A Busy Weekend

This past weekend saw us once again rent the kindergarten building we have used before for Hiragishi Church events. On Saturday we held a UK Culture Day. A team of six from the UK are spending a month working with a church near us and came along to help in different ways. We had fun with icebreaker and other games; we heard about the different parts of UK culture; shared about the significance of the crosses on the flag; sang a traditional song; enjoyed some Scottish country dancing; and ended with a traditional afternoon tea complete with cucumber sandwiches and scones with jam and cream. It was great to welcome people who we know well and have come along to events before. It was also a joy to see a number of people there for the first time. There was a great atmosphere with time to chat to many of the guests who were there. For a small church like ours to hold something like this is always a challenge and we were glad of the help of the team from the UK. These kind of events are 'easy to come to' and offer a low key way to get to know people in our community and a place where we can invite folks we have been getting to know well. People are at ease coming. Our hope is that some will want to know more and come along again. Everyone took home a card with some details of Izumi Church and an invite to some other events we plan to hold in the autumn. As soon as the Culture Day finished we were straight into an overnight camp for the children from Lorna's English classes - but that blog can wait for another day.

Valentine's Day

At this time of year in Japan the department stores and supermarkets fill with various chocolate goodies as Valentine's Day approaches. Here it is a little different as it is only the guys who receive chocolates on 14th February. The ladies get their turn a month later on White Day. All good business for the chocolate makers no doubt. While Valentine's Day may not be a time that is normally marked in churches round the world, some here have used this as an occasion for an outreach event. This year the younger folks in Izumi Church - JP and Nora along with Sambi - are planning a simple get together at the Kochs' home over lunch on 13th February. It will be very low-key with food, chat, making something together. Sambi has some friends that she is keen to invite. Wataru (who is studying the Bible with David and JP just now) will come too. As we were talking about dates, Sambi was keen to have something over lunch on the Sunday as then her friends could come along to the worship afterwards later in the afternoon. It's a real joy for us to see Sambi using her gifts, looking for opportunities to invite friends and especially being keen that they can come along to the worship too. How we long to have more believers like her and to be able to help them to grow and play their part in the building up of God's kingdom in Japan. We are looking forward to see what God will do this Valentine's Day. It was on that very day last year that Wataru first came to church - he only came because he was invited on that day but now he really enjoys being part of the fellowship and is edging closer to faith in Jesus. You just never know what God might use to draw someone to himself - even something like Valentine's Day!

First big outreach

Two weeks ago we had some guests from Singapore, four ladies and two men from our colleague How Chuang's home church. They had come on what they called a 'vacation with a purpose'. After a holiday in Hokkaido, they came to Hiragishi to help us for a few days. We spent some time prayer walking in the area and delivering leaflets by a well-known Christian author. Since a few weeks before we had been giving out leaflets and invitation cards for a special event to friends and contacts, as well as having aroujnd 4000 distributed via the local newspaper. In many ways this has helped raise the profile of the church in the area and simply make the existence of our church known. As we meet in our house, there is of course no obvious church building. The special event was a Singapore Culture Day when people could hear something of Singapore and its different cultures, enjoy traditional songs and dances, and taste some local delicacies. One of the team shared a short testimony. We had been praying for 50 to come. We didn't actually have 50 guests but on the day, including the Singapore team and church folks, we had exactly 50 there, which turned out to be just right for numbers. Most of those there were people we have got to know, through school, English classes or just folks we have met locally. There were lots of encouragements. For many of those who came it was their first time to a church event. We don't know what seeds have been sown but trust that this has been a significant, if small, step forward in the life of Hiragishi Izumi Church.

Planning an event

As we have lived in Hiragishi for the last 17 months or so, it has been encouraging gradually to get to know people and to build up relationships with people in the area. A number of friends and colleagues have also put us in touch with people they know who live round about. There is a lot of potential in Hiragishi. So far we have built things up slowly, partly because we have not had the time or resources to devote to things which require a large investment of time or people. However, we are now planning one event and one special worship service next month, and we have other ideas to build on those over the coming months. A few folks from one of our colleague's home church are coming to Hokkaido for a holiday next month and would like to spend a few days helping us in Hiragishi. The main event we will have is what we are calling a Singapore Cultural Day, a low-key, 'easy to come along to' event with a taste of Singaporean culture, music, dance, games and food, and a simple testimony by one of the visitors. We have designed fliers and are sending these to people we know and distributing them more widely in the area. We have no idea how many might come. But hopefully it will be a chance just to get to know people in an informal and relaxed setting, and perhaps be a first step for some in a journey of faith.