Kurachi Takashi
Praise be to the name of the LORD!
I am Takashi Kurachi, one of the staff involved with MOGs.
The 2023 financial year comes to an end this month, and as I look back on the year of Marunouchi Office Groups (MOGs), it feels like the first full year post the Coronavirus period.
Since 2020, the Coronavirus has caused Japan, along with the rest of the world, to avoid human contact as much as possible for three years. And so, MOGs lunchtime meetings were almost exclusively conducted via zoom. However, starting in 2023, the number of hybrid and in-person meetings has increased, making this a year of de-Corona-ization. The increase in face-to-face meetings has allowed us to share the Bible along with discussing our work while eating lunch at these MOGs lunchtime meetings.
However, we have also experienced some advantages to meeting online as well. That is that people who are far away from Tokyo have been able to participate. We have had participants from the US, Singapore, and even within Japan who have come from outside of Tokyo. These are often people who originally worked in Japan but had to leave Tokyo due to business trips or job changes. These people strongly requested, “Please make it possible for them to continue to participate!” We have been trying to meet the needs of both groups by offering online sessions on Thursdays and hybrid or in-person sessions on other days of the week.
I also think that another benefit of online meetings has been that a number of busy business people have been able to meet in the evenings because meetings are online. We were able to successfully hold both the “Witnesses in the Workplace Seminar” and the “Improving Relationships Seminar” this year. In the “Witnesses in the Workplace Seminar”, we had 26 participants. I recognize that this was possible because of the online nature of the program. Furthermore, each of the seminars offered a reunion (alumni reunion) face-to-face, which provided an opportunity to reconsider in depth through in-person interactions and conversations what was not touched upon online, and to supplement what was learned.
In order to meet the needs of each of these individuals, we are aware of the need for further development in terms of content in the coming year.
And finally, a sad announcement: I, Takashi Kurachi, will be ending my three years of ministry at TMP this month. I have had a lot to be thankful for during these three years. I feel that I have been able to apply a lot of what I learned at Seminary in my work here at TMP. And although leaving TMP is not something I really want to do, and I have some regrets and unfinished business, God has shown me the way forward, and I am now ready to move on.
Furthermore, many people involved especially in Marunouchi, have treated me very warmly and encouraged me in my pastoral work. In this sense, I am very grateful.
As I leave, I wish TMP all the best in its future development! Thank you very much.