Seinan Gakuin
4-L Foundation
News
Number 55 October 30,
2018
Greetings from
the President of SG 4-L Foundation
Hello from Costa
Rica! After being on the receiving end of Associates appointed to Japan, I am
now honored to serve as the new president of the 4-L Foundation. Our activities are moving along smoothly.
Akane Forbess has agreed to serve through her third year with 4-L. She is loved
by English students at the high school and junior high and by university
students alike in her work at all these Seinan locations and appreciated by her
high school/junior high supervising teacher. Akane brings a depth and sincerity
to all that she does, and we are thankful that she will stay on for 3
years.
That means that for
April 2020 we will seeking a new associate, and that process will begin from
the fall of 2019. We need to be on the lookout for a dedicated Christian young
person who is open to learning and growing. A supervisor on the ground for new
appointees will be an issue, and so an ideal situation would be that the
candidate has some Japanese ability.
We are also thankful
for a generous gift from Karen Schaffner, a Director of 4-L Foundation and
President of Seinan Gakuin University. Pray for Akane and for Seinan (may I
suggest every morning).
Report from Seinan Gakuin
I am indebted to Karen for the following report.
The exchange program started its fall semester with a
record high of 85 students from 16 countries (US, Canada, England, France,
Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany,
Poland, China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia) and 42 universities. This
number exceeds the capacity of rooms in the I-House, necessitating housing
students in rented apartments off campus. The Center for International
Education is also planning its first reunion of exchange students on November
17.
The newer part of the previous library building has been
remodeled and has been named Building No. 3 (The former Building No. 3 had
housed the language laboratory and was replaced with the Center for Language
Education. The old Building No. 3 was
torn down and has been a bicycle parking area.) The Center for International
Education relocated to the first floor. In addition to the offices, there is
the Global Student Lounge, an area for students to talk and study together. On
the second floor is the new location of the Admissions Office. (Both offices
moved from cramped quarters in Building No. 2.) The third and fourth floors
help fill the need for more classroom space and includes some medium-sized
classrooms with moveable chairs and tables and classrooms for seminars. There
is also free space for students to eat their lunches and talk with each other
on each floor.
Many of our directors will remember the Friendship House
chapel. Pews from that building which was sold to the public high school next
to Seinan have found a new home in the renovated library. The pews are in
various places to provide seating in the open areas for students. Many will
also remember Norma Young and the stained glass windows she designed for
Friendship House. These windows have been
in storage, but Karen and I have long hoped that these windows can be installed
or displayed on campus.
Children's Plaza moved from the former Friendship House to
the second floor of the Centennial Memorial building. The doors opened to the
remodeled facility on September 4. This joint project with Fukuoka City started
11 years ago and provides a place for children and parents to find new friends
and get support from retired early education professors and staff. Lectures on
child-raising, hand-made toys by volunteers, an international day each month,
and student volunteers are features not found in the other 15 centers in the
city.
The junior high and senior
high school will celebrate their 70th anniversary in October.
The Department of Literature
will be renewing its curriculum and changing its name to Foreign Language
Department in 2020. Instead of enrolling in one of three divisions of
literature and French and English language, the new curriculum will feature a
global studies course in which all classes will be taught in English or French
and equip students to think critically about global issues.
And last, Karen’s term as
university president ends in December, and the final election will be held the
first part of December. The preliminary poll has been held and the field of
candidates narrowed. Let us pray that the person chosen to step into the
presidency will keep Seinan “True to Christ.”
In very sad news recently,
Professor in the Theology Department Yu Amano has passed away after a long
struggle with cancer. Immediately after the news of his death came the
announcement that Rev. Chikayo Kaneko had also passed away from cancer. After
the tsunami hit northern Japan, she left her church in Miyazaki with her
co-pastor husband and moved to the Sendai area to be the Japan Baptist
Convention contact person on-site in the area.
A number of the pastors who stayed in the area have been diagnosed with
cancer from the radiation in the area. We extend our prayers and condolences to
both families.
A Word from Associate Akane
Forbess
Already,
a year and a half has passed since I first arrived in Fukuoka to serve as a Seinan
Gakuin 4-L Foundation Associate. I
wasn’t sure what to expect from serving as a missionary at Seinan before I
started, and I am humbled by what God has been teaching me in this short time.
Teaching
English at the junior high school and high school has been such a rewarding
experience. Studying languages is one of
my own passions, and being able to share this passion with the students has
brought me so
much
joy. I have been able to build such strong bonds with students, especially the
twelfth graders whom I only see once or twice a week, that many have kept in
touch with me even after they have gone off to college in April.
My
afternoons at the university campus can look quite different depending on the
day. There is of course the English
Bible Class (EBC) that meets every Monday.
There are now 10 to 15 students attending each week, with about 6 core
members who have been attending every week since the last school year. They have been a true blessing to me,
considering how anxious I would get every Monday thinking about who or how many
students would show up that week.
While
I often feel insecure about whether I am making any true impact on these
students in the eternal sense or spiritually at all, I have been encouraged by
other Christians around me who have said that, even if you don’t see it, you
just never know what they are thinking in their minds or how God is working in
their hearts. These words became very
real a few weeks ago when I spoke with a former EBC member who went off to
study abroad this semester. In a message
sharing about his life he said, “By the way I pray here too. I read Bible.
I joined Korean Christian club. So nice. I should have done more things
in Japan.” I had absolutely no idea that he had any interest beyond the English
conversation aspect of EBC until then. I am looking forward to his return to
Seinan next May.
My
desire to stay on for my third year next year comes from all that God is
teaching me here at Seinan. I don’t
doubt that God will accomplish all He has in store whether I stay next year or
not; however, I also feel at peace with where God has placed me right now and
confident that this is where He wants me to be.
Thank you for your continued support.
Seinan Gakuin
4-L Foundation, Inc., Directors
⮚
Lydia
Barrow-Hankins (former Chaplain at Seinan Gakuin), President
⮚
Charles
Cantrell (attorney, former exchange student at SGU), Secretary
⮚
Keith
Seat (attorney), Treasurer
⮚
Leroy
Seat (former Chancellor of Seinan Gakuin), Founder
⮚
Gary
Barkley (Chancellor of Seinan Gakuin)
⮚
Charles
Dozier (grandson of Seinan Gakuin’s founder)
⮚
Joy
Fenner (former missionary to Fukuoka/Japan)
⮚
Karen
Schaffner (President of Seinan Gakuin University)
⮚
Ken’ichi
Takara (Chief Administrative Officer of Seinan Gakuin)
**For more information about the Seinan Gakuin
4-L Foundation, please check the website: http://seinangakuin4-lfoundation.blogspot.com/.