Thank you again for your partnership in the gospel with us here in Tokyo. Together we “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27b). It was seven years ago when we began dreaming and thinking about the potential for a gospel work amongst businessmen and women in this Marunouchi area of Tokyo. My wife Antonia and I had spent our first seven years in Japan on the staff team of Grace City Church, which met in the northern end of Marunouchi, in an area called Otemachi. It was a fabulous seven years, but with other staff having been raised up over that time, our work could be handed over to them, enabling us to leave that staff team in the Spring of 2018 and begin a new work focusing specifically on the business-people in Marunouchi. As a way of better understanding these workers, I also began a part-time PhD by distance, at Kyoto University, researching how the mindset of Marunouchi workers relates to the mindset of those whom the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 1 in the Bible. Over 2018, the Tokyo Marunouchi Partnership (TMP) work gradually took shape, and in 2019 we established a Board of Directors and staff team and office on the ground in Marunouchi. Now seven years later, in Spring 2025, the TMP work feels like it is approaching the end of its first phase, my PhD is approaching its completion, and the three main ministries are preparing and planning for what the LORD might in his grace be able to do through them in this next phase. We have had our first altogether leaders meeting for many of the 15 different Marunouchi Office Groups (MOGs) leaders; last year’s cohort of Samurai have graduated and the next cohort have begun in the Samurai Projects (SPs) work; we have shared the Marunouchi Church Tokyo (MCT) proposal for 2025 with the participants to receive their thoughts and feedback; and our Auditors and Board of Directors has completed the annual audit of the TMP work, and we have published the TMP Annual Report. There is much to thank our gracious LORD for, as well as many challenges ahead as we pray for and think about and plan for the next seven years. Thank you so much again for your partnership in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ here in Marunouchi.
