Church in Rural Japan

Lighthouse's Pie Buffet and the Lord's Work

2011-03-03T09:05:00.002+09:00

24 hours of baking, 33 pies, 50 some attendees, and countless amounts of eating pie makes out for a successful day of ministry. The lighthouse hosted an all you can eat pie luncheon on Saturday Feb 27^th. We spent all day Friday and part of Saturday morning making pies for the lunch. The lunch was held in the sanctuary and was one of the most well attended events of the year. Only a select few were actually church members or those familiar with Tsugaru church. The majority were people who were invited from friends or outside the church setting. For many it was the first time stepping into a church. Just the idea for someone to step into a church is a big step for some. It seemed that all who did attend enjoyed the nice atmosphere that was made. Everyone was able to be with someone they knew. Also, everyone filled up on pie which was great as well. It was our prayer that the Lord would bring in many and He did. The hope is that from this experience, those who attended would one day make it back to church for a worship service or another event where the gospel will be shared. Though it was a tiring event it was well worth it knowing that the seeds that were planted will not go in vain.

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Singing in Shrine.MOV

2010-06-16T08:08:00.000+09:00

Odate United Church

2010-01-06T12:16:00.003+09:00

Building

The church building is old but well maintained. There is disabled access and a wheelchair that can be used if needed. It is heated and air conditioned. It has a traditional church style with wooden pews. There are also a few meeting areas and has kitchen facilities.

Around 25 people attend worship services.

Odate Anglican Church

2010-01-06T12:16:00.001+09:00

Church been going for 103 years and was started by a missionary. Around 15 people attend the worship service regularly. They don’t currently have a pastor as the minister reached 70 and retired. A pastor from Hirosaki comes to speak at the church.

Of the church members, 3 are in their 50s, 1 in their 20s and the rest are over 60 years old.

Takanosu United Church

2010-01-06T12:15:00.000+09:00

The church runs a pre-school with around 140 kids. There are about 20 people who attend worship services regularly. Special events such as Christmas have as many as 50 people who may attend.

Takanosu Lutheran Church

2010-01-06T12:13:00.001+09:00

Missionaries have been at the church for around 8 years. 13 years ago people were praying for the church to be built and God provided a building 2 years later.

There are around 20 thousand people in the local area. The church has around 5 members but average Sunday afternoon service attendance is around 10 to 18. Of the 5 members, only 1 comes every week.

There is an evangelist who suffers depression. Every couple of months people from Odate come to speak at the church. The missionaries are currently looking for co-operating churches to pastor the church when they retire.

Ministry

There are English classes and worship services that happen regularly at the church. It was 4 years before any regular attendance at the worship services. Once a month, there is a morning breakfast for business men to come to. Via this they have had contact with people from various classes of people. There is also a child rearing scheme, which is for ages 4 and down.

They have various meals during events such as Pizza parties, BBQs etc. The church is about to go on a camp together which usually happens every summer.

How could missionaries help?

Possibly team up with Japanese pastors and evangelists and do English classes and cooking classes etc. Then the pastor can teach and pastor the people brought in via these classes.

Aikawa Lutheran Church

2010-01-06T12:12:00.005+09:00

Ministry

The minister has always been a church planter and was at a different place before coming here. Around 10 people come to the church every week. Around half of the people are 60 and over.

Every 3 months there is an outreach service and every month is a party style outreach event. The church has stopped having events for kids are they stopped coming a few years ago.

When the minister first came there were around 9 thousand people in the local community but now it has gone down to around 7 thousand people. They wanted to plant a church in a place where they was no church at all, and were praying and felt led to start a church in their home town.

Barriers

Realised that he was religious and followed Buddism but felt it was inside him and didn’t need to meet with other people but then realised that becoming a Christian was about sharing your faith and meeting with other believers. A lot of people see religion as being inside of them and when they become Christians don’t understand why they should meet up regularly.

How could missionaries help?

They find it difficult to co-operate with other churches due to distance so someone to help them to do this would be helpful.

Missionaries can come up with ideas to do things differently instead of doing things the same all the time, such as one missionary in the past suggested they change the time of the service so that they could help at another church.

Oga United Church

2010-01-06T12:12:00.004+09:00

Building

The church building has been at it’s current location for around 8 years. It has a very clean and white modern style. There are comfortable chairs in the worship room and padded floor so older people don’t slip.

They wanted to move because of the older congregation and no new people were coming to the church due to the bad location. They appealed for money for a new building for 5 years throughout Japan, but got the money in a few years and paid it all off!

The old church was called Hachiro Gata and there were around 8 to 10 members. The average age was 50s to 60s. The average age here at the current place is 70. The oldest is 85 years old. There are 3 or 4 people in their 40s, and the rest are a lot older. There are 22 members currently at church and it has grown quite a lot over the past few years. The building is located close to 3 schools so everyone knows about the church.

Ministry

There is a service for young people around 8 times a year and they also run a camp for young people during the summer. Around 8 to 10 people come to regular prayer meetings.

The minister was married around 8 years ago and she is also a minister at the church so they share responsibilities. They were both pastors at different places before coming here.

Events for older people are starting where they will be singing older Japanese songs and there are also events for young people to sing gospel songs which are quite popular.

How could missionaries help?

The minister thinks that city people tend to be able to express their faith better and share their faith better than rural people. Rural people start to come to church out of habit and not process their faith as well or share their faith with their kids etc. Missionaries can help to encourage people to do this and to add some passion into their faith.

Missionaries could help with kids programs as they are interested in overseas cultures.

...moto United Church

2010-01-06T12:10:00.000+09:00

Ministry

This is a daughter church of Oga United Church. It was started 40 years ago by members living in the area. They started a pre-school and church at same time. There are around 15 or 16 members, and 4 or 5 children at Sunday school. None of the teachers at pre-school are Christian but are sympathetic. We didn’t notice any other events besides pre-school and Sunday school and they do a Christmas service but not much else.

Minister has been there for 8 years but is leaving soon. Became a Christian when she was told Christian stories and thought she’d then like to become a Christian.

Some church members have moved to live on the church grounds and the minister also lives on the grounds.

Barriers

The minister told us that she thinks ministers in rural areas need to change regularly otherwise things start to stay the same and not really grow. Staying in the same place for 10 years isn’t really good.

Noshiro Lutheran Church

2010-01-06T12:09:00.004+09:00

Building

The church building has been at it’s current location for around 40 years and was located at a different location before that. There are a lot of well maintained wooden floors and walls throughout the building which are waxed frequently by a member of the church. It is both heated and air conditioned and has kitchen facilities. The bulletin boards were all up to date with newsletters from various Christian organisations including OMF. There is a well heated meeting room that is used for meetings during winter. There is also an average sized car park outside the building. The church used to do a pre-school so has facilities for this.

Ministry

Four elementary school students attend on Sundays and can go into a room at back of the worship room during service, but are lively and like to come in and dance around.

15 to 16 people attend worship service regularly. A 31 year old is the youngest member of the congregation (not including the kids). There are 20 members in total with 2 families that have joined this year.

There is a very friendly 56 year old female pastor who is now on her 4th year ministering at the church. Her residence is above the church. She became a Christian in Akita and was sent to be an Evangelist in Noshiro.

There are a total of 26 locations in this denomination.

59 years ago, missionaries came to the area and started ministering. It was a missionary couple from China (they were themselves western) who church planted this church and stayed here for around a year and a half.

Prayer Requests

They want to have 30 members at the church in the future and grow to have a bigger impact on the local community.

How could missionaries help?

Possibly plan some festivals and other events that would draw people in, so help with that would be good.

Noshiro United Church

2010-01-06T12:09:00.002+09:00

Building

The church building looks old and traditional on the outside but is well maintained. On the inside, it is bright and cheerful, with a welcoming entrance and fellowship area. It is both heated and air conditioned and has kitchen facilities. Bulletin boards were all up to date with recent events and pictures of members. There was also a good selection of brochures from various Christian organisations. The minister’s residence is located behind the church building and it is close to an elementary school and relatively close to the down town area.

Ministry

We could not see any sign of there being a current musician. There were some newcomers and seekers material on every pew. On average there are around 15 or 16 people in attendance at Sunday worship services - of which there are around 1/3 male, 2/3 female. The Christmas worship service had 21 people. The minister arrived last year.

Noshiro Anglican Church

2010-01-06T12:08:00.001+09:00

Building

We could not find anybody around so we could not speak to anyone about this church. The outer doors to the building were open which meant we could look inside, but the inner glass doors were locked. The building is built in an old traditional church style.

Ministry

There is no resident minister but contact phone number is on the outside board. Only the Sunday worship service is advertised, with no other known events taking place during the week.

There are said to be around 4 people that meet regularly, but we have not confirmed this.

Konakano United Church & Preschool

2009-09-04T14:13:00.002+09:00

Church Building: Both the church sanctuary and the Preschool share the same building; both were begun at the same time, eighty years ago. The sanctuary is on the upper floor (which can be a problem for elderly members who cannot manage the stairs), it's a simple arrangement of wooden pews facing the pulpit. The building is quite large, and its likely there are more rooms than the ones we saw. Eighteen of thirty members attend, with five children in the Sunday School. Parking is a problem – the church rents three parking spaces, and 'borrows' the lot next door on Sundays. But they do not actually own any parking spaces.

The Preschool: Held on the lower floor, the main preschool room is large and bright, with the kitchen and toilets leading off from the entryway. Thirty children attend the preschool, which is a significant decline from the eighty it once had. Although begun as a church preschool it eventually became classed as a government school, yet still retains its Christian-style of running by the church members. The long term plans include a renovation of the entire building, which will benefit both school and church.

Discussion with the Leader: This church is part of the German Reformed branch of the United Church. The Pastor has been here for two years, but must sadly move on soon due to family issues. He is hopeful that a new pastor will arrive quickly. He told us that the church needs to return to strong roots, based on the gospel. Good discipleship will create strength for the future of the church. The challenges include the following:

The location of the church is a difficult one for evangelism as it's primarily a commercial area – the church members opposed the location when it was suggested, but it was pushed through by a previous pastor with vision. As predicted, the church members have not been involved in much outreach.
The congregation must have the importance of living the gospel re-emphasised to them. Without that, any social action taken will be pointless and empty.

Final Impressions: The solid gospel focus of the Pastor was very impressive, particularly as this seems to be lacking within the United Church. It is a great shame that he has to move on so soon. Despite this positivity, however, the church does feel that it's in decline. Numbers are few, outreach is not happening, and the building renovation seems to lack vision. If the area is difficult to reach out to, and there is no parking, then why stay here? It would seem wiser to spend the money on moving to a new location where a bigger vision for the future can flourish. Sadly, the current state of this church does suggest that throughout its history, its members (and leaders) have often failed to look ahead of themselves.

Average age is 69. youngest member is 54.

Church in Rural Japan

Lighthouse's Pie Buffet and the Lord's Work

Singing in Shrine.MOV

Odate United Church

Odate Anglican Church

Takanosu United Church

Takanosu Lutheran Church

Aikawa Lutheran Church

Oga United Church

...moto United Church

Noshiro Lutheran Church

Noshiro United Church

Noshiro Anglican Church

Konakano United Church & Preschool

Hachinohe JECA Church

St. Luke's Anglican Church & Preschool

Kazuashima United Church

Hachinohe Lutheran Church

Hachinohe Baptist Church & Preschool

North Outreach, Hachinohe (United Church)

Hallelujah Chapel, Hachinohe (Assemblies of God)

Misawa Baptist Church

Misawa United Church

Holiness Church & Preschool, Misawa

Calvary Baptist Church, Misawa

Hirosaki (Methodist) Church

Ascension Anglican Church & Preschool, Hirosaki

Hirosaki JECA Church

Fujimi Church

Kuroishi United Church

Kuroishi Evangelical Church (JECA)

Namioka Baptist Church & Preschool

Goshogawara JECA Church

Goshogawara United Church & Preschool

Goshogawara Catholic Church & Preschool

Kizukuri United Church & Preschool

Visiting Churches in Rural Japan

A Big Advantage

Rural Japan- what is it?

A Survey

Not much time for research

Why a blog about the church in rural Japan