crc work in japan

[Chris Meehan <cmeehan@crcna.org>]

>CRC Says Japan Disaster Continues

April 26, 2011 -- Larry Spalink, Japan field leader for Christian Reformed
World Missions, says he was deeply moved and saddened by the in-depth survey
that he and a handful of others made last week to communities in
northeastern Japan that were devastated  by the Great East Japan Earthquake
and subsequent tsunami that hit the country on March 11.

He describes the trip and offers analysis and assessment of what they saw
and of the many ongoing needs they encountered in a lengthy, powerfully
written letter sent this week to CRWM officials. He returned from the trip
with the conclusion that relief and reconstruction efforts will likely need
to go on for quite some time.

The trip mainly, he writes, was to visit members and facilities of the
Reformed Church in Japan, with which CRWM has close ties. He made the trip
with two fellow CRWM missionaries and four Japanese pastors.

Especialy etched in Spalink’s mind is the landscape they drove through as
they made their way to the community of Yamashita, near the ocean.

“We witnessed the devastation of the tsunami there. Cars were strewn
throughout rice fields, housing neighborhoods had been totally (or
partially, in some cases) collapsed into piles of rubble by the force of the
waves,” he writes.

The Joban Line, and major railroad trunk line, was devastated as well. Cars
sat on the platform, and the train tracks had turn upside-down or were
covered in debris. They could see that the height of the waves there had
been about three to four meters high, perhaps more in some places.

“Self defense personnel were working with heavy machinery to clear debris  in
areas they had previous checked for dead bodies,” he writes. “It was
depressing and overwhelming to witness. The church members whose business
had been destroyed were there, too, and talked with us about their feelings,
and they guided us around the area to show us other results of the
disaster.”

Although he was impressed by how many churches and church groups were
working together, Spalink was nonetheless struck by the widespread, almost
overwhelming reality of the disaster and how much relief work and
reconstruction yet needs to be done, likely for years to come, across the
area devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.

And, he writes, the situation could grow more difficult if additional
problems arise at the nuclear power plants in Fukushima that were damaged by
the tsunami. They didn’t visit the nuclear power plants, but traveled
through the nearby area. They did hear several times that there are people
living in communities near the power plants who are receiving little
assistance. It is as if they had sunk into “black holes” and have been
forgotten, a situation that deeply grieves Spalink.

“The devastation is of apocalyptic proportions. But that mustn’t stop us
from starting somewhere and doing something,” Spalink writes.

“There are many good partners to collaborate with … and it seems that it
will be useful for some time to send volunteer teams of laborers to help
with clean up. The idea of establishing some kind of center is being
promoted from various quarters and this too seems like something that we
could participate in and should pursue.”

But re-building has not been nor will it be easy, for many reasons,
including the reality that there “is a tremendous shortage of construction
materials of every kind created by the huge demand due to the disaster,”
writes Spalink.

Spalink writes as well about the visit they made to the Sendai Church,
located in the city of Sendai, which has about one million residents. Sendai
is the largest city located in the earthquake zone. Rev. Takashi Yoshida is
pastor of Sendai Church, moderator of the RCJ general assembly and of the
Northeast Presbytery and leader of the Sendai Christian Coalition.

The coalition meets once a week to share stories, needs and discuss
resources, and to determine how to best work together to coordinate and
serve where the needs exist.

“Their basic mode is to use all the churches as bases to distribute goods
and services to their neighborhoods in the name of Christ. Their theme is
‘through the church to the neighborhood’,” writes Spalink.

Among other things, they spoke to Yoshida about some possible activities the
Christian Reformed Church in North America might consider providing in the
area, such as helping with counseling, offering children’s programs, cari ng
for the care-givers, sponsoring retreats for the pastors, and giving special
attention to traumatized children.

The meeting with Yoshida was very productive and informative.

“I have a great love for and respect for Rev. Yoshida, and I want to show
wholehearted support for what he sees as needed. Rev. Yoshida told us with
obvious pain in his heart of the difficulties they face with comprehending
the needs of the areas hit hardest by the tsunami down along the coast,”
Spalink writes.

Dotted along the coast were many small, mostly independent church groups,
“but they can’t find them to make contact, as much as they desire to of fer
them help and work through them to reach out to the area with greatest
need,” writes Spalink.

During the visit, Spalink assured Rev. Yoshida that the CRCNA was praying
for him in a situation that many people outside of the area can hardly
fathom.  He also asked Yoshida how CRWM and the Christian Reformed World
Relief Committee could specifically be of help. Yoshida provided suggestions
in several areas, but particularly asked that the CRCNA doesn’t forget th em
and remains at their side “for a long time,” writes Spalink.

When they left the Sendai church, they prayed for Rev. Yoshida.

Spalink’s group visited several RCJ churches and mission stations, finding
some that are actively engaged in the relief effort and others such as the
Ishinomaki Evangelistic Station,

Northeast of Sendai, where the city experienced tsunami-driven water
flowing into the homes and leaving tons of toxic muck, ruining everything on
the first floor (furniture, appliances, etc.) … and making the houses and
other buildings virtually unusable.

Overall, he says in his letter, good “collaboration is taking place among
Christian groups. Even though it is not organizationally coordinated very
well, there is in most cases mutual respect and a certain amount of
collaboration. I am very gratified by the setting up of the Sendai Christian
Coalition Emergency Support Network and of the leadership role that RCJ
pastor Rev. Yoshida is playing there.”

Upon return to Tokyo, Spalink says he has thought long and hard about what
other kinds of response might be appropriate for CRWM and CRWRC to make.

“One basic principle should be that we should not impose ourselves or our
desires on the churches on the scene, but be servants to them in every sense
of the word. If not, we may find ourselves at cross purposes with them and a
burden to them instead of a help. Yet at the same time we shouldn’t be shy
about offering ourselves or our ideas and submit these to their judgment, ”
he writes.

>--Chris Meehan, CRC Communications

>--
>Chris Meehan
>News & Media Manager
>Christian Reformed Church in North America
>1-616-224-0849