., an Overseas Missionary Fellowship missionary who attends TMC, gave a biblical perspective in Japanese on giving thanks. We were pleased that one lady in Ann’s English class came for the first time to this TMC non-English event.

Tokyo Multicultural Church’s O-san passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack in September at the age of 59. He was probably the most central member of our Japanese Department. He has left a big hole in his family and at TMC.

We are thankful for the many happy memories of O-san, especially at our fall retreat just days before he died, where the pic was taken.

We are more thankful that his wife and grown daughters share in the hope of resurrection and eternal life in Jesus Christ. Mr. O. attended TMC but the rest of his family are at a different church. We were able to hold a TMC fellowship time for them and many from TMC were able to share their fond memories of him to encourage them.

We look forward to a grand reunion in heaven.

Revelation 21:4— He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

What a treat to get away to a beautiful area near Tokyo with our church family! We’re quite sure this is going to become a TMC tradition.

According to a colleague’s recent newsletter, after S-san finished elementary school she stopped attending worship services and Sunday school led by missionaries at their nearby home. Reading between the lines, she fell prey to the busyness of life in Japan and the pressure to conform to the materialistic values of animistic Buddhist Japanese society. As an adult she neglected and repressed the work God had done in her heart during her formative years as a child.

But… Read More…

TMC’s July 23-27 outreach English classes have been cancelled because of lack of short term teachers. The good news is that we have some possibilities for teachers next summer (2019)!

Alternatively... Read More…

On May 24 Dale was naturalized as a US citizen in Portland Maine. So Dale and our three children are now dual citizens of Canada and the US. Read More…

How many people did you lead to Christ in your missionary ministry last year?

A recent conversation with a young Japanese pastor might place this Western “visible, immediate results required” and perhaps critical question in appropriate religio-cultural context. Read More…

TOKYO MULTICULTURAL CHURCH quietly turned 5 years old on April 8, the Sunday after Easter. Thus the many hands showing five fingers in the above pic. We (Dale & Ann) launched TMC on Sunday Apr 7, 2013 in our apartment complex’s meeting room with eight people in attendance, including a core group of six. Read More…

As a widower, Jon Prins returned to Japan in 2016 with ServeBeyond (EFC of Canada) to join TMC’s church planting team. He and his former wife had been church planters in Japan for many years with ReachGlobal (EFC of America). In 2018 Jon married Laura Shannon who had been in Japan with ReachGlobal and then with ServeBeyond. We hosted a TMC wedding reception for them in March.

TMC is looking for 3-5 teachers for this summer’s outreach English conversation classes, July 23-27, with teacher arrival in Tokyo on July 20 and departure on July 31. Read More…

At TMC’s first membership meeting it was decided to share testimonies during worship services twice a month, start some Sunday afternoon small groups once a month, and add a second worship service that would be in Japanese when we reach the seating limits of our rental facility (probably about 50 people).

We hope members will take increasing responsibility in decision making as TMC defines and refines its leadership structure. Membership meetings will probably be held 2-3 times a year, with non-members usually invited as observers.

The Lord has financially provided for TMC’s rental facility through the giving of Sunday worshippers and the financial partners who have contributed to our ongoing TMC Fund within our EFCCM Ministry Enhancement Fund. The purpose of the TMC Fund is to cover a gradually decreasing portion of TMC’s rental facility costs during the church’s early years as TMC gradually takes on full responsibility for covering those costs. We are thankful that by the end of 2017 TMC attenders were covering almost all of TMC’s monthly rental facility costs! If we don’t need the TMC Fund for TMC#1 in 2018 we hope to use it to begin building TMC#2’s launch fund.