Toshio Shibata, JUC Executive Secretary
The Japan Union Conference (JUC) Year-end Meetings were held on Nov. 20-22, 2022, in person for the first time in three years. There were eight officers and directors who attended, including NSD President Kim YoHan. The meetings were held at the new JUC headquarters in Yokohama, which was completed in 2021—it was the first time for many board members to visit the new office.
During the meeting, leaders of JUC, its local conferences, and institutions presented their mission reports for the year 2022. Due to the ongoing pandemic and the country’s aging population among Adventist Church members in Japan, the number of deaths (149) was higher than the number of baptisms (100) until the 3rd quarter of 2022. Each report showed that despite this challenging situation, all church workers in JUC worked hard to fulfill God’s mission. Also, Mission Unusual Tokyo, a church-planting project collaborating with the General Conference and NSD, has decided to launch an Urban Center of Influence, which will serve as a base for the evangelism project. The center will open in the spring of 2023 and aim to serve the local community. Started in 2022, the Digital Evangelism department reported on the progress of online Voice of Prophecy Bible lessons. The website is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2023 and will allow anyone to study the Bible online at anytime and anywhere. Please join us in praying for the evangelistic efforts of JUC as these projects are underway.