Our Ministry

The Wilson family arrived in Japan on June 8, 1994.  Mike's first ministry assignment was as Interim Pastor of the International Christian Chapel of Saitama (ICCS) located in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan.  In the fall of 1994, Mike started 11 months of full-time language school while Mary Jo cared for Brandon (8 months old) and prepared Stacia (nearly 4 years old) for yochien, Japanese 3 year kindergarten/pre-school.

The first assignment after Japanese language school was to partner with Nerima Grace Chapel in Tokyo to develop a daughter church in Kiyose--about 30 minutes away by train.  Within five years Kiyose Grace Chapel had been birthed and established with a Japanese pastor.  The sending of Sugaya-sensei from Nerima Grace Chapel was nothing short of a miracle.  He was the pastor's right hand man and ran the church office along with leading worship and running a cell group that had multiplied twice through evangelism.  Pastor Ogasawara, a man of great faith and wisdom, realized that releasing Sugaya to come to Kiyose would be a sacrifice and create some difficulties, but that it was beneficial to raise up new leadership.

Kiyose Grace Chapel (KGC) grew to about 40 souls during the Wilsons' tenure and a key development was the habit of leading recent converts on short term mission trips to Taiwan.  On the first mission trip, 72 Taiwanese converted to Christ in ten days!  Every team member came back to Kiyose transformed by what they had experienced.  The Kiyose church continues to grow and send short term mission teams to Taiwan 2 or 3 times a year.  Christmas 2004 saw nearly 100 attend the special evangelistic service at KGC near Tokyo.

Pastor and Mrs. Sugaya with Mike in front of the Kiyose Grace Chapel office.  Since the Wilsons moved to Okinawa, KGC continues to grow under the Sugayas' wonderful leadership, and is now in the process of developing two daughter churches.

Our Ministry - page 2