Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

JAPANESE CHRISTIAN CONGRESS

Date

1939

Materials

STEEL, RAYON

No. Pieces

1

Height

0.4

Length

13.5

Width

4

Description

CIRCULAR BLUE STEEL BUTTON WITH WHITE RAYON RIBBON ATTATCHED TO IT. BUTTON HAS CROSS AT CENTER WITH TWO COLUMNS OF JAPANESE CHARACTERS ON EITHER SIDE AND "PAN-AMERICAN JAPANESE CHRISTIAN CONGRESS" AND "LOS ANGELESE AUG-1939" AROUND EDGE. RIBBON HAS ONE COLUMN OF BLUE JAPANESE CHARACTERS. BOTTOM EDGE OF RIBBON IS FRAYING.

Subjects

DOCUMENTARY ARTIFACT

Historical Association

COMMEMORATIVE

History

PIN WAS GIVEN TO DONOR'S FATHER, REV. G.G. NAKAYAMA, WHO ATTENDED THE CONGRESS IN 1939. REV. NAKAYAMA TRAVELLED EXTENSIVELY AS A MISSIONARY AND SPEAKER. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THE DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON G.G. NAKAYAMA, WAS AN ANGLICAN MINISTER IN VANCOUVER, AND THEN ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION IN COALDALE IN 1945 WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1970. SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY. THE FOLLOWING MEMORIES WERE PROVIDED BY REVEREND TIM NAKAYAMA IN A LETTER TO THE GALT ON 16 AUGUST, 2007. HE WROTE: “INTERNATIONAL AND INTERDENOMINATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS HAD DEVELOPED AMONG THE JAPANESE AMERICAN AND JAPANESE CANADIAN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AND CLERGY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES – PARTICULARLY IN THE YEARS AROUND THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY. THE WORD “FEDERATION” AND “COUNCIL OF CHURCHES” (TERMS USED IN THE EARLY PERIOD OF ECUMENICAL RELATIONSHIPS IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA). THESE TERMS WERE IN COMMON USE AMONG THE JAPANESE ETHNIC CHURCH RELATIONSHIPS WHICH PRE-DATE SOME INTER-DENOMINATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE MAJORITY COMMUNITIES. THE COOPERATION AMONG THE JAPANESE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES DEVELOPED OUT OF NECESSITY, OUT OF THE FERVENT DESIRE TO WORK TOGETHER TO ADDRESS TOGETHER THE “MISSION OF THE CHURCHES”. THE JAPANESE CHURCHES FELT SOMEWHAT ISOLATED BY THEIR DENOMINATIONAL IDENTITIES, AND BEGAN BY DEVELOPING INTER-CHURCH COOPERATION WITHIN THEIR ETHNIC COMMUNITY. REGIONAL COOPERATION ALSO BEGAN TO DEVELOP. THE ECUMENICAL LANGUAGE IDENTIFIES WHEN THE CONNECTION DEVELOPED AND THE COOPERATION AMONG THE CHURCHES, CLERGY AND LAY LEADERS IN THE CITIES IN VANCOUVER, SEATTLE, AND OTHER COMMUNITIES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER AND THEIR INTER-CITY AND INTER-NATIONAL COOPERATIVE ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS OVER THE YEARS. [THIS RIBBON] IS A SURVIVING EXAMPLE.”

Catalogue Number

P19970041517

Acquisition Date

1997-01

Collection

Museum

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