Friends,

Hello again from Yokohama!  We hope you all are enjoying your summer!

This month I wanted to share this picture of Midori-san.  She's in the 8th grade, and she recently went with us on our Kanto Gakuin Jr./Sr. High School volunteer camp to churches in the Japan Inland Sea.  This year (despite a typhoon that blew through the day after we arrived!) we cleaned and did some repairs at a church-related preschool on one of the islands, cleared off a piece of land owned by one of the small preaching places, and ministered at two other churches during Sunday morning worship.

I wanted to tell you about Midori because gifts from American Baptist Churches made it possible for her to purchase her $300 train ticket to the volunteer site.  Just last Christmas, Midori got baptized at Kanto Gakuin Baptist Church.  Though her family was pressed for money this summer, she's an energetic Christian student who really wanted to help, so Kari and I used Specifics gifts from all of you to buy her ticket down to the Inland Sea.

In return, she showed up at the bullet train station on the morning of the trip with her violin--an instrument she's been playing since she was 5--and told me that she wanted to volunteer to play for some of the churches we'd be working with.  I was elated!  Down in this area of Japan, where Christian fellowship is rare and Christian youth are even rarer, it was amazing to see the eyes light up at Habu church when she actually did perform.  After the service, she gave her testimony at the fellowship time--an extra blessing since the other two girls from our group who had accompanied us to the church that morning were not Christians--then played two more songs, bringing tears of joy to the eyes of many of the older members who had gathered that day.  After church, on the way back to "base camp," Midori said to me, "that was the best--an experience I will never forget!"  This was a huge encouragement both for the members of Habu Church and for Midori-san!  We want to thank you all again for your faithful giving to us, so that the whole body of Christ can be built up throughout the world.

Your giving also made it possible for me to accompany the Japan youth delegation to the World Baptist Alliance Youth Conference in Hong Kong this year.  The 18 that went from the Japan Baptist Union met up with about 20 more Japanese from the Southern Baptist-related Japan Baptist Convention, and another group of about 20 from the joint Okinawa Baptist Convention.  In Hong Kong, they were able to meet lots of new friends (over 3,000 people attended from over 60 countries!).  As for me, it was wonderful to be able to make some great connections with youth workers from around the world as well as to build stronger connections with some of you.  And how nice to meet Kameron Spaulding from one of our supporting churches in New York!

As many of you know, this is World Mission Offering time in the American Baptist family, and we want to emphasize the dire importance of giving this year.  In the first part of this note, I've mentioned some of the ways you all have allowed us to help others by your giving.  These specific gifts, as you can see, are really necessary for us to do "above and beyond" ministry here in Japan.

But this year, we're facing a stark reality within International Ministries.  The fact is that giving to the World Mission Offering, which provides the base support for the ministry of missionaries, has been inadequate to fund the basic salaries of ABC missionaries for the past number of years.  In the past, IM has relied upon the endowment to fill the gap.  But the recent changes in the stock market have woken us up to the fact that this is simply unwise and unfaithful to the intentions of those who have given in the past.  Surely we can't go on in this way!  And that means that we need for our churches to give sacrificially in the next two months in order for ABC missionaries to be able to continue working on the field.

The truth is that, unless the World Mission Offering increases by 36% this year,some missionaries will have to be recalled from their fields of service.  The Board and staff of International Ministries are making tough but necessary changes to close the gap between our mission commitments and our income. Since last October, Valley Forge has made dramatic reductions in cost both in the US and overseas. This has included significant reduction in home office staff.  For those of us working in Japan, it included the closing of our Japan mission office in Tokyo.  For those of you who have experienced downsizing in your workplace or church, you know how painful this process is.  IM is also working on a new initiative called Missionary Partnership Teams and Networks, which, we believe, will help build the long-term financial stability of International Ministries.  Through this initiative, IM is embracing the desire of local churches to form personal relationships with missionaries, making that relationship the very foundation for the way American Baptists provide spiritual, emotional and financial support for their missionaries.  You will be hearing a lot more about this initiative in the weeks and months ahead.

In short, the home office leadership is working hard.  They have cut IM's deficit in half---from $3 million to $1.5 million--and have concrete plans in place to secure the future health of International Ministries.  But $1.5 million is still a lot of deficit.  So it's been decided that the World Mission Offering must rise from last year's $4.2 million to $5.7 million, or missionaries will have to be recalled.

You can imagine how some of us are feeling as we try to serve "over here."  But we are not discouraged.  We know that God is in control, and we're praying that all of you will take this as a challenge and truly rise to meet the need this year.  What might it take for you to give 36% above what you gave last year?  What might it take for your church to do that?  How much would it cost you in real dollars for your church to increase your giving this fall?

Well, God bless you all!  Please continue to pray for us, and remember that there are folks all over the world who share your faith and commitment to God's Kingdom! 

Grace and peace,

Dwight & Kari Davidson, Japan