Time for church to more than just survive

Life in Japan is very challenging spiritually. There is so much distraction and secular ideas that even Japanese Christians seemed tired and almost giving up on evangelism. Sometimes I wonder what keeps the Japanese from hearing this news.

And Japanese Christian presence is very small. And it has been that way for decades. I can't really discuss much about the history and theoretical things, but, here are my impressions and thought of church after spending years in Alabama.

Church lacks sense of community. Church is not a building, not a place of worship, but the body of Christ, Christians form the body. thus form church. As Paul says, if one part of the body hurts, the rest also hurts together, and one part received a joy, then everybody else share the joy as well. When first church was formed, they met everyday, shared meals, and worship the Lord together as Acts reports.

Jesus also says in the scripture that we are salt and light of the world. And being a Christian only on Sundays doesn't make us salt and light. This body of believers need to let people know that something is different about these people.

If you are happy and filled with joy, you may skip around or hum your favorite tunes and some people may get curious and ask you what happens that makes you happy. I think if church is full of joy, then people get interested and curious about what is going on. When church is blended in completely with outside world, then people don't notice even its existence. 

Speaking of joy, Acts says first church met everyday and shared meals with "glad and sincere hearts." In 2014, we can say we have more stressful life than people in the first church thanks to the amount of information and complexity of the society. Then how much more we in 21st Century should meet and break bread together?

When my young adult group talked about how we could attract young people and keep them connected to the church, I mentioned the need of having a small group on a weekday, a setting where we can have spiritual conversation, study the scripture, and pray for each other. But, majority of the group said they were too busy to come to church or have the time for the meeting (many of our church members live far from church). I understand and I think that's very common among young Japanese. But, we should not give up on this. And I feel unless church is ready and willing to make and develop relationships with new comers, they don't stay.

I hear some people saying it's enough for themselves to be able to attend worship service or to hear encouraging sermons. Although that's all great, we should be mindful of the words from James "faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (2:17) and Paul "offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship" (Romans 12:1). I feel that sometimes many Christians in Japan see themselves as audience, expecting great shows on every Sunday. But, worship service is really about what we offer to the Lord, the audience. We offered the best of us before the presence of God.

In their song Thrive, Casting Crowns sing...

We know we were made for so much more than ordinary life
It's time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive 

 There are a lot of discussion within my church of its survive, but I pray we will be a thriving church in this city of Tokyo.

Transition from Alabama to Tokyo

So, this is my first post since January. A lot happened to this date.

First of all, I moved back to Tokyo. There are a few reasons in this move, but I'm gonna leave just the fact that the Lord convinced me to come back. I prayed again and again that He let me stay longer, but I had to say bye to my 2nd home.

A lot happened though. I became a barista at a coffee shop called Seeds Coffee. I got to do something like

This

or this

or this

So that was a fun place to work at. I've never imagined myself in food and drink field but I liked it so much that now I'm seeking a barista job as my potential career path. It wasn't just about coffee, but it was also interaction with customers and friends. As a believer working at a shop with fellow Christians brought a lot of joy and sense of community.

(By the way Seeds Coffee is having a benefit dinner in next week. So if you are in Birmingham area and interested in what they do and supporting them, please go to seedscoffee.com.)

I moved back to Tokyo in August and now live with my family, looking for work opportunity. While looking for work, I was connected with missionaries from Australia and the U.S. who run SonRise Cafe in Tokyo. It is a blessing to get to work with people seeking to spread the Good News of the Salvation. 

So just these are some update. On next post I'm going to talk a little about spiritual life in Tokyo.

"Full time" ministries

Having been involved in one of micro-churches and their network and ministries, I have begun to think that disciple-making requires "full time" engagement. And this "full time" does not mean 9-to-5 or more than 8 hours per day. It literally mean full time, and you need to contribute all of your time.

Today's church is highly institutionalized and professionalized. It is required to have completed advanced education to become a pastor. A church needs staffs for administrative tasks and to take care of its building. And words like "full time" and "part time" are attached to ministers and staffs alike. Apparently there are "certificate" of baptism for members and when moving membership between churches, there needs to be transaction.

Jesus told his disciples "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19 NIV)

There is not such things like "full time" or "part time" in disciple-making  There shouldn't be. Whether you are on or off, in up time or off time, Christians are witness to the world and tasked to make disciples "full time". Not just Sunday morning. Not just during service or even mission trip. Any day, any time.

Church is a community of believers. It is not about buildings nor about how services is good or sermon is appealing. It is about engagement to one another. Not about how you connect with other members on Sunday, but rather every day. Not about spending a couple of hours in Sunday morning in one building and sanctuary, then saying each other "have a nice week." It's about "hi, what's going on?", "How can I pray for you?", "Anything I can do for you?", "Let's hang out."

In Acts, there is a description of the earliest church.

"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46-47)

They meet and shared meals every day, not just on Sundays. They engaged each other "full time."

I hear description of modern church as a "country club of Christians" frequently these days. To certain degree, I agree with it. Somewhere you have to dress up nicely. You may be welcome at your first service at the church, then nobody talks to you after 2nd or 3rd visit.

Church sometimes labels first-time attendees of the service as "guests." It sounds nice but I think it's a very offensive word. A guest is usually a visitor who do not come back some time soon or ever. So, when church addresses the person who attended the service for the first time as a guest, it can be taken as saying "thank you for coming, but we really like the way we are now, so don't come back if you are going to change it."

I'm not saying having a building or trained teachers or ministers is a bad thing. Nor institutionalizing a church. It can enforce the ministries and help respond to complex issues presented today. But, it can also be distraction from disciple-making and "full time" engagement.

Appreciation of originality

I was upset when I was watching my favorite Ghibli movie, Porco Rosso, with my friends. In Japanese original version, after Curtis, Porco's rival, shoots down his plane after its engine stops and picks up a part of plane on the sea, he says it's going to be a great souvenir to his mother in Alabama. In English-dubbed version, Alabama is replaced by Texas. Why did they do that? Why not just keep Alabama? Sure, Texas may be more famous and popular than Alabama, but is that a deal big enough to change?

I prefer subtitle to dubbing when watching movies in foreign languages. I like the authenticity. Even long before I came to the U.S. and improve my English, I always watched movies like Titanic, the Matrix, Star Wars with subtitle.

It seems in the U.S. people do not appreciate originality as much. Look at Japanese restaurants in this country. Most of them are stake houses. You rarely see them in Japan. Japanese food is not about the performance of throwing a chunk of meats up in the air or making fire on the flattop. There are restaurants that set up flattops in front of guests, but it's for serving food before getting cooled.

In Japan, when you want to eat sushi, you go to a place that serve sushi. if ramen noodle, go to a ramen restaurant (Ramen food market is very intense in Japan by the way). If tempura, go to a tempura place, and so on.

I understand "stake house" is more marketable to Americans and Japanese cuisine may be too various to serve in one restaurant. I don't think one restaurant cannot serve sushi, the best known Japanese cuisine while also serving less famous dishes like okonomiyaki or Japanese curry rice. 

Even sushi is different. California rolls is more liked than nigiri of raw tuna or salmon. I know that raw fish can be hard for some people to eat. But, instead of thinking Japanese is weird for eating raw fish, people should be educated and know that raw fish can taste great.

I do actually like Japanese  stake house. I think it's creative and obviously it's successful. But, at the same time, I want people to learn what it came from, what authentic Japanese cuisine is.

Same with movies. even if you don't understand Japanese, you should be able to catch the emotion and feeling behind the voice. That's why I like subtitle rather than dubbing that can change what it says or take away something important.

Drug free

Can we, as human being, be drug free? That question popped up in my head today as I was watching a news during my lunch.

It was the news on CNN that FDA told doctors not to prescribe large dose of a particular drug. One guy in the deli asked me if I think it's crazy.

I'm not a specialist and have no clue about this drug. Certainly I do not have answer for this guy. But, my general stance is that the less drug, the better.

I know that some people need to take medicine constantly, and I understand that. I am thankful for the pain killer after my surgery to take out wisdom teeth. I am thankful for anesthesia. But, didn't we used to go without those drugs for a long time in the past? We didn't need government to tell what drug you can or can't take.

Now we have issues with drug addiction, allergy, complication... I feel like human has become so dependent on those substance that it began to control our lives instead of us controlling it.

Although I appreciate the pain killer (vicodin), I'd never liked it. It made me dizzy and made it hard to focus. When I got out of it a week after surgery, I started to have headache because my body became addicted to it. When I had sinusitis (inflammation of prenasal sinuses), I was prescribed antibiotics, but it took away my appetite.

Luckily, I don't have any allergy other than some pollen (which caused sinusitis). But, I just wonder why human began to have all kinds of allergy. Is it because of all the artificial substances (artificial flavor, sweetener, etc)? Did people in the early age, like pre-industrial age, have the same allergy that we have now or is it something we developed recently?

Modern medicine may be helping us to live longer. Or maybe it means that we've become lazy and dependent on drug or supplement. (I've seen articles saying that it's more effective to take nutrition from food than from supplement.)

Considering all the issues that drugs are creating, I think that ultimate goal of medicine is to make people healthier without relying on drugs.

Looking back 2013

On New Year's Eve, I was with friends and talking about best things and worst things in 2013. In my case, the best thing is that I graduated, and the worst thing is that I graduated. Sounds interesting, right?

I didn't imagine to do graduate study when I started college at JSU. But, now I have both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Now I can do research with statistical analysis. I learned nonprofit management and fundraising.

But, now I'm stuck and have no idea of what path I should take. I spent the second half of the year just searching for an opportunity with no success. I have had a couple of interview either over the phone or face-to-face toward the end of the year, but I closed the year with no clear sight of next step.

In terms of career development, 2013 saw no progress. Yes I graduated, but now what? And the question remains unanswered. 

I have added Ph.D. as another option. I don't know if academia is right for me, and I've never thought it would be. But, as I researched for my graduate research project, I enjoyed finding data and running analysis.

I think my faith was tested during the time of hardship. For the first time in my life, I left stranded. God pushed me into a dark hallway with many doors and I couldn't see far. As I was entering a room close to me, He closed. I tried another one, and He closed it again. It's like he is telling me not to trust my eyes, but Him. I started seek more words from Scripture.

I hope I have more clarity in 2014. But I also want to be hungry for God's guidance and His words.