I started serving in Taihei Chapel Christ Church in Sapporo after I graduated from language school. To many of us, Taihei is a “mini” church because we only have three church members. Even though we only have very limited resources, Pastor Matsuda, Yumi (his wife), and I work hard to try out new things to reach out to neighbours in the area.
In April last year I started my first kid’s English class at Taihei. We gave out 4,500 flyers and only one student, Megumi,* came to join the class. Honestly, at first I was a little bit frustrated and I said to myself: Evangelism in Japan is far more difficult than I thought!
But when I shared this with other OMF missionaries, they encouraged me not to give up and keep praying to God because Megumi may be the first and later she may bring more students to come. Since then, I continued to pray for Megumi and asked my supporters in Hong Kong to pray for her too. At the Thanksgiving event at the church, Megumi brought her whole family (five members including her). Because of that, we had a chance to talk to her mother and she told us that her son also wanted to come to the English class. And praise the Lord that we have two students now in kid’s English class (with a 100% growth)!
For Taihei, this is of course only a baby step forward, but we trust that God will continue to guide us through all challenges ahead of us. Both of the students came to the church’s Christmas party last December and the English Day Camp in April this year. I look forward to seeing and experiencing God’s amazing work in Taihei and use this “mini” church to be the witness for Christ to Japanese people in the area.
By Nic, an OMF missionary
*Not her real name
