This month, it’s Kumi writing to you.
I hope this letter finds you well. May and June were very full for us here. I am craving some time to rest, but summer break in Japan does not start until mid-August, if only for a week! Right now, Tokyo (and most of Japan) is deep into the rainy season, and we just had two big typhoons blow past, with a few big earthquakes in the mix too!
Last week, as we started our weekly prayer walk, I had this verse on my heart. Hosea 10:12, ”Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
What does fallow ground mean? Cultivated land left idle, ready to receive seeds. But what the Lord impressed on my heart, while we continue sowing seeds still, was that the city and its people are no longer fallow ground but a field of harvest ready in season. However, to see it that way and understand it as such, we need to see beyond what we see in the natural and act according to that conviction.
Many may question why we keep prayer walking the streets. Most of us would rather see progress than trust the process. We want proof and results without waiting.
Yet so much of life doesn’t work that way.
Several years ago, the Lord spoke to Jeremy, inviting him to offer up “a decade of excavation”—ten years to allow the Lord to excavate the soil of his life. The strongest trees spend years growing beneath the surface before anyone notices them. And despite Japan being called (and experienced by many of us working here) hard ground, and its church “small”, God has been at work in this nation for a long time, in deeper ways than have been visible.
Some of the most important things God grows take time. And I firmly believe that there is a solid movement stirring in this nation beneath the surface.
WILDBRANCH has also been in a season of working beneath the surface, but the season is changing. It's time for the growth above the ground. We have been tilling, sowing, putting our roots down deeper, and much of what we see in our hearts so clearly isn’t yet outwardly visible. We’ve been building intentionally, working in new ways, moving at the speed of relationships. We’ve been recognizing the net the Lord is strengthening, receiving the heart of God and praying it out, expressing it outwardly as we are led. All of it with much hope to see a change that will serve this nation for many years to come.
And we’re beginning to feel the tension of this season. There are more opportunities than we currently have the people or financial capacity to pursue. We can see glimpses of what the next chapter could be, but we need others to help us build it. The main branch is ready to bud, and we need help to bring it through.
We need new builders—people willing to offer their time, creativity, wisdom, and gifts. We need new partners, ready to provide the steady support that allows this work to grow. We consider all of them, all of you, to be a part of the movement God is stirring in this nation. We are so thankful to you.
WILDBRANCH is about an invitation: inviting a generation to discover the beauty of Jesus. We have caught sight of His beauty, and it is our greatest joy to keep making a path so others can discover Him too. It is an invitation to live with full conviction—showing the world that He is the only way to live fully alive. We believe He is extending this invitation to many more.
So I would like to ask you this time. If you have been reading our newsletter but have not seen yourself as a part of the team, would you prayerfully consider becoming a builder or a partner? Do you know anyone who may want to be a part?
What becomes possible when we make space for God in a big city like Tokyo?
What kind of life grows from seeing Jesus clearly, seeing more of His beauty?
We are honored to keep exploring it together.
- K
Update- 19 Churches, One Heart
On June 1, we held a connect meeting for 24/7 Prayer Japan, sharing the vision of helping the Church of Japan rise up in prayer and inviting people to be part of the Global Week of Prayer, which is happening again this year in September. We had 32 people, mostly leaders and people in full-time ministry, from 19 different churches and ministries from around the greater Tokyo area join us. Most of these are relatively new relationships, people we have connected with since starting WILDBRANCH just a few years ago. We are excited about new friendships forming among people who share the same heart for the Lord, expressed through prayer and mission.