Heath and Joni Hubbard

Meet the Hubbards, IM Missionaries to Japan

Heath and Joni were appointed as missionaries in 2010. They have three kids. Eli, Micah & Emma. They work in Tokrozawa, Japan right outside of Tokyo. The Hubbards were a part of a team that helped to launch the Hope Alive Church in 2019.

Why Japan?

When less than 2% of a nation’s population are Christians, that nation is considered unreached; less than half of a percent of Japanese are Christian, making Japanese people the second largest unreached people group on earth. Along with their culture being deeply rooted in Buddhism and Shintoism, Japanese people live in a high-pressure society. Suicide is the number one cause of death for high school students, young adults, children ages 10-14, and men ages 20-44 in Japan. In fact over 25,000 people a year take their own lives in Japan. More than 2 million people do not leave their house due to stress, depression, and anxiety that has caused them to disengage from all social interaction.

The need for people to know the hope of the gospel is great, and where the need is great, the opportunity for impact is greater!

127 million people live in Japan, and 99.7% of Japanese people are lost, many having never even heard the Gospel.

The story of Hope Alive Church

Hope Alive was planted in January of 2019; since then, we’ve seen God move in astounding ways daily, providing opportunities for the gospel to be shared, softening hearts toward the message of Christ, and bringing Japanese people into a relationship with Him. Almost every Sunday new people walk into church, hear a clear presentation of the gospel, and receive a Bible – all for the first time. That is why Hope Alive exists: to tell people that Hope is alive in Jesus!

Hope Alive exists to lead people to freedom, purpose, and fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

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Learn more about Hope Alive Church and ministry at hopealive.jp

How they are ministering to people in Japan

1Hope Alive Church Planting IMpact Project

Hope Alive Church has grown in both facility space and numbers. In 2020, God opened an opportunity to double our church building space in size as we obtained and renovated the first floor of the current building from which we are renting. Almost immediately we saw how this helped our church host more people for outreach and created a street-level view and signage for our church. To continue to rent and maintain the church and to facilitate ministry in Japan, we are looking for partners to keep Hope Alive in Tokorozawa and near the train station. As we raise this money over the next three years, we hope to be in the position to buy the current building we are renting.

Hope Alive Church Planting Fund: $96,000 a year for the next three years.
2Hope Alive Building IMpact Project

As God leads our church to become independent and self-supporting, we are pursuing the option of buying the building we are currently in. This will be one of the largest steps to establishing a long-term footprint in our community. It will provide a means to bring possible income from renting out other areas of the building. Ultimately, this building will become a launching pad to plant more and more churches in Japan. With only about 7,700 Protestant churches in all of Japan, every church that can be established is so important.

Hope Alive Building Purchase – $2 million project
3Gravestone IMpact Project

Iriso FWB Church in Sayama, Japan is spearheading an effort to bury people who are Christians who do not want to be buried in a Buddhist grave or their family will not allow them to be buried together because of their religion. This project is targeting specifically those people in our Free Will Baptist Kanto area churches.

The church has purchased land and is working together with the other three area churches to secure funding for the gravestone. This gravestone marker will be a testimony to all the people who come through the graveyard, but more than that, it will be a comfort to those who are reaching the end of their life and are in need of a place to secure their burial. Recently it was said by pastor Kojima that in Japan “more people are more worried about the details surrounding their burial and getting those things in order more than they are actually worried about death.” This graveyard is within 5 miles of all four of the Kanto area Free Will Baptist churches and is easily accessible to all the area churches and members.

The churches in Kanto area hope to gather $10,000 of the needed funds and the goal is to raise $10,000.

How you can financially partner with their ministry efforts

Give to Hope Alive Church Planting Project Give to the Hope Alive Building Purchase Project Give to Gravestone IMpact Project

How you can pray for the Hubbards

Pray for us as we continue the work of the new church plant, Hope Alive Church, in the Tokyo area.
Pray that we would see people come to Christ and lives changed and that Christ would be glorified in our work here.
Pray for the one-on-one Bible studies we are doing with some non-believers and one on one discipleship studies we are doing with new Christians.
Pray for the outreach ministries of Hope Alive Church to bring more people the opportunity to hear the Gospel.
Pray for a continued ability to speak Japanese
Pray for Eli, Micah, and Emma as they are in elementary school that they can learn and thrive in a different culture and that they can make good friends and understand Japanese. Pray also that we can be an effective witness to the other parents at their schools and for their growth as believers in Christ. Pray that most importantly they would grow deep roots in their own faith in Jesus.