Tokyo, Japan

Our MTW forefathers, missionaries of the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions, arrived in Japan shortly after WWII, planted some churches, and helped start a seminary, which led to the birth of an indigenous Presbyterian and Reformed denomination, the Presbyterian Church in Japan (PCJ). When the PCA and Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod (RPCES) joined together in the 1980s, RPCES missionaries were serving in Japan with the PCJ. The PCJ was favorably impressed that the missionaries were now part of a mission board that sent teams.

Three PCJ pastors in Chiba City (East Metro Tokyo) invited an MTW church-planting team to help them plant a presbytery. In 1989, the first MTW family arrived in Chiba. The first church planted by the MTW Tokyo/Chiba team began weekly worship in 1992. The team continued working with the original three Japanese church plants, planted another church in 1995, and started a college ministry at Chiba University. Other churches joined the emerging presbytery, and a presbytery of 400 worshipers in 12 churches was born in 1999. From three churches in 1989 with combined worship attendance of 65, God has grown the East Metro Tokyo Presbytery to 13 churches and preaching points, with average weekly worship attendance of 650 today!