Reimagine at Tokyo Union Church
Reimagine is a church-wide effort to better discern and align TUC's mission, identity, and future space. This is a collaborative process of discernment which helps Council hear from the congregation and prepare for decisions with clarity.
No building decision has been made. As Council weighs whether TUC may need to move, rebuild, or choose another path, we are listening broadly and naming what must be preserved, adapted, or released.
Reimagine updates
updates
Discerning God’s Calling for TUC Together Through a survey, focus groups, and story-sharing, Reimagine invites our congregation and the wider Tokyo community to listen together and help Council discern who TUC is, what we value most, and where God may be calling us next. WHAT IS REIMAGINE? Reimagine
updates
“Praying TUC into the future” AE Sloan team: Lead Consultant * Dr. Roy Inzunza, D.Min TUC Discernment team * Ikuko Omori * Sophie Wang * John Inagaki * David Ahearn * Martha Gomez * Nancy Malik * Brad Schmidt * Catherine Sasanuma * Larry Mojumdar * Pastor Hector * Pastor Lydia * Douglas Hewitt
updates
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.
updates
Please fill out this survey on behalf of the Discernment Committee for the process of Reimagine: Praying TUC into the Future. Note: This survey is confidential and will only be shared with AE Sloan Consultants, who are supporting TUC in our discernment process. Thank you for your participation
The plan
From May 2026 through February 2027, 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. A consultant with AE Sloan Leadership is helping advise the process, TUC Council makes the final decisions.
May-Sep 2026
Broad input from the church begins the process and shapes future conversations. The survey is open through Aug 31.
Oct-Dec 2026
Deeper conversations across the TUC community provide insights across generations and backgrounds.
Jan-Feb 2027
Various themes from the process are gathered into a Discernment Report and shared with Council.
May-Sep 2026
The first phase invites everyone into the conversation: church visitors, friends of TUC, alumni, associate members, members, and staff. The survey asks what we value about TUC, what must be preserved, what may need to adapt, and what future we can imagine together.
Council and the Discernment Team will use responses and themes from the survey to understand the congregation's hopes, concerns, and shared convictions and to prepare for more focused conversations.
Oct-Dec 2026
The second phase moves from broad input into deeper listening. Focus groups, storytelling sessions, and community conversations will hear from people across generations, cultural backgrounds, languages, ministry areas, and different lengths of connection with TUC.
These conversations will explore concerns, hopes, mission, location, and the stories that reveal who TUC has been. Listening beyond the congregation will also help identify needs, gaps, and opportunities in Tokyo's international community.
Jan-Feb 2027
The final phase brings the threads together. The Discernment Team and the consultant will interpret the themes from the survey, focus groups, stories, and community conversations and gather what we have heard into a Discernment Report.
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.