Connect with partners in Japan through the Christmas Card Project

published on Oct 9, 2025

Long-term Mission Co-Worker in Japan, Jeffrey Mensendiek, was instrumental in coordinating humanitarian relief during and in the years following the 2011 Fukushima “Triple Disaster” of tsunami, flooding, and nuclear contamination. Since then, he has facilitated an exchange of Christmas cards between U.S. congregations and those of our partner church in Japan. Jeffrey’s letter to participating churches also invites any new congregations to participate in this Advent season.

Jeffrey’s blog, http://jeffreyfromjapan.blogspot.com/, offers stories and current information on what is happening in Japan. To sign up for the Christmas Card Project, email jeffrey.mensendiek311@gmail.com.

September 2025
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Greetings. This is Rev. Jeffrey Mensendiek, a mission co-worker serving with Common Global Ministries in Japan. I am writing to see if your church is interested in participating in the Christmas Card Project with our partner churches in Japan this year.

This project was started in 2012 following the great earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that devastated northeastern Japan. I served at the Emmaus Center in Sendai at the time, and my workplace became a national disaster relief center for our partner church, the Kyodan. Global Ministries was deeply involved in working with the Kyodan to meet the needs of the survivors and accompany the churches that sustained damage. We have strong historical ties to the churches in Japan, and this project represents an effort to connect our churches through prayer during the Advent season.

For the past thirteen years, an average of about 40 UCC and Disciples churches have joined in praying globally. Even as we are overwhelmed by the effects of natural disasters, pandemics, or political unrest and division, God calls the church to reach out, care for, and connect in the name of Christ.

If you decide to participate, I will ask you to do two things during Advent. First, send a Christmas card to one or two churches in early December, and second, lift these churches up in prayer sometime during the Advent season. Once I have a firm count of the number of churches participating, I will match you with Japanese churches and let you know the contact information. If you have participated in this project before, I will be sure to match you with the same churches you have had before. Our Japanese partners have asked that we continue this project, and I am encouraged to see how the Holy Spirit is leading us in new patterns of partnership. Just this year, in January, you will remember the wildfires that swept through the Los Angeles area. When our partners heard that one of our UCC churches burned down, they collected an offering and sent it to the Southern California Nevada Conference UCC. This gesture deeply encouraged me, and it showed how our ties across the seas can be truly uplifting.

Please discuss this with your congregation and let me know by October 17th (FRI) whether you will participate. I will send you the contacts and necessary information about the partner churches by November 14th (FRI). This should give you time to prepare the Christmas cards to send off by the beginning of December. Also, please provide the contact address and who will serve as the contact person at your congregation.

If you need stories and information from Japan, please visit my blog at (http://jeffreyfromjapan.blogspot.com/). The material is not so new, but it will give you a sense of the churches’ struggles during the great disaster. I will contact the chair of the World Mission Committee of the Northeastern Conference of the UCCJ to have him write a letter for you, updating you on some of the challenges facing the churches in Japan.

This Project aims to connect partner churches across the ocean by reaching out globally through prayer during the Advent season. It is a way to hold on to the ties that bind us in Christ, and to say, “We care. We remember you. Your lives matter.” In the spirit of mutuality, I pray that this small gesture of solidarity will be a sign of hope for churches in the US and Japan. When writing, please do not hesitate to mention your prayer concerns for what is happening in and around your congregation. In this way, we share in the mutuality of God’s mission.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jeffrey Mensendiek (Tokyo, Japan)

PS: We hope that most churches in Japan will respond in kind with a card or letter, but I have heard that in some cases, there was no response. Please know that does not mean they do not appreciate our gesture of solidarity and connection.