Church; volunteers; captivity; pressure
Breakfast this morning at the TEAM Center was terrific! French toast, bacon, yogurt, cereals, fruit, coffee and juice. Then it was off to the station to catch a bus, then a train. (What, do you have to take the bus sometimes in Japan? Yes, because to go by rail only, we'd have to go all the way into town, then all the way back out.) Then a short walk to the Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ), where the church meets.
And what a wonderful gathering it was! There were songs in both English and Japanese, and during the sermon a young man drew pictures on a whiteboard on the right side of the stage. The front/right section of the auditorium was filled with people watching the young fellow's drawings, which was like a running video commentary on the sermon. The sermon was delivered in a way very accessible to non-native English speakers. About 24 different nations were represented. Red and yellow, black and white....
We met with four out of the five pastors (the 4 who serve the church without being paid). Here are a few of their prayer requests
Would I care to unpack that? OK, sure. There are a lot of needs here, and you or I could help out here just by volunteering. By contrast, there are some churches where, if you want to help out, you'd first have to figure out who to call, then you'd have to leave a message (which might never be returned) -- if you even got that far without giving up. You might not be considered qualified to do what you're talking about. Or somebody else might be thought better qualified.
We visited Harajuku, where thousands of youth hang out and "perform" in an effort to get some attention... from anybody. Many of these kids have no idea who they are, what they should stand for, where they are headed....
And this is immediately next to the entrance of "Meiji Jingu" (shrine), a major Shinto center. It strikes us as odd that whether by adherence to a false religion (Shinto), or by refusal to conform to society's expectations (instead the youth conform to their own subculture), Satan uses this one geographical area to hold so many captive.
Please pray that this power would be broken, and that many would be set free!
What are some of the issues that the youth face regarding society's expectations? The pressure to perform. Of course there's pressure to do well in school, get into a good university, get a good career with a good company. But besides that, take a look at this picture of the train platform.
On the left-hand platform, the sign is a little clearer; trains come at 16:13 and 16:18. 5-minute headways. On the right-hand platform, 16:12 and 16:15, 3-minute headways. Those are real schedules. The train arrives, the guy at the back of the train opens the door and then gets out himself, checks his watch and pushes the button to play this particular train's music, announces departure, blows the whistle and shuts the doors at the appointed time, and the train takes off. I remember reading once that the standard deviation for departure times was 8 seconds. Put differently, only 1 train in 30 is off by more than 24 seconds.
And there are markings on the floor to show where the doors will be when the train stops. The drivers of these things have to take the train from its full running speed (which based on the feel of the breeze is at least 30-40mph) to a dead stop in one smooth motion, and the train has to stop within 30cm (one foot!) of the indicated stopping point. If you can't do that, pal, we've got 25 guys lined up, waiting to take your place. No pressure, though.
By the way, there are a lot of people at this station. I mean, this picture really does not do justice to the crowd. And this was about 4 Sunday afternoon!
Sylvia has some better photos; I may post some tomorrow.
posted from Japan, 9pm Sunday Sept 10
And what a wonderful gathering it was! There were songs in both English and Japanese, and during the sermon a young man drew pictures on a whiteboard on the right side of the stage. The front/right section of the auditorium was filled with people watching the young fellow's drawings, which was like a running video commentary on the sermon. The sermon was delivered in a way very accessible to non-native English speakers. About 24 different nations were represented. Red and yellow, black and white....
We met with four out of the five pastors (the 4 who serve the church without being paid). Here are a few of their prayer requests
- Wisdom and guidance from the Spirit to juggle multiple responsibilities, separate the urgent from the important, etc.
- Many church attendees are women whose husbands don't believe, or kids with unbelieving parents, etc. Please pray for whole families to come to faith.
- For attendees with mental illnesses, or problems needing counseling or psychological/psychiatric help. How can the church deal with this? Counselor training? Theophostic ministry? Please pray that the Lord would send forth laborers with the right skills and gifts.
- Many attendees would like to share the gospel with their friends/family/neighbors -- or rather, they want a pastor to share the gospel; they're willing to interpret. Please pray that these dear brothers and sisters would be equipped, confident and willing to do this ministry and not "bottleneck" on the pastors.
- With the seating on Sunday morning 70% full, they want to plant a new church to enable more growth. Please pray that the Lord would direct this effort. Where should the church plant be? When should this happen? Who should be involved -- teaching, administration, attendance?
- Alpha program: They have run this a couple of times, with about 50 attending (couples, children, babysitters) and all need to be fed! Please pray for a member to be willing to take on leadership for this program (again, somebody other than a pastor).
- Continued unity in the congregation and on the pastoral team. Many denominations are represented in the congregation.
Would I care to unpack that? OK, sure. There are a lot of needs here, and you or I could help out here just by volunteering. By contrast, there are some churches where, if you want to help out, you'd first have to figure out who to call, then you'd have to leave a message (which might never be returned) -- if you even got that far without giving up. You might not be considered qualified to do what you're talking about. Or somebody else might be thought better qualified.
We visited Harajuku, where thousands of youth hang out and "perform" in an effort to get some attention... from anybody. Many of these kids have no idea who they are, what they should stand for, where they are headed....
And this is immediately next to the entrance of "Meiji Jingu" (shrine), a major Shinto center. It strikes us as odd that whether by adherence to a false religion (Shinto), or by refusal to conform to society's expectations (instead the youth conform to their own subculture), Satan uses this one geographical area to hold so many captive.Please pray that this power would be broken, and that many would be set free!
What are some of the issues that the youth face regarding society's expectations? The pressure to perform. Of course there's pressure to do well in school, get into a good university, get a good career with a good company. But besides that, take a look at this picture of the train platform.
On the left-hand platform, the sign is a little clearer; trains come at 16:13 and 16:18. 5-minute headways. On the right-hand platform, 16:12 and 16:15, 3-minute headways. Those are real schedules. The train arrives, the guy at the back of the train opens the door and then gets out himself, checks his watch and pushes the button to play this particular train's music, announces departure, blows the whistle and shuts the doors at the appointed time, and the train takes off. I remember reading once that the standard deviation for departure times was 8 seconds. Put differently, only 1 train in 30 is off by more than 24 seconds.
And there are markings on the floor to show where the doors will be when the train stops. The drivers of these things have to take the train from its full running speed (which based on the feel of the breeze is at least 30-40mph) to a dead stop in one smooth motion, and the train has to stop within 30cm (one foot!) of the indicated stopping point. If you can't do that, pal, we've got 25 guys lined up, waiting to take your place. No pressure, though.
By the way, there are a lot of people at this station. I mean, this picture really does not do justice to the crowd. And this was about 4 Sunday afternoon!Sylvia has some better photos; I may post some tomorrow.
posted from Japan, 9pm Sunday Sept 10
posted by Collin at 4:17 AM
1 Comments:
I likes the pictures! It's amazing that you are running two blogs from a foreign country while visiting all these places and meeting and praying for lots of ppl. Keep up the good work! Miss you!
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