Churches with Social Mandate Set Sights on Japan

Wednesday, Sep. 9, 2009 Posted: 5:58:12PM HKT

Churches that have impacted the youngest and one of the poorest nations are going to one of the richest.

The group of churches under Transformation Alliance, the team "committed to Timor-Leste's future", is taking their work to Japan.

Their decision to extend their portfolio was announced by Rick Seaward last week at a gathering of Pentecostal leaders.

The Rev Seaward noted that Singapore churches had spent four to five years in East Timor and that the “next nation is Japan”.

As the immediate past president of the LoveSingapore group of churches, Seaward has been a key mover in the work of social reconstruction done by local churches in East Timor.

Led by leaders representing various independent local congregations, TA has been coordinating the work of Singapore churches in East Timor.

TA has a vision for the restoration of the social fabric of the war-torn, fledging nation, which it has been carrying out through a two-pronged approach.

Churches go from village to village serving the needs of the people at a grassroots level while businesses invest in the various sectors of society including education, business, health and young people.

East Timor attained independence on 20 May 2002 after Indonesia relinquished control of the territory. It continues to suffer the repercussions of a decades-long independence struggle against Indonesia, which damaged infrastructure and displaced thousands of civilians. East Timor is the poorest nation in Asia.

The nation is located on the eastern half of the island of Timor, and measures 15,410 square kilometers. East Timor has a population of 1,134,000 people.

The world’s second-largest economy, Japan faces many of the social issues characteristic of developed economies. One of the problems specific to the nation is that of teenagers being over-stressed to the point of becoming social outcasts, a condition known as hikikomori.

Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com