Japanese Church Apprentice Fund

I have recently taken over the task of managing the Japanese Church Apprentice Fund Project. The aim of this project is to help raise up more Japanese Church workers by providing financial aid to young Japanese Christians who are doing ministry training within a local church context. The fund typically supports them for a period of 2 years. We currently have 4 young people supported by this fund who are engaging in various forms of outreach while being trained and mentored in a local church. Often finances are a barrier to people being able to explore full time ministry and this project aims to address that. Although I am new to the role, I think here is an exciting opportunity to be part of training up young leaders who can make a Gospel impact in Japan. Please pray for these young interns and for this project to grow so that many more Japanese can be equipped and mobilized for Gospel work. Please also pray for the process of identifying and assisting new candidate interns for next year. All the current interns end their 2-year program next year so we are looking at who we can support after that.   The fund is supported by willing donors and anyone is welcome to make a contribution.

The need for more Japanese Christian leaders is crucially important right now. Over half of Japanese pastors are over 65 years old and the average age for those in pastoral ministry is 62. Over 400 churches are without a pastor and seminaries are reporting a decrease in enrolments. The need is great. May the Lord be pleased to raise up many Japanese workers for the harvest field as we pray for this need.