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MESSAGE TO KONKO CHURCH OF IZUO ON THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOST REVEREND TOSHIOP MIYAKE'S MISSIONARY WORK
Dear Friends:

It is a great pleasure for me to address my greetings to the Konko Church of Izuo on the 75th anniversary of the Most Rev. Toshio Miyake's missionary work. I write as former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (1985-93) and former member of the Council of the International Association for Religious Freedom (1985-93). It was in these capacities that I came to know the Most Rev. Miyake. I recall with respect the great wisdom he shared with all of us but also the delight he took in humor and the twinkle that would sneak into the corner of his eye. His hospitality (and that of the Rev. Tatsuo Miyake and the Rev. Yoshinobu Miyake) upon my several visits to Izuo Church will not long be forgotten.

I write today not only out of memory of the past, however, but also in hope for the future. For today I serve as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, the American section of the world's largest, oldest and most respected human rights organization, a position I have held since 1994. In that capacity I am exposed every day to the most extreme examples of cruelty-unfair trials, religious discrimination, terrorism, torture, rape and executions-of which human beings are capable. If ever the Rev. Toshio Miyake's inspirational message of tolerance, reconciliation and respect among both religions and nations was needed, it is needed today.

Though the Rev. Miyake is no longer with us in bodily form, his teaching and his spirit are ever alive to inspire us and his church remains in the capable hands of his family, a beacon of hope and righteousness for Japan and, indeed, the world. I am proud to call the Miyakes among my dearest international friends and wish the family and the church continued growth and success in the future.

The Rev. Dr. William F. Schulz

Executive Director,
Amnesty International USA

It gives me great pleasure to send followers, members and friends of the Konko Church of Izuo my best wishes at the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the commencement of Rev. Toshio Miyake's missionary work.
The work of Rev. Toshio Miyake and the commitment of the church serve as a guiding inspiration for many of us in our continuing efforts to advance genuine and enduring interfaith relations, promoting understanding and cooperation within a world of religious and cultural diversity. These efforts are especially relevant and important as never before to counter today's tendency of regression into a construct of division and insularity. Diversity must not lead to division but to an appreciation of the other, which goes beyond mere tolerance.

We consider - as a rallying call - the efforts of the late Rev. Toshio Miyake in his pursuit of peace as an obligation for everyone invoking the name of the Divine. We live today in a culture of violence, which has made it increasingly important that our religious traditions contribute to generating social change towards peace. The World Council of Churches has launched the "Decade to Overcome Violence" and sees this both as an invitation towards an interreligious response and as an opportunity to learn from the experiences of how people of other faiths live out their concern for peace. We think we have much to learn from the commitment of Rev. Toshio Miyake.

We recall - as a responsibility for each and everyone - the commitment of Rev. Toshio Miyake to refugees all over the world and see it as a compelling focus for an intentional interreligious cooperation. Interreligious dialogue must today find visible expressions for social action in society. The ecumenical principle of long ago holds true today also for interreligious interaction, "that which we can do together, we should not do separately." A thrust in honour of the work of Rev. Toshio Miyake would be to embark on an interreligious project for the welfare and dignity of the refugees of the world.

The Konko Church of Izuo has been making efforts to contribute to some global environmental programs. Senko-en, the church's garden in Osaka, is a reminder of the need to draw on a holistic approach to understand the complex realities of life. Compartmentalisation is to the detriment of our relations with our immediate surrounding. Our concern for the environment is an expression of a realisation of the value of integration as 'making whole'. There is a need for inter-linkage, for an analysis of the world from more than one perspective. The sense of interconnectedness tries to see our world as one cloth. To focus only on justice or peace or the respect for the environment risks shredding the whole cloth. None of the threats to humankind can be confronted effectively if they are isolated from one another. Realising the interconnectedness of the global threats to justice, to peace and the environment is one step towards an integrated way at looking at our own situation, the global threats to life and how one needs to go about to remedy it. There can be no peace without justice, no justice without peace, no peace or justice without vastly altered attitudes towards nature. There is, as a response to the threat to life, the climatic changes, the survival of the earth and life itself, a need for a social ethics process. A renewal of ethics is called for in a time of changing world realities. It is in this process that our religious diversity may be of immense value.

As you celebrate a significant event in the life of your church, be assured of our best wishes in your continued ministry.

Rev. Dr Hans Ucko

Office on Interreligious Relations and Dialogue
World Council of Churches
Geneva, Switzerland

Dear Rev. Yoshinobu Miyake:

Warmest greetings from Unitarian Universalists throughout the world to the entire Konko Church on the occasion of your celebration of the 75th anniversary of your founder,
Rev. Toshio Miyake, on the 27th of January, 2002.

It takes great vision and complete commitment to found a church. It takes years and years of hard work, gentle compassion, and wise leadership for a recently-founded church to thrive. Rev. Miyake was a visionary leader and a profoundly religious man. We, Unitarian Universalists around the world, celebrate with you his accomplishments.

We also celebrate Rev. Tatsuo Miyake and you, who have committed your own lives to carrying on the great work of your grandfather. I pray that I may visit Japan within the next two years to bring you my humble offering of praise for the extraordinary work that you do, and see the Konko Church with my own eyes for the very first time.

May Rev. Toshio Miyake's example inspire us all to go on building up the churches of our faiths, to go on reaching out to one another with hands that touch in order to bless, to heal, and to love.

Most faithfully yours,

Rev. William G. Sinkford
President, Unitarian Universalists Association

MESSAGE to the KONKO CHURCH of IZUO.
On the occasion of its 75th Anniversary.

From Eimert van Herwijnen, President I.A.R.F.

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate the Konko Church of Izuo on the occasion of celebrating its 75 years of existence. I do this on behalf of the International Association for Religious Freedom of which the Konko Church of Izuo is an active membergroup.

The I.A.R.F. was founded in 1900 as an organization mainly bringing together Unitarians and liberal christians from Europe and the United States. In 1969 at its 20th World Congress the organization dropped "Liberal Christianity" from its name and thus became the International Association for Religious Freedom. It opened the way for religious organizations other than christian to join and the Konko Church of Izuo was among the first to do so, through the wisdom and foresight of the Most Rev. Toshio Miyake.

Since then the Konko Church of Izuo has actively participated in the work of the IARF, taking leadership responsibility in the International Council, sending delegations to World Congresses and supporting projects of the then existing Social Service Network.
The IARF is particularly appreciative of the Konko Church of Izuo hosting the "Osaka meeting of IARF" in 1976, the Youth Assembly in 1979 and its contribution to the World Congress of 1984 held in Tokyo and Osaka.

Looking now to the future, the turn of the century also meant the beginning of a new era for IARF. Recognizing that it became necessary to focus its work more sharply on issues of religious freedom per se, a Strategic Plan 2001-2007 was drawn up and adopted in March 2001. With a rewritten Statement of Purpose as the base IARF intends to focus on:
young adults, advocacy ( the IARF has NGO status at the United Nations), communities suffering from persecution and small cicil society organizations.
A few examples:
A group of young adults went to the earthquake area in Gujarat, India last month to help reparing a mosque as well as a temple.
БШ IARF received a substantial grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to create a "Voluntary Code of Conduct for all Religious (or Belief) Communities". This Code is aiming to affect the behaviour of religious groups in conformity with the Code, when dealing with each other and towards their own members.
The promotion of programmes acting to prevent the denial of religious freedom, such as encouraging appropriate education in schools about all the main religious traditions.
The provision of a website, possibly with e-learning facilities, educational materials and periodic events such as conferences and congresses.

In this connection the next World Congress will be held this year in Budapest, Hungary from July 28 till August 2. IARF will be glad to welcome a large delegation from the Konko Church of Izuo at this Congress.

From the above it will be clear that IARF and the Konko Church of Izuo have maintained a close relationship ever since the Church joined the organization. The Strategic Plan offers inviting programmes and initiatives to continue to work together in the future.
I look forward to our continued cooperation and wish you a meaningful and joyful celebration of the 75th Anniversary on January 27, 2002.

Eimert van Herwijnen
President, I.A.R.F.