updates
Introducing our Consultant
Tokyo Union Church has invited Dr. Roy Inzunza of AE Sloan Leadership to help guide the Reimagine discernment process with outside perspective, careful listening, and cross-cultural experience.
Reimagine at Tokyo Union Church
Praying TUC into the next faithful season.
Reimagine is a church-wide discernment process helping us listen for who we are, where we are, and who God is calling us to become.
As questions about our building and future take shape, we are moving carefully: listening broadly, naming what must be preserved, and preparing for decisions from clarity rather than anxiety.
Reimagine updates
Updates
The plan
A six-month path of listening, story, and discernment.
From May through October, Council and the Discernment Team are gathering input from the congregation and from people who know Tokyo's international community. The work begins with a survey, then continues through focus groups, storytelling, community listening, and synthesis.
Members can expect a process that moves from broad participation to deeper listening, then toward a Discernment Report that helps Council consider TUC's next faithful step with clarity rather than anxiety.
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May-Jun
Survey and foundation
Broad congregational input begins the process and shapes the questions for later listening.
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Jul-Aug
Focus groups and story
Smaller conversations listen across generations, backgrounds, languages, and length of connection.
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Sep-Oct
Community listening and synthesis
Internal and external themes come together for a Discernment Report to Council.
May-Jun
Survey and foundation
The first phase invites the whole congregation into the conversation. The survey asks members to name what they value about TUC, what must be preserved, what may need to adapt, and what future we can imagine together.
What to expect
Council and the Discernment Team will use survey themes to understand the congregation's hopes, concerns, and shared convictions. This phase is not the final word; it creates the foundation for more focused conversations later.
How to participate
- Complete the survey and encourage other members to do the same.
- Pray for honest listening and a spirit of patience across the church.
- Reflect on what TUC uniquely offers in Tokyo, and what should be preserved, adapted, or released.
Jul-Aug
Focus groups and storytelling
The second phase moves from broad input into deeper listening. Focus groups and storytelling sessions will hear from members across generations, cultural backgrounds, languages, ministry areas, and different lengths of connection with TUC.
What to expect
These conversations will explore concerns, hopes, mission, location, and the stories that reveal who TUC has been. Not every member will be in every group, but the goal is broad, faithful listening rather than a narrow sample of voices.
How to participate
- Watch for invitations to focus groups or storytelling sessions.
- Come ready to listen as well as speak, especially across differences.
- Share stories that reveal TUC's identity, ministry, and connection to Tokyo's international community.
Sep-Oct
Community listening and synthesis
The final phase listens beyond the congregation and then brings the threads together. Community listening will ask what needs, gaps, and opportunities exist around Tokyo's international life, then synthesis will gather what we have heard into a Discernment Report.
What to expect
The report will organize themes around who TUC is, where TUC is, and who TUC is called to become. It will support Council's discernment; it will not replace Council's responsibility to make decisions for the church's next faithful season.
How to participate
- Pray for wisdom as themes are gathered and weighed.
- Follow public updates as appropriate summaries are shared.
- Hold the process with care, trusting that faithful decisions require time, honesty, and shared clarity.