{"id":475,"date":"2012-05-29T17:47:41","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T08:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/timandreajohnson\/?page_id=475"},"modified":"2012-05-31T22:51:13","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T13:51:13","slug":"gunma-harvest-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/timandreajohnson\/gunma-harvest-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Gunma Harvest? Where Is Gunma?"},"content":{"rendered":"

To read all of the journal entries that relate to our Gunma Harvest efforts click here:\u00a0Gunma Harvest<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

To read an explanation and description of Gunma Harvest scroll down here…<\/p>\n

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Gunma Harvest is an admittedly grand name to describe what is in actuality a very modest work. The vision is huge: to see all areas of Gunma reached with the good news of Jesus Christ. Our time, abilities, and other resources, however, \u00a0are very limited and don’t always seem to be a proper match for what we are praying for. Yet, we feel encouraged to continue on, taking the first steps that are right in front of us and trusting God to either show us the next step, or move us in different directions.<\/p>\n

We are not the first to pray in this way nor to work for these goals. We stand in a long line of missionaries and Japanese Christians who have prayed for Gunma. The specific part we are playing in all of this began around August of 2006 with a visit to the village of Uenomura. Since then we have been a group of 3-4 pastors and about 5 other Christians who have made regular visits (once or twice a month) to remote areas in Gunma, primarily in the southwest portion including the areas of Uenomura, Kanna, and Nanmoku. We always have our ears and eyes open for others who might be willing or able to network with us….and we continue to study and research so that we will have good data about towns and villages that are yet without a church or Christian witness.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of Gunma Prefecture\u2019s 2 million residents live in 12 cities on the flat area which makes up the northwest part of what we call the Kanto plains, a large plain stretching out in all directions from Tokyo bay. \u00a0However, the majority of our land area here in Gunma is mountainous and is the home for about 50 towns and villages. In the past few years there has been a great deal of political and geographic consolidating of towns and villages all over Japan. Here in Gunma \u2013 as of May, 2009 when the last consolidation of municipalities went into effect \u2013 we have become 12 cities, 16 towns and 9 villages. But while the boundaries change and the actual number of municipalities decreases, the reality of about 50 towns and villages throughout the mountains of Gunma remains pretty much the same.<\/p>\n

Over the past few years (as mentioned above) we have tried to pray for these areas, most of which have no church or Christian witness. We have done a bit of research, trying to understand where churches presently are located and looking at the areas where a Christian witness may be most absent or lacking. The following sentences may be a way to begin describing Gunma Harvest:<\/p>\n