Merry Christmas! It has been a wonderful/crazy/exciting week. This update is going to be a little longer since we to update you on the Christmas Party, Church Launch, Christmas Candlelight Service and Christmas Eve Service. Thank you for praying.
On Friday Dec 19th, we had a Christmas Party at our house. It was a big milestone for us because we were able to invite many people we have met throughout the year. We had a total of 20 people in our house that night! We had a time of food and fun, but also got the chance to clearly share the Gospel. Takafumi shared his testimony. Then, I preached a short message about how Jesus is not a fairy tale like Santa, but rather, a living Person who spent time with sinners and called them to repentance. There were several people there who have not yet been to a church service so it was a great opportunity to lead into conversations about the Bible and the Gospel.
On Sunday afternoon Dec 22nd, we launched Kibou Baptist Church in the central part of the city. While we didn’t have the turnout we had hoped for (one always hopes for big numbers right?), we had a number of people come from the community. There were two young men who attended as well, and they are both interested in learning more about the Bible. We had a total of twelve adults in attendance.
We did things a little differently at this church start by putting an order of service on every seat with a survey on the back for them to fill out. We also had a section for people to give us their contact information if interested in getting together again to study the Bible. This seemed to be well received. We got contact information and began following up the next day.
On Sunday night, Dec 22nd, we held the Christmas Candlelight Service at the first church location. We had Bro. Tani come from Nagaoka and he played the guitar and sang some specials for us. We were also excited because Takafumi helped with leading the singing at the church. I preached on Jesus, the Light of the world. There were a total of 22 people that night.
On Tuesday night Dec 24th, we had a Christmas Eve Service at the new church location. We had one young lady play the trombone, Rosie on the piano, and Takafumi leading the singing. We also took a broad view at the story of the Bible by having several people read verses from the Bible that talk about creation, sin, and Jesus death/resurrection. The picture above is mostly the people who volunteered. We had 19 souls there for the service. The message was simple: John 3:16 – What God knows (men will perish), Who God loves (the world and every sinner), and What God gives (His Son and Salvation). Please pray for the Holy Spirit to take the Word and use it in the lives of those who came.
Here is a picture of Silas eating a noodle. Just because 🙂
We hope you enjoyed this extended Christmas update. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support. Merry Christmas!
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If you’ve read this far, you’re probably tired of reading. We will give you a break on the news this week.
Praises
- Multiple people visiting the churches for the first time
- Christmas party went well
- People getting involved and invested in the work
Prayer Requests
- Rosie’s Japanese studies
- Hope Baptist Church and the Hill Family
- People we are following up with from the services
- Ten Hundred Thousand Churches (details here)