Jitsuo Morikawa

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Jitsuo Morikawa
Born1912 (1912)
Hammond, British Columbia
DiedJuly 20, 1987(1987-07-20) (aged 74–75)
Michigan
EducationSouthern Baptist Theological Seminary, UCLA
OccupationBaptist preacher, pastor and theologian
OrganizationAmerican Baptist Churches
Known for
  • First non-American Baptist pastor
  • First pastor of the First Baptist Church in Chicago

Jitsuo Morikawa (1912 – July 20, 1987), was a Japanese-American Baptist preacher, theology and denominational leader.[1] He became the first pastor at the First Baptist Church in Chicago and also served as interim senior minister of Riverside Church in Manhattan.[2][3]

Background[]

Morikawa was born in Hammond, British Columbia, to Buddhist parents, and he was the youngest son of his father Yasutarō and mother Tora Morikawa.[4]

He became a Christian at age of 16, ordained in 1937 several years after becoming a Christian in a Baptist church in Pasadena, California.[5]

Education and career[]

He graduated from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and UCLA for his bachelor's degree. During World War II, he was forcibly placed in an internment camp at Poston, Arizona, with over 18,000 other Japanese-Americans and preached for one and half years in the camp and relocation center. Later he was released by some Baptist leaders leading him to preach in First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor and Riverside Church in New York. Until his death he was an executive with American Baptist Churches USA and had been in the Baptist denomination since 1956. Due to his Japanese ancestry, implied as a barrier in service, he later relocated to serve as West Coast pastor to three Japanese American Baptist congregations in the Los Angeles area. Morikawa became one of the key organizing members of Jubilee Advance.[6][7]

He helped in the establishment of the University of Michigan Conference on the Teaching of Ethics and Values and received six honorary doctorates of divinity over the course of his life.[5][7]

Japanese-America congregation[]

Morikawa was the first Japanese among two non-Americans to be installed as pastor in Chicago Baptist church by . He was made assistant pastor of Chicago Baptist church before the Japanese America Baptist congregation was formed, before he was installed he was associated member with the .[8] along with Morikawa became pastor of Baptist.[9]

He was the main key role that proclaimed to the resettlement of the Japanese Americans in Hyde Park-Kenwood during the early World War II and had served as pastor in Euro- American congregation together also involving in the first African-American membership in the First Baptist. In 1955, he served as Director of Evangelism of the American Baptist Church leaving the first Baptist till 1956.[10][11][12]

He became the vice-president of the American Baptist Churches that of 1984 to 1985 living his whole life in Michigan and had preach in Baptist church New Jersey during the early World War II.[7]

After being a youth pastor at the Moneta Gardena and Terminal Island Baptist churches. An evangelism was named after his death, the Jitsuo Morikawa Evangelism Award.[13]

Morikawa died July 20, 1987, of stomach cancer at University of Michigan Hospital.[7]

Personal[]

Morikawa was married to Hazel and had two sons.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ "A new standard of living—Jitsuo Morikawa and the intersection of social justice and ecological wholeness". The Christian Citizen. 2020-04-21. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  2. ^ Judiciary, United States Congress House Committee on the (1948). Providing for Equity Under Naturalization and Immigration Laws: Hearings Before Subcomm. on Immigration & Naturalization ... on H.R. 5004.
  3. ^ Paris, Peter J.; Cook, John W.; Hudnut-Beumler, James; Mamiya, Lawrence (May 2004). The History of the Riverside Church in the City of New York. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-6713-9.
  4. ^ "Reverend Jitsuo Morikawa".
  5. ^ a b "STW Elders". Seeing Things Whole. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  6. ^ "Recovering the "new evangelism"". Baptist News Global. 2014-08-22. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Rev. Dr. Jitsuo Morikawa, Former Baptist Pastor". The New York Times. 1987-07-24. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  8. ^ "The Reverend Jitsuo Morikawa from Poston is the first Japanese American to be made a Pastor of the Baptist Church ..." oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  9. ^ Leonard, Bill J. (2005-04-01). Baptists in America. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-50171-2.
  10. ^ "First Baptist Church of Chicago records". chsmedia.org. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  11. ^ "First Baptist Church of Chicago - The Oldest Baptist Church in the City - FBCC History". www.firstbaptist-chicago.org. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  12. ^ "First Baptist Chicago (Church III.) Black Metropolis Research Consortium- BMRC.CHM.FBCC_PHOTOS.SURVEYEY". www.lib.uchicago.e. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  13. ^ "Rev. Jitsuo Morikawa with Kunio Homma and Rev. & Mrs. Wada". DiscoverNikkei.org. Retrieved 2020-09-03.

Further reading[]

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