Reaching children

Today we went to another church in the morning. One of the good things about having the Hiragishi service in the afternoon is that we can occasionally go elsewhere in the morning for a visit. The church has an interesting name - it could be translated as 'Love your neighbour' Church though that sounds a little odd in English. Anyway, this a church which has been going for more than 20 years and has three large buildings on its land. What is impressive is that these buildings are filled with energy and life on a Sunday morning, not least with lots of children. The church has always had a particular ministry focus on children - indeed they have something on each day for children. They have a couple of buses which pick up children from further away and bring them on a Sunday morning. We attended the early morning Kids Special - around 100 children were there for an 8.45 start! It was great - fun, lively, welcoming, worshipful and an excellent Bible message by the pastor. The main worship service follows at 11am and around a third of the children stay on for that. We were impressed by the dedicated team which gives of their time and energy week by week to reach these children for Jesus. We came away with some ideas of what we might be able to do here in Hiragishi as we look to start some outreach to local kids over the coming months.