Yoshihira Inamine sabbatical

Yoshihira Inamine, chairman of the Asian Mennonite Conference, spent two months on the AMBS campus in the Pastor Sabbatical program of Engaging Pastors. At the end of his sabbatical, he shared with AMBS faculty and students some of his work and the issues he focused on during his sabbatical.

Forty-five years ago Yoshi first went to a Mennonite Brethren congregation in Japan and he was baptized in the church a year later. In his theological studies, he focused on war, peace and nonresistance among Mennonites and since then he has especially enjoyed studying Mennonite history, ethics and theology. In 1976 he first came to AMBS as a student. Now he returned with continuing questions arising out of his ministry.

How can Christians promote the nonviolent shalom of Jesus Christ in the current world setting? How do you explain a loving God in the aftermath of a tsunami? With these questions at the forefront, Yoshi met with several AMBS professors and gathered a variety of resources for further study after he returns home.

Yoshi is pastor of Minuma Mennonite Christian Church in Japan. As chairman of the Asian Mennonite Conference, he helps coordinate the goals of the conference: fellowship of Anabaptist churches in the region, facilitating mission work and promoting Anabaptist history and theology.

Mary E. Klassen