Pastors

Paster Noriko Froyland
Guided by faith with the words the Load said to Thomas "Blessed are those who believe without seeing." she was baptized in Easter in 1979, then graduated from the Kindergarten Department of Tokyo Gakugei University. Married Erik Floylan, a missionary of the Norwegian Mission Alliance in 1985, and was blessed with two daughters. After the pastoral services at Nitta Church (Ichikawa City) and establishment of the Diaconia Center, she received the ordination as a missionary in 1990 from the general manager and missionary manager of the Norwegian Mission Alliance. She moved to Nagano Prefecture in 2000. In 2003, togather with her husband Erik, she founded the Yatsugatake Central Church in Hara Village and served as a pastor. She became a deputy minister of the Church in 2013 and was approved as a minister at the 2020 Congregational Assembly, helping and supporting her sick husband.

Founder Pastor Erik Froyland
Born in Norway in 1946. He graduated from Norwegian Royal Theological University in Oslo in 1974 and was sent to Japan as a missionary in 1979. He and his wife Noriko have two daughters. For the first 15 years since he came to Japan, he conducted missionary work in Chiba Prefecture while preparing to start a center for the promotion of both mental and physical health (Diakonia Center) in Japan. In Tokyo he engaged in chaplaincy work in mental health care under Dr. Masami Hirayama. He then moved with his family to Nagano Prefecture, relocated the Diakonia Center, and started and pastored the Yatsugatake Central Church. Passed away on May 21, 2022.