Ministry Emphasis

Ministry at Kanto Gakuin University (KGU) American Baptists (ABC-USA) have a rich mission history in Japan. From 1873, our churches have supported missionaries engaged in education, evangelism, church planting and leadership development. Present day Kanto Gakuin University (KGU) traces its roots back to the Japan Baptist Seminary, started by Baptist missionary, A.A. Bennett in 1884.

KGU currently enrolls 12,000 students and is related to the Japan Baptist Union (JBU). Dwight serves at the university as the Director of Religious Activities at the College of Humanities. In this capacity, he helps organize chapel activities, volunteer and relief activities, student groups, exchange trips, and special events at the university in partnership with four other college chaplains. In addition to speaking in chapel, he teaches classes in Christianity and English at two different colleges of the university, directs "The Fellowship", a campus student group led previously by ABC-USA IM missionaries Chuck and Judy DeRolf, and co-directs the "Sigma Society", a student volunteer group which focuses on international exchange activities and development work among Thai ethnic minority groups. Kari regularly volunteers at one of the Kanto Gakuin preschools, teaching English through skits, games, dancing, and songs.

Ministry in local churches Outside of school, Dwight leads a weekly Bible study at Kanto Gakuin Church, a congregation of the Japan Baptist Union which meets right on the campus of Kanto Gakuin University. He also helps a number of area church leaders of other denominations make connections with college students through various small groups.

Ministry with women in Yokohama area In 2006, Kari started a weekly English conversation group with some women she met through Yokohama International School. Through this program, native English-speaking women volunteer to teach conversational English to a group of women from various countries. The women who attend the classes make a donation in lieu of a lesson fee. So far, money donated by the group has gone to support The Asian Rural Institute in Saitama Prefecture, Japan and The House of Blessing, a daycare for Thai ethnic minority children living in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Our Latest Newsletters

• Click here for January 2010 Davidson newsletter:
  "Equipping the Saints"
• Click here for November 2009 Davidson newsletter:
  "Feed the Hungry"
• Click here to see a list of our ABC-USA IM journals

About Our Family

Dwight and Kari both grew up primarily in the Midwest, and met at Cedarville College in Ohio. They were married in 1992, and Kari graduated with a B.S.N. in 1993. Dwight, who had majored in English at Cedarville, went on to get a M.A. in English at Miami University (Oxford, OH) in 1993. They moved to Princeton, NJ, where Adam was born, and Dwight took his M.Div. from Princeton Seminary in 1996. After one year of living in Prague, Czech Republic, where Dwight studied at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, they moved back to Dayton, Ohio. Dwight was the pastor of Dorothy Lane American Baptist Church for 4 years, and Sarah was born in Dayton, in 1999. In Dayton, Kari worked as an RN, and was an active volunteer both at church and in the downtown Dayton community. In 2001, Dwight and Kari accepted the call to serve in Yokohama, and have since been serving as ABC-USA IM missionaries in Japan. Isaiah was born in Yokohama in 2003.