Trust & Inspire!(1) New Leadership in Japan Mission Board!

A Letter from David and Sue Hudson, serving in Japan

Summer 2022

Dear friends,

We are deeply grateful for your prayers and support as we seek to encourage the Spirit’s work through the partnership of Japan Mission and Yodogawa Christian Hospital! David presently serves on both boards:  he is chair of the Japan Mission Board and a member of the Yodogawa Christian Hospital Board. Mr. Kitamura and Dr. Nabetani now serve on both boards and bring incredible gifts, wisdom and inspiration.

[1] Stephen M. R. Covey, Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others, (London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, New Delhi: Simon & Schuster) 2022.

Let me introduce them. Dr. Nabetani is an active member of Aotani Evangelical Lutheran Church and was confirmed in his faith while in Middle School. Dr. Nabetani is a pediatrician with specialties in neurology, neonatology and perinatology, along with psychiatry and disabilities and is the superintendent of the Children’s and Adult’s Hospice units at the hospital, along with a long list of other responsibilities. David shared a story in his first letter of a young patient who wanted to spend her last moments in the hospital’s chapel at the foot of the cross as her parents, who are not Christians, held her and said goodbye. Dr. Nabetani is the doctor who shared this story. 

Mr. Kitamura was baptized in 1985 and is an active member of Takarazuka Baptist Church. He is the executive business manager and director of the Corporate Planning Department for the hospital and came “prepared” for his first Japan Mission Board meeting with a plan for how to “re-structure” the relationship between Japan Mission and YCH in a way that allows the hospital greater self-determination, while also maintaining the “spiritual focus” of Whole Person Healing.

Mr. Shinji Kitamura and Dr. Makoto Nabetani are welcomed as new members at the July 16 meeting!

One of the issues being discussed is the possibility of starting a “Free and Low-cost Clinic,” since YCH is one of the few hospitals required to pay property and consumption taxes in Japan since it is a religious corporation. Maintaining a free and low-cost clinic, which would serve at least 10% of free and low-cost eligible patients, would give the hospital tax exemption.

David and I were blown away by Mr. Kitamura’s thoughtful presentation to the board. We ask for your prayers as both boards will be meeting in August to make decisions about how best to restructure their partnership moving forward. 

These conversations have been going on for a long time – almost 60 years! According to Dr. Takeshi Ishida, chair of the YCH Board, it was the intent of the founders to become independent from the beginning. A study group has been meeting regularly for several months and will make their recommendation to the board in August about the best way to move forward together.

Sue just finished reading a book by Stephen M.R. Covey, son of the well-known writer who wrote The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Stephen, the son, tells a story about how his father “trusted and inspired” him as a seven-year-old boy to take care of their family’s large yard. During one of their weekly family meetings, his dad asked who might be willing to take care of the yard. The son, Stephen, eagerly volunteered. After the meeting, the two went out and surveyed the yard, which was starting to turn yellow. Stephen’s dad said: “Son, your job is green and clean.” They went to the neighbor’s yard, which was green, and dad said that’s what “green” looks like. Then the dad and his son cleaned up half the yard, so young Stephen could see what “clean” looked like.

According to son, Stephen, who tells the story in Trust & Inspire, his dad said he would help in any way he was needed, but it was up to the son to figure out how to keep it green and clean. According to the son, Stephen, he forgot all about the deal for several weeks, but then when his dad asked him how the “yard” was doing, he realized he had not given the yard any attention. It was yellow and not clean.

Stephen’s dad did not complain or judge him but kept asking how it was going because his PURPOSE was to “raise kids, not grass.”[2] Stephen and his dad had agreed to walk around the yard twice a week, so the son could show his dad how it was going. The son writes:  “In that moment I stopped being fine…. My lip started trembling.”[3]  His dad spoke softly: “Anything I can do to help, son?” The younger Stephen tentatively asked: “Would ya?” Together they cleaned up the yard. According to the son, he only needed to ask for help a few more times that summer. Why?

“I felt trusted.”[4]

 Covey’s whole book is focused on the Future of Leadership – moving away from a “Command and Control” model to a “Trust and Inspire” model of leadership.

This concept and practice of leadership are long overdue! David and I are delighted to see leaders with gifts, talents and wisdom being entrusted to face the challenges of carrying on excellent “Whole Person Healing” for a new generation.  

After a prolonged period of the Covid pandemic, which has challenged and forced all of us to work differently and adapt to new ways of being God’s people and new ways of being the Church, we see the Spirit doing a “new thing” here in Osaka, Japan. God’s mission will grow in exciting ways through trustworthy leaders who are already inspiring us!

Covey quotes Eleanor Roosevelt in the introduction to his book, saying: “A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader; a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” [5]

May the leaders and staff of the Japan Mission and Yodogawa Christian Hospital be entrusted, empowered, and inspired to unleash their gifts for God’s mission in Japan and beyond!

Grateful to be witnesses to this story!

David and Sue Hudson

[2] Trust & Inspire, p. 8.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid., p. 9