Tom and Nancy Edwards    

Mission Organization:    TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission)
                                              P. O. Box 969
                                              Wheaton, Illinois  60189-0969        

Email Address:   tedwards@tkg.att.ne.jp

Home Address:    Tom & Nancy Edwards
                                    TEAM Japan
                                    6-20 Shimorenjaku
                                    3 Chome, Mitaka-shi
                                    Tokyo, 181-0013
                                    JAPAN
                              

Supported Since:    1998

Family Information: 

    Nancy  "I grew up in a religious home and was counting on my good works to put me in good standing with God until I learned, as  a sophomore in high school, that my good works could never be good enough to please a Holy God. For the first time I understood salvation by Grace through faith in Jesus' substitutionary death on the cross. He took on himself the punishment of my sin. I accepted by faith what he did for me, and knew his forgiveness. It changed my life!"

    Tom "Tom is a "PK" (preachers kid). He comes from a long line of grandfathers and uncles and cousins who were preachers. He seemed to think he was ok before God because of the merits of his family. In high school, through a friend, he came to realize that there are no "grandchildren" in God's family only sons and daughters. He realized he needed to confess his sin and accept Christ's finished work for him. 

    Tom and Nancy met at Philadelphia College of Bible. They were married in 1967 and became interested in missions. In 1978 with their three children, Craig 8, Brooke 5, and Jessica 3, they went to Papua, New Guinea as house parents to high schoolers whose parents worked in the "bush" of PNG or Irian Jaya, Indonesia, as Bible translators or church planters. In 1990 they went to Germany again as house parents to teenagers at Black Forest Academy. 

    They are now in Japan. They work in the TEAM guest house. The guest house is run as a bed and breakfast, able to accommodate 20 people, serving missionaries and the Japanese Church. it is used by missionaries enroute to and from Japan, missionaries coming away for a time of physical and/or spiritual refreshment and by groups for meetings or retreats. 

    The church that we are a part of meets at the center. Hope Bible Church is small - about 15 - 25 people. It is mostly women which is typical of Japanese Churches. There is one Japanese man that comes regularly. There are only 6 or 7 baptized believers. The culture seems to point people away from Christianity. Nancy teaches an English Bible study on Tuesdays as part of the ministry of the church. Two and sometimes four Japanese ladies attend. They are seekers and very interested in what the Bible has to say.

        Birthdays    Nancy April 5
                               Tom March 10

       Wedding Anniversary:   June 3, 1967

    About the mission: Behind the name is the history of dedicated men. TEAM's founder, Fredrik Franson, evangelist and world missionary, was a man with a heart burning four souls. Influenced by the impassioned preaching of Dwight L. Moody, Franson, a Swedish immigrant, determined early in his life that he would go all the way with God - to see what could be accomplished by an individual wholly yielded to God. And accomplish much he did. He either founded or strongly influenced 14 mission organizations. Churches and church fellowships now exist all over North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East because of Franson's vision. The goal of TEAM and its missionary force is the same as it was with Fredrik Franson -- to take the gospel to those without Christ around the world, to lead them to personal faith in him, to train them as effective Christian witnesses, and to organize them into a local body of believers. --TEAM's Magazine

How you can participate: Pray for Tom and Nancy. This is an exciting turning point for the church. The church was begun more than ten years ago, but no one has ever been able to give it their full time. Tom and Gina Sloan are the church planters heading up this ministry now and they are able to do it full time.