Japan Missions Trip 2016: Day 9 - April 3 - Old friends and a new church

We travelled to Nishinomiya again today, this time to attend a church known as Crossroad Church. Our friends from Washington, USA, are very involved there and it was a thrill to hear the pastor preach a very passionate message on 'second chances' from the lives of two disciples, Peter and Thomas. It was an encouragement, not only that God is the God of the second chance, but also that when He gives us that second chance, He expected us to do something with it. You can even listen to the message on-line already!

At the beginning of the service, the pastor also spoke briefly about the issue of the grave and what happens to a person's body when they die. In Japan, the role of Buddhism is very strong and had lots of rules and regulations when it comes to death and the responsibility a family has to perform various rituals to ensure all goes well with a person in the afterlife.

Pastor Fumi has recognised that for Christians, there can be uncertainty about what will happen to them after death (their body of course), and in light of this, he feels it is necessary to address the subject with the church. One of the practical steps the church is considering is the purchase of a gravesite that Christians can use and thus remove some of this uncertainty.

We were able to spend some time connecting with folks after the service and also a little more time with our friends the Rudolph's which is always fun.

Crystal was even able to chat with Bruce, a missionary she met when she lived in Southern Osaka about 20 years ago!

This church is in it's infancy as it was born out of a house church and is now in need of structure and some organization to help it function in it's new environment.

One of the church members who's been involved from the early days was curious to find out what input I could provide from a church administrator's perspective.

I'll certainly have to think about that and see what help I can give in this area.