Japan's Crisis

All MTW missionaries and OPC missionaries are safe. We have heard from the Newsomes and the Wilsons and they are doing well, but ask for our prayers. I’ve include in this grid excerpts from two letters to give you information to help you pray for the great need in Japan.
MTW LetterWe write to request urgent prayer for the nation of Japan. You are, no doubt, watching the crisis unfold following the 8.9 Richter Scale earthquake that hit on Friday afternoon local time. We are grateful that our missionaries and their families are safe, but they are also grieving for this country whose people they love. MTW will be working with them in preparing a response, and as soon as that is clear, we will make that information available. Japan is 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so we hope our missionaries are getting much needed sleep at this moment. One missionary has said that their family is sleeping in their clothes (as much as sleep is possible) in case they need to flee their homes in the midst of powerful aftershocks.

For prayer:
• Praise for the safety of all MTW missionaries
• Love and comfort for grieving families
• Rescue for those who may be trapped
• Safety from aftershocks, which have been quite large
• Shelter for those whose homes are destroyed
• Wisdom and clarity for MTW regarding our response
• Restoration of power and communications

Most of all, however, pray this will be an open door for the gospel, that missionaries and national believers will be able to show the love of Christ to those around them. Relationships are critical in Japanese culture, so pray this crisis opens new doors that could make many more relationships possible.
From Dan Iverson – MTW Area Director and 24 year missionary veteran of JapanThe stats on Japan's spiritual poverty, and especially the affected area:
The areas affected by the earthquake and tsunamis of Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki are some of the most spiritually needy places in Japan. With over 4.9 million people yet only about 9,000 active Christians (about 0.15%; about 1/6 of 1%). Fukushima has the lowest average worship attendance in all of Japan with only 19 per church. There are is one city and 44 towns with no church at all. There are 86 missionaries (adults, including husband and wife) assigned to these prefectures.
One town in Ibaraki has over 46,000 people with no church (OperJpn 24) and several others have over 24,000 people with no churches. Average attendance for all the churches in Japan is the lowest in Fukushima prefecture. Ibaraki prefecture has the least number of people claiming to have any religious beliefs.