Sunday, April 3rd – Fourth Sunday in Lent

Sunday School

The WTUC youth are having a “yard” sale on Saturday, April 16th to raise money for tsunami victims.  If you have an item you’re interested in donating for us to sell, please bring it to church either on Sunday, April 3rd or Sunday, April 10th and Julie Rogers will collect it.  Place your name on the item so we can return it to you should we be unable to sell it.  The youth so far have gathered toys, kitchen items, small furniture, small appliances, and a few pieces of art.  Please contact Julie Rogers at jrogers@asij.ac.jp or call 042-406-5553 if you have questions about donations.  Thank you!

ES Age 4 – Gr 2: Meets during church this Sunday. Contact Lynn Loveman (lloveman@asij.ac.jp) or Amy Harbaugh (aharbaugh@asij.ac.jp) for more information.

ES Gr 3 – 5: Meets at 9:30 in the cafeteria. Contact Kristi Hoskins (khoskins@asij.ac.jp) or Julie Rogers (jrogers@asij.ac.jp), Sunday School coordinators if you need more details or wish to help.

MS: Meets at 9:45 in the cafeteria. Contact Ruth Ingulsrud (ruth@thirdculture.com) or Pastor Claudia (RevClaudia@aol.com) for more information.

Adult Intro to Bible Study: Meets upstairs at 9:45.

Worship: 10:55

Old Testament: 1 Samuel 16: 1-13

Sermon:  “The Lord looks at the heart” – Rev. Teresa

Guest Preacher: Rev. Teresa Sherrill is an ordained Mennonite minister.   Her husband, Rev. Dr. Mike Sherrill, is a chaplain and professor at Aoyama Gakuin. Teresa is the PTA Spiritual Life Coordinator at Christian Academy in Japan. They attend worship at  Kurume Bible Fellowship held at the auditorium at the Christian Academy in Japan school. Teresa sings in the Hallelujah Gospel Family’s Group and performs twice a year. Husband Mike plays drums for the Praise Music Band. The whole family attended WTUC from 2000-2002 before serving the Hokkaido Mennonite Conference from 2002-2008. When they were worshipping with us at WTUC, Mike and Teresa often preached for us. They have 3 children; Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Sophia.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in…” —Matthew 25:35

Please read the letter sent to the international churches from NCCJ. If anyone thinks they might be able to house a quake/tsunami, radiation evacuee; talk to Pastor Claudia.

Dear international church friends in Japan;

Greetings, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ  from the National Christian Council in Japan.

NCCJ (National Christian Council in Japan) has  become an indispensable ecumenical hub for sharing information, and dispatching goods and personnel to the worst-hit areas following the earthquake disaster in Japan. It is working in coordination with the newly established Christian Coalition in Sendai, which includes The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), the United Church of Christ in Japan (Kyodan),  the  Anglican Church of Japan (Nippon Sei Ko Kai), Japan Baptist Convention, Japan Baptist Union, Japan Evangelical Lutheran Association (JELA), the Korean Christian Church in Japan, various other Protestant bodies, and the Roman Catholic Church. The Sendai Coalition is using the Emmaus Center which also serves as the Tohoku (NE) District office and Student Center of the Kyodan as its base of operations. NCCJ is working with ecumenically diverse organizations to provide relief for those whose lives have been devastated by the quake, tsunami, and radiation threats from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.  We are especially concerned about those who are marginalized and have no other channel of support as we continue to consult with the churches represented in the Christian Coalition to determine priorities and avoid needless duplication.

The NCCJ office is now in the process of finding available housing for internally displaced persons through our national network of churches and organizations. Our home page will be providing regular updates (mostly in Japanese) with occasional English messages. Our home page is simply: http://ncc-j.org.  Our Housing Support Coordinator is Mr. Zen Koike, who speaks English as well as Japanese.

What we need to know from you and your church members are:

How many people are you willing to receive? Families OK? Children OK? Single people (male or female or either)?

Would the evacuee(s) or evacuee family have their own bedroom? Bathroom?

Does the evacuee(s) need to know  English or can you speak Japanese?

Would you prefer a Christian evacuee or is non-Christian OK?

Are you able to provide any meals or some meals? is there a convenience store or grocery store nearby where the evacuees that  you host could purchase food?

Where is your location and nearest train station?

What is the length of stay you could handle? (e.g. one week, three weeks, one month, three months, six months, etc.)

Are willing to offer for use a vacant house, residential quarters or apartment in the countryside, or in another part of Japan, that is semi-equipped or semi-furnished?

There may be other questions that follow, but we will try to match up your home with compatible individuals and families. We will continue to gather more information about people in need who must find a temporary places to live and we hope to assist them in rebuilding their lives as quickly as possible.

Call or email Zen Koike at: 090-7174-4077

zen@ncc-j.org
housing@ncc-j.org

Upcoming Calendar – Dates to Remember

April 10 – Fifth Sunday in Lent. Pastor Claudia preaching

April 17th – Palm Sunday; Children process in with palms. Rev. Dr. Jim Sack preaching.

April 22nd – Good Friday service, 7:30 p.m. at Malcolm and Mio Foster’s home.

April 24th – Easter; Potluck Brunch and Egg Hunt at 9:30 a.m. Church worship at 10:55 a.m.

If you would like offering envelopes, please contact Mark Hisamatsu.

Service to our congregation and community

Church Directory – Updated published directory is now available. Please get a copy from Toshi Sasao.

WTUC supports Second Harvest Japan where WTUC member, Ruby Sakuma, works as the Food Pantry Coordinator. Second Harvest Japan welcomes volunteers on Fridays and Saturdays to help with the preparation and distribution of food to the homeless.  Those who are interested may see Ruby  or go to the Second Harvest Japan website (2hj.org) to sign up.

Music at WTUC:  If you have favorite songs that you would like to sing, please send Carrie Bennett your requests.  bennettinkuwait@hotmail.com

Carrie is going to help coordinate music at WTUC.  Anyone interested in committing their vocal and musical talents TWICE a month email or see Carrie.

Interested in being a liturgist? Contact Betsy Terada.

Interested in joining the prayer chain? See Pastor Claudia or Kayo Ozawa, prayer chain coordinator.

Interested in becoming a Lay Eucharistic Minister? Contact Pastor Claudia.

Other

Prayer requests – send to Pastor Claudia or Prayer Chain Coordinator Kayo Ozawa (kayo@ta2.so-net.ne.jp)

Website – www.wtuc.net

Church contacts:

Pastor:  Rev. Claudia Genung-Yamamoto; RevClaudia@aol.com

Steering Committee chairperson: Karen Seevers; kseevers@asij.ac.jp

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