The Oikos Project: Delivering tracts to every family in Nakano Ward

The Oikos Project was developed in 2019 by Every Home for Christ (EHC), in conjunction with Japan’s Word of Life Press Ministries, and has set a goal to deliver the gospel through published tracts to all 50+ million families across Japan.

Because of the impact of COVID-19, few churches joined the project at the start. However, some local churches decided to focus their efforts on the project despite the challenges of the pandemic and now more than 250 churches are involved.

The tracts are to be delivered first to households in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, where Word of Life is based, by June 2023.

EHC and Word of Life have distributed tracts to families across Japan in the past. This year they have drawn on the experience of their retired staff, who shared their knowledge of tracting, and have led a trial distribution with staff and volunteers in Maruyama in Nakano. The tracts included excerpts from the Christian Data Book which shared information about the churches in Nakano Ward. The trial showed that although each group had a similarly sized distribution area, some volunteer groups finished early, and some ran short of tracts. They also experienced problems with buildings that had automatic locking systems or that refused flyers. The same kind of trial distribution will be repeated several times before the end of November to prepare for the final distribution across the whole ward.

Although they had no chance to directly hand out the tracts to the residents, praying while putting tracts into mailboxes and walking through the neighborhood helped them get to know the area well.

Nowadays, we can also use the internet instead of physical resources such as tracts. However, there are some people who can only get to know the gospel through these tracts. Some churches are reporting new membership because of this work. Of course, fruit does not appear right after sowing, and the crops bear fruit only through God. Word of Life wants to continue sowing, with the help of local churches.

The free tracts have also been available at the churches which support the project’s vision, and donations and prayers have been received from the people who cannot join the actual distribution. As such, the Oikos Project continues through the unified support of many people.

From Christian Shimbun, October 9, 2022
Translated by Tomoko Kato