April Ministry Update 2021
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
I am glad that it is finally getting warmer here in Vermont! It's been hard hearing about the spring weather and cherry blossoms from my friends in Tokyo while there's still been snow outside my house. As winter has given way to spring, I've been hoping that I too could enter into a new season of ministry and support raising. I have many new and exciting things on the horizon, but still some challenges as well.
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Currently I'm at about 57% of my monthly support and 102% of my one-time needs. Praise God for all those who gave generously to push move over 100% of my one-time goal! Thank you very much! Now I just need to hit 100% of my monthly support goal and I can return to Tokyo. I'm still working hard to reach that goal, but there have been plenty of obstacles along the way. It's been hard to get into churches and I haven't had as many opportunities to meet with people who are interested in partnering with me, but I'm trusting in God's timing. My big prayer request right now is that God would provide churches and individuals who will give and pray for the work in Tokyo! Thankfully, I have some leads and a couple good connections to some churches outside of Vermont so please be praying for those too.
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Beyond support raising, I'm looking forward to taking another step in my language learning journey by attending a Second Language Acquisition (SLA) training in North Carolina starting this Saturday (4/10). I'll be there for two weeks to take classes on how to better learn and study Japanese. If you've been following along for the last couple years then you would know that learning Japanese has been a fun but often frustrating experience for me, so I'm glad to be attending this training. I'm hoping it will improve some of the self study I've been trying to do at home too.
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While Japanese will be vital for my ministry in Japan, I still used a lot of English in my first two years. At the time, this was mostly out of necessity since I didn't know Japanese well, but English can be a valuable ministry tool. To be better equipped to use it in ministry, starting tomorrow I will be taking a five-week online class called Building Bridges with English (BBE) that will help me learn how to better teach English as a second language. I think the class will be a big help not only for when I'm working with a Japanese person who wants to learn English, but also it will help me know how to instruct short-term teams who will be teaching English for ministry.
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Another great opportunity I have right now is to be pursuing ministerial licensure through the EFCA. While this isn't required, I decided to work on it for a couple reasons. One of the main reasons is that the process will allow me to gain a better understanding of theology and back up what I believe with scripture more effectively. Another reason is that being licensed gives me more credibility while working with churches and pastors, especially in Japan. This could help as I try to collaborate with other ministries in Japan which would be a big help for my work with short-term teams. Already I've learned a lot after finishing the required books and I'm currently writing my twenty page paper on the EFCA Statement of Faith. I'm about halfway done!
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All of this might seem like a lot (sometimes it feels that way to me), but these trainings and classes will help me be better equipped and prepared for my ministry in Tokyo. I'll be able to be more effective as a result, and that excites me! Even when support raising isn't going as I hoped, I'm still making progress in my journey back to Japan.
One of the other great things is that while I prepare for my ministry in Tokyo, I'm actually able to do some work helping my team from from Vermont. I find it encouraging that God is still able to use me to build His kingdom in Tokyo when I'm not even there yet. I meet regularly with my team and have helped with some of the administrative work as well as some of our planning for upcoming ministries. It's still a year away, but we are hoping to host an Apex team next summer and attend the Challenge Conference in Kansas City next July. As long as I can get back, I'll be leading some of our efforts in those areas! I'll give you more details as they get closer, but in the meantime, you can be praying that I get back to Japan soon to get to work on these ministry opportunities.
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In case you missed it, I spoke at Westfield Evangelical Free Church in January. You can listen to what I shared by clicking on this link. They start to introduce me at about the 9:20 minute mark in the video.
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Prayer Requests
- Pray for my teammates in Tokyo. My three teammates that got to Japan at the beginning this year have settled in and started language learning. Pray that their time at language school and their time with Japanese teachers would be effective and that they would be sustained through this often frustrating season. Pray as well for my teammates the Nakazawas who are trying to buy a house and for my teammates the Lees who are trying to get back to Japan but haven't been able to because of current Covid restrictions.
- Pray for my support. Currently I have 57% of my monthly support and about 102% of my start-up costs. I still need about $2,800 in monthly commitments to reach 100%. My goal is to have 80 partners. Right now I have 50. Pray that God would place people and churches in my path that would partner with me and that these needs would be met in miraculous ways.
- Pray for my trainings and classes. I have a lot of exciting trainings and classes in the next couple months, but I don't want to be overwhelmed or stressed out because of them. Pray that I would manage my time well and be able to learn a lot from these opportunities.
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Thanks for reading!
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me at adam.bailey@efca.org or by phone at 802-461-4771. You can also go to my website at adamintokyo.com. Thanks! - Adam Bailey
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If you'd like to give a one-time or recurring gift, click on the link below!
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