The Church Building: Although the exterior of the building is quite striking, the design and decoration of the inside feels very lacking in character. Quite a spacious church, it has no problem catering to its congregation, which fluctuates between twenty and thirty in attendance. No meetings were mentioned aside from the Sunday worship service. There are no children, and so no Sunday school. The youngest person attending is thirty-five.
Discussion with the Leader: The Pastor told us that he had decided to become a minister after his father died, because he felt that he needed to “take things more seriously”. In looking to the future, the Pastor aims to bridge the gap between the church and the youth of the next-generation. The attending members don't bring their children. He is also aware that few people know of the church's existence, which he hopes to change – he's begun building a church website. Perhaps most importantly, the people of the church themselves need to change, and be more welcoming to visitors. At the moment, their attitudes seem to create a barrier to any newcomers. The following challenges were mentioned:
As long as the Buddhist temples remain the primary provider of cemetery plots, people will not commit wholly to the church.
The Japanese Church (as a whole) is desperate because there is so little youth interest.
Final Impressions: It is not impossible to get young people into a church which has none, but it is an extremely difficult task. The Pastor recognises the need, but the impression is that he has no real idea how to actually go about solving it. The congregation also seems disinterested in working to build any future for the church. It remains a common problem to Japanese churches, in all fairness, but more creative thinking is urgently required. As for the Pastor himself, with no real talk of Jesus or the gospel, it's tough to understand his faith or motivation. What exactly did becoming a pastor serve in respect to “taking things more seriously”?
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