wfn.org | Mission couple begins new stage of ministry in Japan

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

August 30, 2000
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

Mission couple begins new stage of ministry in Japan

ELKHART, Ind. (MBM/COM) – When Mike and Teresa Sherrill arrived
in Japan on Aug. 6, they returned to the country where they met
and married.  In the six years since they last lived there, they
experienced many changes, but their call to Japan was never far
from their thoughts.

“This is a return to roots we have in Japan, as well as the
beginning of a new journey,” Mike said.

Combined, Mike and Teresa have 12 years of experience living in
Japan, but they said they still have much to learn.  They
returned to Japan as a three-generation family with their sons,
3-year-old Isaiah and 1-year-old Jeremiah, and Teresa’s mother,
Juanita Thompson.  They also returned as Mennonites.

The Sherrills are appointed as mission volunteers in Tokyo with
the Commission on Overseas Mission and Mennonite Board of
Missions.  The two-year term will allow Japanese Mennonites to
become acquainted with the Sherrills as Mike completes his
dissertation research on revitalization of Japanese churches.

At the end of the two-year period, Japanese Mennonites will work
together with the Sherrills and COM/MBM to decide the next
ministry steps for the family.

“It’s a blessing to have two years that we can get to know
Japanese Mennonites and they can get to know us, so that after
[that time] we can discern our next steps together,” Teresa said.

Teresa’s experience in Japan began in 1980 when she went to Japan
for a short-term mission assignment with Life Ministries.  She
returned to Japan after college for a year and a half with the
Presbyterian Church of America.

After completing a master of divinity degree at Fuller
Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., in 1987, she moved back
to Japan in 1988 with the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. to teach
English at a Christian junior high and high school.

Mike’s experience in Japan also began with a short-term mission
assignment with Life Ministries.  While attending Urbana 1990, he
said he felt led to apply for a summer assignment in Japan.
During that summer, “I felt a lifetime call to service in Japan.
It was overwhelming, but clear,” he said.

He stayed in Japan to work as a computer programmer.  After a
year, he began full-time ministry with a Church of God
congregation in Kanazawa, on the west coast of Japan.  Teresa and
Mike met in Kanazawa and married in 1992.

After ministering together in Kanazawa for a year and a half,
they returned to the United States in 1994 so Mike could complete
a master of divinity degree at Associated Mennonite Biblical
Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.  “I saw all of my classes through the
eyes of my call to Japan.  Every paper I wrote was somehow
related to Japan,” he said.

Mike had spent his childhood with a Mennonite foster family, but
for Teresa, AMBS provided her first exposure to Mennonites.  It
was during their years at AMBS that the Sherrills made a
commitment to being Mennonite.  They attended Southside
Fellowship, where “we experienced tremendous community,” she
said.  They felt surrounded by love and care, she said,
particularly when their first child, Micah, was stillborn in
1995.

Teresa had planned to spend her time caring for the baby while
Mike completed his studies.  After Micah’s death, she decided to
spend six weeks in daily prayer for what God wanted her to do,
since her own plans for what to do hadn’t worked, she said.

Soon, she was working with Japanese women as an English tutor.
She also invited them to activities and planned special events
for holidays.  She encouraged the women who showed openness to
church involvement.

In 1997, Isaiah was born, Mike graduated from AMBS, the family
moved to California, and Teresa’s mother joined the household.
Mike began studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, which included
extensive writing about the first 30 years of General Conference
Mennonite Church mission in Japan.

In addition to their involvements at Pasadena Mennonite Church,
Mike and Teresa joined a Japanese prayer group at Fuller.  One of
the ministries they prayed for was Funky Friday, a ministry in
the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles.

A year and a half later, the Sherrills became involved in Funky
Friday, a bridge between the secular world and the church through
upbeat praise music, testimonies, small group discussions, snacks
and games on Friday evenings.  The Sherrills also helped with
special events like birthday parties and barbecues.

“Funky Friday was for the whole family.  Even the dog was
involved in Funky Friday,” Teresa said.

Now, the family will work to build bridges between the secular
world and the church on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
They will draw on their experience living in Japan, their work
with Japanese communities in the United States, Mike’s graduate
work, and Teresa’s work in new church development and prayer
initiatives at the Center for Anabaptist Leadership in Los
Angeles.

“This is the beginning of a new journey for us,” Teresa said.

Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference ordained the couple in
June.

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Bethany Swope            PHOTO AVAILABLE