Japan 1

UNITY IN THE GOSPEL

Here in Japan, a country with almost no Christians, simply to have a visitor at our church is the highlight of the year. It can become tempting for the sake of evangelism to lower our standards and dilute the Gospel—or else to do the opposite and become so exclusive and zealous that the doors are effectively closed against the world. Our Lord has been guiding our church recently to be unified in our worship, in Spirit and truth, while also reaching out to the lost. Please pray that our church will continue proclaiming the Gospel without compromise.

NO BAPTISMS

As a church we have always baptized new brothers and sisters in May when we celebrate our church’s anniversary. God has blessed us for the past three anniversaries with a baptism at the river. All glory to our God who is calling His people from many nations as He promised. Though this year we will not have a baptism on our anniversary day, we still have several adults and young unbelievers attending our church and hearing the gospel. We will celebrate our anniversary at the river praising God and waiting patiently for His word to produce the fruit of salvation in His time. We are called to be patient with evangelism, and not attempt to rush it by the means of the flesh. We want to remember that some of our members became Christians after ten years of us persevering in sharing of the gospel with them. So this year we will rejoice, waiting on our God and His word to produce life from dead bones.

CHURCH RETREAT 

Our church is planning to have another retreat next month. Our theme for this retreat is The Early Church (Acts 2). These retreats are for worshiping our Lord in unity by serving each other, studying scripture, training brothers in teaching, praying, and evangelizing. Some of our brothers and sisters today were introduced to our church through these retreats. This time we will have ten guests coming from Peru and Brazil. Please pray for our Lord to be honored and glorified by his people as we share the Gospel with the world.

PERSONAL EVANGELISM

There is no evangelism without words. The best expression of friendship is to open a Bible with your friends and seek for our Lord’s blessing. Praise God, some of our brothers and sisters have been advancing toward this goal, already meeting weekly with unbelieving friends for coffee or dinner with an open Bible before them. Please pray for those who are still rejecting the gospel, that they would be receptive to scripture. Pray for those who are already studying scripture, and that we would persevere in sharing the truth of Christ with them.