一般社団法人地域支援is a network of TEAM activities that occur outside the boundaries of a church group. These are common, everyday activities like serving food and drink at a café, teaching fun classes at a community center, or creating art events for children. These are activities familiar to everybody in Japan, and people know what to expect. But TEAM has an additional purpose – to create opportunities to connect people together in real life in a space that is friendly, open to the public, and without any social obligation to join an organization.

In Japan, 宗教アレルギー is a real influence in people’s lives. In Japan talking about religion in a serious way can really feel awkward. Many people fear unintentionally offending a religious person or even worse fear getting entangled in a manipulative and controlling group. So, it’s difficult for the average Japanese person get to know ordinary Christians and observe in concrete ways how faith in Jesus benefits them and others.

The activities of 一般社団法人地域支援are creative and innovative ways to show the light of Jesus and His Kingdom in places where people don’t know Jesus and don’t know anyone who follows him. The good news of Jesus transforms people holistically, not just during a religious ceremony at a Sunday worship service. People changed by the good news of Jesus show that change in a variety of ways such as how they perform at their jobs, how they raise their children, how they support others facing problems, and how they reconcile with others after a conflict. Following Jesus ought to overflow into support for the community, for the people working and living around believers

ヨハネ２０章２１節

「父がわたしを遣わされたように、わたしもあなたがたを遣わします。」

In John 20:21, Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” God the Father sent his Son (Jesus), who was living in glory in heaven, to go down from heaven, become a human being, dwell among us, and face challenges in this world. Jesus was sent from heaven in order to reach people who were separated from the one, true Creator God. In the same way, Jesus sends his disciples from comfortable fellowship with each other out to those who do not yet know and follow Jesus. The missionaries of 一般社団法人地域支援have been sent to go to those who do not know Jesus, and they share the good news with them. When those people become believers in Jesus, the missionaries help guide them to a healthy church congregation that truly follows Jesus.

一般社団法人地域支援is a member of JEA (the Japan Evangelical Association), and it is a ministry of TEAM. TEAM is an evangelical, Protestant mission organization that has served in Japan since 1891, and TEAM missionaries serve in more than 40 countries around the world. TEAM is not an agency of one particular denomination, but Christian churches from a variety of denominations partner together to support TEAM. Here is a link to TEAM’s statement of faith in Japanese: https://www.team.org/statement-of-faith/