The General Conference (GC) made a resolution on the Big City Evangelism Project in the annual Executive Committee in 2011. New York was appointed as the target city for the General Conference headquarters, and it will be where the mission campaign named "NY13" will be held. It is certain that New York, which has a population of 19 million and where 800 languages are spoken, is the first in a long row of big cities in the world. Various mission projects, corresponding to various languages and cultures, will be developed in this area in 2013. At the finish of those trials, the GC President, Ted Wilson, will be the speaker for the four week evangelism meeting.
The Adventist Church pays attention to “NY13”, which is different from usual city evangelism. It is because each one of the 13 Divisions of the world is to develop Big City Evangelismin each target city following "NY13." The target cities of the 13 Divisions in the world were selected at the GC Spring Executive Committee in 2012. The target city of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division(NSD) was determined as Tokyo, and both the Japan Union Conference (JUC) and the East Japan Conference(EJC) accepted this resolution.
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This Big City Evangelism Project becomes a work for which all of the Adventist Church in the world will make one endeavor. After the 13 Divisions, the Unions, of which there are more than 100, will uphold the Big City Evangelism Project in each city in 2014. Then the Conferences, of which there are more than 500, will have city evangelism in each city in 2015. Thus, more than 700 cities in the world will hear the Adventist messages proclaimed on a large scale over several years.
The officers from the NSD President, Jairyong Lee; Adventist Mission Director, Kwon JohngHaeng; Sabbath School Director, Teru Fukui; and Ministerial Association Secretary, David Ripley visited Japan. There the “Joint Pastor Meeting which Considers Evangelism in Tokyo" was held in the JUC Tachikawa office on June 12. The officers of the JUC and the EJC were also present and it became the substantial start of the project, City Evangelism in Tokyo, in the spring of 2014.
Considering the Tokyo metropolitan area, which is far larger than Tokyo Metropolis, has the largest population concentration in the world. The statistics of the General Conference also show that Tokyo is the largest city in the world. Thus, we consider City Evangelism in Tokyo to be City Evangelism in Tokyo Metropolitan Area. We are determined to learn from "NY13" and to makea different mission work from former ones. We would like to have a mission project that strengthens each church instead of making each church to take a part in the project. Tokyo, the most populated metropolitan area in the world, is also the most secularized. So the Adventist Church, all over the world, pays attention to Tokyo. It can become a big breakthrough if the work succeeds in this place. Please pray so that the Lord’s work shall be done in Tokyo. The NSD, JUC, and EJC shall cooperate for this purpose. Although each area may have different roles, we will notworkseparately. We will work united.