A Sunday at church in Japan

There aren't many Sundays at church in Japan. This is because there are very few Christians here. In Chiba alone, there are less than eight thousand Christians among three million people. This should give some perspective on the amount of work that MTW (Mission to the World) would like to accomplish in advancing the gospel. We were fortunate to worship today with Oyumino Alive, the branch of Oyumino Christ Church (Presbyterian Church in Japan) where Jon and Sarah worship. After a special Mother's Day celebration, we heard a sermon on Romans 6 from guest speaker Yasunari Uchida. Interestingly, he attended Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI while I attended Calvin College.





After a delicious lunch prepared by Sarah Pfeil, we went to Sumodon, a time of fellowship with youth at the Oyumino Christ Church property. Jon invented some fun games that combined chopsticks and starbursts that were enjoyed by all. It was a blessing to spend time with these people and to see the church in action. Talking with Dan Iverson, local church planter of 23 years, made us aware of how important it is for us to continue to send and support missionaries like the Pfeils to Japan.





We ended the evening by going out for sushi with some people from Sumodon. Favorite dishes included maguro (tuna) and unagi (eel), while almost everyone agreed that uni (sea urchin) and squid were less desirable (actually, pretty disgusting). For dinner, we had a green tea and Oreo McFlurry from McDonald's - it was pretty good in my opinion. Overall, today was a great introduction to church life in Chiba. Tomorrow we'll be going to Tokyo, and seeing a different side of Japan.