Tokyo Anabaptist Centre a hub of activity

The Tokyo Anabaptist Centre has been a busy—and sometimes dusty—place this year, reports Gerald Neufeld, Canadian church worker in Japan. Neufeld and his wife, Rie, who serve as relationship catalysts with Mennonite Church Canada, hosted workdays with volunteers at the end of December as part of a renovation of the Centre. While only partially moved in, they regularly travelled an hour and a half to do work such as scraping old wallpaper in preparation for painting.

“Most of the rooms still needed to be finished with putty on the drywall, and painted,” reported Neufeld in an email. “Working with volunteers, we ended up with thick putty on the drywall which meant that with the sanding, there was a fair amount of putty dust created, which went everywhere. Once that was done, we could finally clean up and paint rooms.” The Neufeld family continued to fix up rooms, paint, buy furniture and deal with termites, all while hosting guests, as they prepared to move in last December.

The building had been built by mission workers as a guest house and study centre in 1966. Before the Neufelds moved to Japan in 2021, the house sat vacant for some years and needed upgrading for earthquake resistance. They lived temporarily at the Yayoidai Church guesthouse while the main renovations were done.

The Anabaptist Centre sits next door to the Honancho Christian Church, a Mennonite congregation. “The Centre is primarily a guest house and base for our work with the Tokyo Area Fellowship of Mennonite Churches (TAFMC),” says Neufeld. “We are hoping to build connections with the local community as well as become a meeting place for people from the Tokyo area churches.” Neufeld is looking forward to connecting with people at the Centre through board game nights. “In this digital age where people spend a lot of time on phones and computers, I’m hoping this could be a way for people to spend time together face to face,” he says.

Future plans for the Centre are to use it as a place to host gatherings, hold faith study sessions, connect with the local community and use as a base from which to coordinate support services in case of earthquakes.

The Neufelds work intentionally with both the TAFMC, a group of five small area congregations, and MC Canada. Each group contributes finances and other resources. Jeanette Hanson of MC Canada’s International Witness program helped shape a covenant between the two groups to encourage mutual sharing. Donations can be made at mennonitechurch.ca/japan or by contacting finance@mennonitechurch.ca.

Gerald Neufeld previously pastored the Mennonite Japanese Christian Fellowship in Surrey, B.C. He continues to connect with that congregation through regular online preaching. Currently the Neufelds attend a different Tokyo church each week.