PMI Missionaries
Koji & Marcia Esaki
Ministry Area: Japan
Responsibilities: Church growth
E-mail Address: marcia.esaki@gmail.com
Koji and Marcia, and their daughters Hana and Mae, have been serving in Japan since 1993. Over the years, Koji has pastored a mission planted church and co-pastored another church plant in Nagoya, with 2.2 million in its city limits but 6 million in the greater Nagoya area (similar to Houston, TX). Koji continues to preach monthly at a Nagoya church plant by MTW, and serve as an elder there.
In 2005, Koji and family felt led to begin a Sunday worship service in the empty room above his mother's coffee shop. This central area of Japan is not far from Nagoya, and it is where Koji spent his formative years from age six until college.
This is the first church from the Japan Presbytery in Gifu City, population 400,000. The church has attracted mainly non-believers who have never held a Bible in their hands or attended a worship service. Growth is slow, but there are opportunities to reach out through English classes and general friendship in the community.
As a result of pastoring a church in Gifu City, the Gifu Prefecture correctional system invited Koji to be a visiting Presbyterian chaplain for the 400 inmates. Koji leads a monthly worship service and monthly Bible studies for any who wish to attend.
EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI UPDATE (5/18/2011)
Japanese tsunami orphans face an uncertain future. If you google that phrase on the web, you will find a number of articles about it. One estimate is that there are 80 orphans alone in one town, Rikuzentakata. They were in their schoolyard above and they watched their town washed away in the tsunami.
We called a local government official in Rikuzentakata in April, and at that time there was still "too much chaos," to think about where these children would end up. We called a fellow pastor in Gifu to discuss this issue with his Christian son, who also happens to be the Gifu Prefecture senator from the upper house of the federal government. He met with us for 45 minutes in Gifu City at Amazing Grace Church. He said that "no spotlight had been turned on this orphan issue." We asked him about the possibility of Christians building and managing a boarding house or orphanage. Could we work in cooperation with the government? He plans to ask his colleagues about all of this.
Please pray about this issue, and that the Senator Shibahashi would push this issue forward. Whether it is a large project (Christian orphanage) or smaller project (classes and care for the orphans while they are in the shelter), we believe that something can be done.
Senator Shibahashi and PMI Director, Tom Hudson meet at Amazing Grace Church, May.
March 26, 2011 marked the first graduation of Christ Bible Seminary, Nagoya, where five graduates (four pictured here) were honored and commissioned to minister in Japan. In the midst of all the suffering in Japan, this was a bittersweet moment. Koji, appears here with fellow pastors and missionaries. Koji was the evaluator for the sermons of all five seminarians in their endeavor to pass their Homiletics Class and preaches occasionally at Chapel Time.
Latest Report: (updated 5/18/2011)
Understand the Gospel,
Live the Gospel
Share the Gospel
Praises:
Baptism of Yuya: Yuya returned in mid-April to his hometown of Gifu City from Australia after graduating from college. He was awaiting the approval of a work visa, and during his time back in Japan his advisor had found a church in Gifu that had some Australians attending. It wasn't our church, but through a series of divine errors, Yuya ended up at our worship service—the first time for him to enter a church. Four weeks later he asked to be baptized and that is the picture. It just reminded us that God's ways and timing are perfect—whether it be brief like this, or whether it takes years. A week before his baptism, Yuya, received his work visa. On May 23, he returns to Australia. Please pray for his new life.
Revitalization of Gifu City: A new department store has moved into Gifu City, and it is one that is geared toward young people.
Hana and Mae: We are so grateful that they can live together in New York City, and attend Redeemer Church. Hana is trying to balance a challenging work life. Mae is employed this year—a gap year between her sophomore and junior year of college. We pray for Bible-believing partners for them and we pray that they would take the next step and join their church.
Prayer:
Yuya, pictured in the middle, after his baptism with Mrs. Taeko (glasses) to his right, and Mrs. Yaeko and Mrs. Tokoro in front of Koji)
Please pray for these people to make a profession of faith:
- (In Gifu): Mrs. Aoki, Mrs. Taeko (Koji's cousin), Mr. Kamimura (organist), Mrs. Yaeko, Mrs. Tokoro (English students)
- (In Nagoya): Five people attending a monthly study of the foundations of faith—one married couple and three single women.
Please pray for two families to join the Amazing Grace Church, Gifu. We sometimes think this is an impossible dream for this church but pray that we will be faithful in praying for it. Two families with wives, husbands, children and grandparents, to become members of the church is our prayer.
Please pray that Koji might find some way to create a correspondence Bible course with the inmates at Gifu Prefectural Prison. Individual Bible studies are ongoing but it is limited to certain numbers by the prison staff.
Thank you for your faithful support to this ministry in Japan.
In His Grip,
Koji, Marcia, Hana and Mae
Koji's mother, Asako, at the Maruichi Coffee Shop
Presbyterian Mission International
12330 Conway Road
St. Louis, Missouri 63141
Telephone: (314) 434-4044
Fax: (314) 434-4819
