Please pray for the HBC Japan Missions trip as we begin our mission to Nagoya, Japan this Sunday night, July 2! #HBCJapan

Pray for our team as we go (Pictured left to right): Jonirose Dino, Christie Villalon, Edgar Londono, Yen Jung, Pastor Matthew Recker and teenagers Kristy Sapolis, Chara Lyons and Caleb Lyons. Please pray for us to all grow wonderfully in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and to serve Him in the power of His Spirit.

We will go to the JFK airport July 2 at 11:30 pm and leave early Monday morning at 1:35 am! We will serve in Nagoya, Japan through July 15.

We will work alongside with Pastor Tim and Kim Melton. Pastor Tim leads the Calvary Baptist Church (Japanese speaking) and Nagoya International Baptist Church (English speaking) in Nagoya, Japan. We will also work with Rebekah Kuehlman who assists them while leading their children’s ministry. We greatly look forward to also connecting with Toshihiko Sato, a former member of Heritage Baptist Church in NYC, who serves now as an assistant pastor in Japan.

Our main ministries will be literature preparation and distribution, facility maintenance, and seeking to build relationships in friendship parties, children’s ministry, and camp ministry. We will share our testimonies and God’s Word in their Sunday School & Sunday worship services.

Japan is an incredibly beautiful country but there are great challenges in bringing Christ’s saving Gospel to the 127 million people and the 2.24 million souls in Nagoya.

Only 1% of the Japanese population professes any sort of Christianity, including cults like the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, or Romanism. Through centuries of practice, the main Japanese religion conflates Shinto beliefs (which worship millions of spirits which could be either good or bad) with Buddhist philosophy. The rituals of Shinto that emphasize present happiness and prosperity (not salvation or anything about the afterlife) have combined with the texts of Buddhism that has its teachings to attain enlightenment. This syncretization of Shinto and Buddhism forms a unique religion that is not found anywhere else in the world. While many Japanese people may not strongly believe either religion, the long history of these two pathways form a powerful cultural stronghold that blinds them from the Gospel. This demonstrates the great need that the dear people of Japan have for Jesus Christ and His Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.

Please pray for us and pray for Missionaries Tim and Kim Melton who have served throughout their lives in Japan. Please pray that we can encourage them and as we come alongside them that we will know how to better pray for them and support them in their labor of love for Christ.

Visit the Melton’s page on our website to learn more about their ministry in Japan: http://hbcnyc.org/missionary-melton.

Or visit their website directly here: http://www.timmelton.japanforchrist.com/timmelton/Welcome.html

Pictured: Jonathan & his wife Rebecca, Benjamin, Rachel, Kim and Tim Melton