Covenant News

New Director Named for Odawara Christian Center

ODAWARA, JAPAN (July 11, 2001) - Japanese Covenant pastor Yasushi Shimizu has been named the new director of Odawara Christian Center (OCC), an institution started 25 years ago by Covenant missionaries Lucille and Gordon Johnson.

Shimizu, the pastor of Matsuda Covenant Church for the past 12 years, replaces Chandra Lindwurm. Besides being used as a school, OCC is used by the Shiroyama Covenant Church and various religious and non-religious organizations. The center has about 125 students in English classes and 35 in Bible classes, according to Lindwurm, who directed OCC the previous two years.

Short-term missionaries with the Evangelical Covenant Church have aided OCC by teaching conversational English and have added brief Bible studies within the curriculum, said Lindwurm. She added that short-term workers also teach English at local Covenant churches in order to make contacts with non-Christians who normally would not attend church.

The center is located in Odawara, a city of more than 100,000 located southwest of Tokyo. The Evangelical Covenant Church Department of World Mission is currently seeking short-term missionaries to teach at OCC.

For more information, contact Barbara Johnson at 773-907-3324 or Lana Heinrich at 773-907-3350.

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