LAHC - Brazil Missions Report (2023)

 

In English, the word “despedida” means farewell. After 23 years of ministry in South America, the years and my health have caught up with me (Eight years from 1991 to 1999; fifteen years from 2008 to 2023). 

2023 is the year that I plan to step down from my ministry at JEMS, with the approval of JEMS executive Director, Rev Rick Chuman.

My recent trip was an opportunity to thank those who have partnered with me over the decades. I’ve worked very diligently to cultivate relationships with pastors, leaders, lay people and network with multiple churches and denominations. (click any photo to enlarge) 

  

Many of those with whom I began ministry have themselves retired or have gone on to be with the Lord.  Other teens and young people have stepped into leadership roles themselves.

  

  

 

This trip was also an opportunity to make connections for the future as JEMS prayerfully continues its work in South America in the years to come.

  

 

Saying goodbye is always heartbreakingly bittersweet.

  

  

  

  

  

  

Deuteronomy 31:6 

Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.”

Prayer4PJ is moving!

I'm grateful for the many years that this site (blogspot.com) has been home to Prayer4PJ.  Although the site had it's limitations, it was very capable in serving to communicate updates and other ministry happenings with you as my prayer and financial supporters.  

In the next several weeks, I will be planning to migrate my prayer blog posts to another site.  Please take a moment to visit the infant beginnings of my redesigned website at:  http://johnkenpo.wixsite.com/prayer4pj

As I reconfigure my current ministry with JEMS, please join me in prayer as the work continues, albeit in a more homefront capacity.  Learn what that means.

Catching my breath

I am grateful to God for the opportunity to have served as interim pastor at the West Los Angeles Holiness Church for the last fifteen months. I served concurrently with my JEMS ministry.  The WLA pastoral responsibility has drawn to a close as Pastor Brian Nakamura assumes the full-time position as senior pastor.  It was a privilege and honor to use the pastoral gifts that the Lord invested in me so long ago.  

Now is the time to catch my breath and to listen to God's voice for next steps.  My last message at West LA was "Planning Ahead."  I will certainly apply that to myself.

In the meantime, I continue my ministry with JEMS, serving as the Director of Strategic Development for South America.  A large part of that task will involve serving churches here at home as a missions mobilizer (to recruit and train for missions service) and a resource for missions awareness in an increasingly global era.  

This past month (June 19th) I was able to share at the San Diego Japanese Christian Church in small groups and in their morning worship service.

Since San Diego JCC was a church I had formerly pastored, I was able to reconnect with some precious, long-time friends.  

The next few months will have me serving in different churches as a Sunday morning worship speaker.  Please pray for my time and travel commitments.

July 17 - Crossroads Community Church, Mission Viejo
August 7 - Victory Fellowship, Torrance
August 28 - Japanese American Christian Chapel, Camarillo.

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Japan via South America

We are pleased to welcome again the Okada family who will be serving the Lord in Japan.  As mentioned in earlier posts, the South America Missions Department has been working to cultivate relationships with the Japanese church in Japan.  There are particular churches working with the Brazilian Nikkei community there.  Pastor John brokered a meeting between Pastor Adriano Kuroki and Mark Okada in Tokyo to determine if a ministry opportunity could be pursued this summer.

JEMS is delighted that God opened all the doors and that the Okadas are responding with such good hearts.  They will be serving in a camp ministry outside of Tokyo.  Please pray for (L-R) Mark, Lilly, Leighton, Lauren, Luke, Lindsey, Pam.  (Click photo to expand).

Good stuff!

There's so much good stuff going on ministry-wise.  I'm grateful for your prayers as God is opening doors on several fronts.  

Armed with brochures and my notes in Portuguese, I am sharing at the Brazilian Baptist Church in Los Angeles (below).  

  

Arranging for meetings in Tokyo with a Brazilian Nikkei pastor in order that a possible team ministry might be created there for this August.

Preparing our North American young adults for short-term service.  

Praying with JEMS SoAm alumni who will be serving in Brazil this summer with another agency that deals with human trafficking.

Traveling to San Diego to meet with potential supporters and to express appreciation to the SD Japanese Christian Church for their many years of financial and prayer support.  

My schedule is delightfully full these days.  Thank you for allowing me to serve with JEMS through your prayers and financial support!

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Forgetting how to engage

In a series of messages that I am preparing, I share the idea that we are living in perhaps the loneliest generation.

We are perhaps the most social media savvy generation in the history of mankind.  Email, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Line, Kakaotalk, Periscope, text, telephone and separately, air travel.  All of these resources are available on a device as small as our cellphones.  At the same time despite having all of these things at our fingertips, we are also one of the loneliest generations in the history of mankind. 

With our thumbs and our keyboards, we've lost the ability to interact with others.  To have a conversation.  To engage people in meaningful dialogue.  And without that ability, families and the church are lost. 

Cultivating connections to our friends, family and community is key to having healthy relationships and to the growth of the church.  - From Pastor John's message on "building bridges."

Really though, this guy explains it far better and more eloquently than me:

In an article entitled, "How to Talk to a Brazilian," the author, Regina Scharf makes this observation as it relates to cross-cultural ministry:

Question: What new global trends are likely to impact the way short-term missions is done in the future?

Answer: Probably the most significant trend would be technology, and it’s both a positive and negative influence. Positively speaking, short-term teams today come back with more ability to stay in touch with the people they served alongside of.

Unfortunately, technology can also have a negative impact. It’s getting increasingly difficult for Westerners to be emotionally present where they’re serving. Rather than becoming culturally immersed, they go out during the day and do ministry, but come back at night to check their Facebook pages and update their blogs. They don’t become part of the local culture because technology is keeping them connected to home.

JEMS is not opposed to using technology (websites, blogs, etc.) for the cause of missions, but articles like these can help us to stop and consider how we use the technological resources that are available to us. Do not let them distract from your primary purpose.  And consider if the technology is being used for God’s glory.  

This is food for thought.

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Our Performance or God's Provision (Presence)

We're all influenced by the performance model in our lives. We were taught from the earliest ages that success and failure are based on our performance. If you do your work well, you will be rewarded. If you perform poorly, you will find no reward and perhaps even punishment. Performance appears to be the key to success. 

Unfortunately since reward is positive and punishment is negative, it became very easy to interpret relationships in the same way. Positive relationships come from good performance; negative from bad performance. I am accepted if I do well; rejected if I do poorly. I am loved if I do well; “unloved” if I don’t do well. 

You see how the process works. We could refer to this as “performance-based relationship.” Many people inherit that from their family values. 

A form of this performance system found its way into the Philippian church. It took the form of a performance-based spirituality. And we will learn what that means as we study Philippians 3:1-14

Full message online:

 

Message from May 22, 2016 - West Los Angeles Holiness Church

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Alternate horizons

Reaching Brazilians in Japan?  What?

There are over 250,000 Brazilians of Japanese descent currently living and working in Japan as dekasegi or short term workers.  The economic crisis in Brazil and globally has caused many to return to the home of their grandparents to seek better opportunities for themselves and their families.  While many dekasegi make a short-term commitment and return to Brazil after six months to two years, many choose to stay on in Japan perhaps due to uncertain prospects at home.

This has created a unique opportunity for the church to reach out and encourage a displaced and often, disheartened community.  Marital, family, acculturation problems have all created challenges for the Brazilian Nikkei.  The Nikkei church in Brazil has responded by sending missionaries and pastors to open churches in Japan with a specific calling to minister to that community.

One of those churches has invited JEMS to work in partnership with them.  As a result, we are now in the process of recruiting Brazilian Americans from here in LA to respond to that invitation to go to Japan.  I met with the Primeira Igreja Batista Brasileira de Los Angeles to invite their church members to consider serving the Lord with JEMS this summer.  After talking and praying together with the church's pastor, we are trusting God and moving forward.

With flyers in hand, I visited the church's worship service on Sunday, May 15th and gave a missions appeal in Portuguese.  Praise God for his provision and that the language gifting continues!  In addition, I was able to show a short video describing the ministry in Toyohashi.

 

It's wonderful how God was already speaking to hearts at the church.  I was received with openness and met with about eight people who indicated their desire to either go or (in one person's case) to support the team financially.

I ask you to pray for these folks pictured who are now considering a "YES" to the invitation to serve this summer in Toyohashi.  An additional Brazilian friend of mine in Northern California contacted me last week to ask if he could also participate in this project and join this team.  Let's pray that God will bring this all together!

Interested members of PIBBLA with PJ

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Training for summer mission is underway

JEMS is preparing its workers for the 2016 season in South America.  We are grateful to God for providing two workers who will be serving in Brazil and Paraguay this summer.  The news out of Brazil has not been conducive to our recruitment efforts.  Reports of government instability, corruption and violence associated with the Olympics, the spread of the Zika virus, have discouraged many from considering serving in Brazil this year.  

Although JEMS has had a stellar history in South America regarding the care and safety of its workers, it's difficult to offset the influence of CNN.  Hopefully we will have better success in 2017.  

That notwithstanding, we are pleased that Holly (pictured below, right) from Los Angeles Holiness Church, and Diana (pictured, left) from Crossroads Community Church in Mission Viejo, have responded to the invitation to serve this July in South America.  

Holly will be serving her third mission to Brazil with JEMS.  This July, she will be serving the Holiness Church in Presidente Prudente for her first week and the Free Methodist Church of São José dos Campos during her second week and a half.  

Diana will be serving as a JEMS worker, seconded to a missions team from the Mission Valley Free Methodist Church.  In a new model, this JEMS/MVFM hybrid team will be an effort to create new partnerships with local churches.  Diana will be serving at the Free Methodist Church in Sorocaba, Brazil and at the Free Methodist Church in Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay.  Diana continues the long tradition of ministry in Paraguay which JEMS began in 1992.  

This past weekend (May 7th), training was conducted for both workers.  I am grateful for the willing participation of Darryl Wong and Rianna Wong (no relation) in providing insights and practical lessons.

Both Darryl and Rianna have had prior experience in working with the churches in which Holly and Diana will be serving. 

On a personal level, it was exciting to hear about Rianna's own plans to serve on a six-month mission trip to Brazil, beginning in June.  

She, together with former JEMS summer worker, Alyssa Gozun (and another friend) will be serving with the organization, 27 Million which addresses the issue of human trafficking.  27 million is the estimated number of labor and sex slaves in our world today.  Our prayers are with Rianna and Alyssa as they serve in various cities in Brazil through the end of the year.  

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Local partnerships

Ministry continues amidst the changes related to my medical treatment.  Last week I was able to meet together with Pastor Miguel of the First Brazilian Baptist Church of Los Angeles (Primeira Igreja Batista Brasileira de Los Angeles).  We spoke together about JEMS working together with his church to encourage one another and to explore possible mission opportunities.

Pastor Miguel and Pastor John meeting in Culver City

We are currently investigating the possibility of mobilizing members of his church to consider serving with JEMS in Japan this summer, specifically in the city of Toyohashi.  

Why is the South America Department going to Japan?  Because there are approximately 275,000 Brazilian Japanese living in Japan today.  They migrated to Japan to escape the economic instability that has been impacting the Brazilian economy for the last thirty years.  These migrant workers are called dekasegi (Portuguese:   decassegui).  

  

The original Japanese word dekasegi  roughly translates as "working away from home".  Many of these Japanese Brazilians have chosen to make Japan their home.  In so doing, they face discrimination, language barriers, cultural adaptation and other difficulties.  Although some have lived for a number of years in Japan, many Japanese nationals consider them as "gaijin" or outsiders.  As these Japanese Brazilians continue their life in Japan, their children are facing challenges of acceptance and adaptation in their adopted land.  

The Igreja Evangélica Holiness do Brasil (Nikkei), based in São Paulo, has established five mission churches in Japan to meet the spiritual needs of the dekasegi population.  The challenges  facing the churches are as numerous as the problems faced by the dekasegi themselves.

 

Each summer, the Brazil Holiness Churches in Japan work together to offer two weeks of camp for children and teenagers.  JEMS has been invited to work in partnership with the Brazilian Holiness Church to share the good news of Jesus with this migrant community in Toyohashi.  In turn, JEMS is asking the Primeira Igreja Batista Brasileira de Los Angeles to consider serving in this missionary project.

  

The wonderful advantage of sending Brazilian Americans to work with Brazilian Japanese is that the language is already in place.  However, the challenge for these Brazilian Americans will be one of entering into a country with different cultures and customs. 

Please join Pastor Miguel and me in praying that the First Brazilian Baptist Church of Los Angeles will be able to form a team to send workers to minister to these young people in Toyohashi, Japan.  

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