OKUMA, FUKUSHIMA PREF. ¨C A Baptist church once emptied by evacuation following the massive earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant 15 years ago has returned to its home, recasting itself as a civic anchor with community ties.
Fukushima First Bible Baptist Church in the town of Okuma was about 5 kilometers away from the stricken plant.
Founded around 1947, the church had grown to four chapels across neighboring municipalities just before the disaster.
After the triple meltdown occurred at the nuclear plant, then-senior pastor Akira Sato, now 68, and roughly 60 congregants fled, seeking refuge first with churches that offered shelter in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, and in Yonezawa, in neighboring Yamagata Prefecture. Then, they spent about a year at a campsite in the Tokyo town of Okutama, which was offered rent-free by a German missionary.
In 2012, they moved to the Fukushima city of Iwaki, building a church hall and broadening its mission beyond Sunday worship.
Tea gatherings and English classes drew residents with no prior affiliation. A children¡¯s cafeteria, counseling for older adults and people with disabilities, as well as events linking evacuees with longtime residents, followed.
¡°We wanted to make a church that serves the community,¡± Sato said, recalling a resolve to repay many people for their kindness and take root in a new place.
¡°After the disaster, our guideline principle became connecting with the local community,¡± he said.
¡°The story that has already been written can¡¯t be erased,¡± Sato said, remembering 2022, when the congregation resumed services in Okuma, restoring the original chapel and holding worship once a month.
Starting in the next fiscal year from April, the church plans to shift to weekly services and is considering operating a cafe and offering English classes.
Okuma itself has changed a lot. About 70% of residents arrived after the disaster. The task, Sato said, is ¡°to fashion a church that fits the remade town,¡± by deepening ties with the local community.
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