| With the assistance of colleagues,
Tom translated the PC(USA)'s First Catechism and Study
Catechism into Japanese. Now in their second printing, these
catechisms have helped to strengthen the educational ministry
of Japanese churches and even lead a number of inquirers to faith.
Tom and some Japanese pastors and lay people are introducing the
approach to worship and Christian education that Sonja Stewart
and Jerome Berryman describe in Young Children and Worship
and Godly Play.
Carol serves as PC(USA) mission representative on the board of
directors of the organization that manages mission properties
in Japan. She has also taken an active part in planning and supervising
the construction of two new PC(USA) housing projects near their
home in Mitaka. The first was completed in December 2003 and the
second in January 2005. In addition to her church duties, Carol
also pursues her love of piano by teaching children and playing
organ at church and on occasions such as weddings.
Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, where Tom teaches, has its
roots in the 19th century beginnings of the Protestant missionary
movement in Japan. It was first established in 1904 as the Tokyo
School of Theology, an independent Japanese seminary. After the
founding of the United Church of Christ in Japan (Nihon Kirisuto
Kyodan) during World War II, the seminary's current name was given.
TUTS provides well-trained church leaders for the Kyodan and the
larger Protestant community in Japan. It is the largest Christian
seminary in Japan with a diverse student body and the only seminary
which is accredited by the Japanese Ministry of Education, offering
the equivalent of B.Div., M.Div., and Th.D. degrees. Presently
about 20 percent of its student body are women and about 40 percent
are first-generation Christians.
The Hastings first came to Japan in 1979 for two years as English
teachers at the Yamanashi YMCA in Kofu where their first daughter,
Rose, was born in 1980. After some years in the United States
and further study at Wheaton College Graduate School, they returned
to Japan in 1987 with three children in tow. Their first appointment
as PC(USA) mission co-workers was at Hokuriku Gakuin Junior College
in Kanazawa where Tom was in charge of the foreign teachers and
taught English and Bible.
In 1992 they were reassigned to Kobe where Tom was associate
professor of Christian Education at Seiwa College. Their fourth
child, Katie Jo, was born in Kobe in 1994, just four months before
the big earthquake there.
Tom has a B.A. in English from Boston College and an MA in educational
ministries from Wheaton College Graduate School in Wheaton, Illinois.
In May 2004 he was awarded his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological
Seminary.
He has taught with the Peace Corps in Western Samoa, the YMCA
in Kofu, Japan, and Williamsburg Christian Academy in Virginia.
Carol earned her B.A. in music from Macalester College in St.
Paul, Minnesota, and did graduate work in piano at the New England
Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She has almost completed a master's in Christian education from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Carol, too, has taught with the Peace Corps in Western Samoa and
with the YMCA in Kofu, Japan.
Rose, Paul, and Sarah are all college graduates and all doing work related to Japan.
Katie remains at home to keep her parents feeling young. She is
a student at the American School in Japan, which is just a five
minute bicycle ride from where they live in Mitaka.
Tom is a clergy member of the Presbytery of West Jersey, and
Carol is a member of First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, New
Jersey.
Birthdays:
Tom - October 12
Carol - November 5
Rose - March 28, 1980
Paul - May 8, 1982
Sarah - January 26, 1985
Katherine - September 13, 1994
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