Sunday

On Sunday, I took the shinkansen (bullet train) up to Sendai to visit some Christians there. It was amazing. Quite an eye opener. They truly understand that Christ wants none to perish, but have eternal life.

This is not a western church. There are no buildings with steeples or crosses on them. This is a church made up of like minded people who are working every day to get the gospel message out. I can't give you an address of the church...it doesn't exist. It is a group of families that own businesses. The businesses support the evangelism. There is a kindergarten/english school, a computer software company and a sound/film/animation studio...maybe more. Each country/area they go to, once the group of Christians there grows big enough, they start a business to help fund their evangelism. They have teams in just about every south east Asia country except for North Korea. For the last 20 years, they have given out the gospel message to every student in the Thailand school system...they are very open there. To keep Christians in China, they have started an exporting company there. When the government catches someone preaching the gospel there, they can say that they work at the company and after a few hours interrogation, they are let go.

Three brothers from America came to Japan after the war and are what you might call elders of the group. There are other patriarchs as well from various places. Their families are amazing. Most folks in the group know at least 3 languages. Most of the children were taught Japanese, English, and Chinese. They travel all over Japan and Asia sharing the gospel. Some will travel, others will work to support them. It is a very fluid group and they go where God leads. In the meeting Sunday, a brother from Brazil said they were having problems there, so the group was going to send a family there for a few years to help out. One of the guys at the church was my interpreter for the whole meeting, which went from 9:30 to 12:30ish. There was singing (old hymns...it was interesting to hear the singing in many languages at one time), speaking, communion, and then lunch...followed by fellowshipping.

There's no formal training these folks go through, but then again neither did Paul or Peter or any other apostles. There's no earthly organization that ordains them. They are simply living out the great commission...going and sharing the good news. They don't plant churches per se, they believe that God will gather the believers together in each area they visit and that God will provide. That is something I heard back in the US from a respected teacher recently...the church should be helping Christians rely on God more and more...Christians shouldn't be relying on the church more and more.

I will be leaving Tokyo today and heading back up toward Sendai to an area where some of the Christians are working and preparing to go back out. I don't know what I'll be doing yet, but that keeps it interesting. :)

--David