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We
are a fresh new bilingual church in downtown Osaka. Hope Chapel Osaka
was started three years ago, by pastor Jeff Mackay, under the guidance
of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
So What's Happening in
Osaka? HOW OUR CHURCH STARTED About three years ago my family and I moved from Hawaii to Osaka to start a new church. I was ready for a long slow church plant, but God had other plans. Hope Chapel Osaka has grown beyond my wildest dreams. We started with a few people, mostly friends, and soon grew to over thirty-two people. And what surprised me most was that we were reaching single adults. God keeps bringing new people almost every week and just this summer we baptized four people. Recently, we have felt the need for a larger facility, and so God has provided us with a new building. THREE REASONS IN A NUTSHELL There are three reasons, I believe, that Hope Chapel Osaka grew. The first reason is that it was God’s plan. The second reason is that our people have a vision for reaching their friends for Jesus. And lastly, we have adopted healthy values that create an atmosphere of love, acceptance, and forgiveness. GOD’S PLAN When we came to Japan we felt that God had a plan and a purpose. We had a sense that we were involved in something God had planned and something He was doing. The Bible says in Psalms 127:1, “Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labor in vain.” This means that own plans fail, but God’s plans succeed. Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church says that ministry is like surfing. We don’t create the wave. We just learn to ride it. So it is with God. Rick says that our job is to see what God is doing and get involved with it. For example, we didn’t really know what kind of people we would reach. But God kept sending singles to our church. So instead of trying to do create a ministry to married people, or high school people or children we mostly focused on singles. The result was that we had a lot of joy in our ministry because it seemed to come easy. It’s when we are trying to do our own ministry, in our own strength, with our own vision, that we loose our joy, burnout, or fail. In contrast, when we recognize what God is doing and join him we have joy in our lives. Of course this doesn’t mean ministry is always easy. There are many faithful servants who serve the Lord in hard places. Ministry is slow with little fruit to be shown, but even in difficult communities God is doing something, and our job is to see it and join Him in it. A VISION FOR EVANGELISM Another reason we have seen growth is that our people have a vision and heart to reach their friends for Jesus. There are three things a pastor can to do set this vision for the lost in the hearts of his people. First, he or she needs to be an example of evangelism. I try to invite people I meet to church all the time. I may meet them at Starbucks or on the train. Every where I go I carry little business cards with a map to the church. And many of my English students have attended our outreaches or services. Second, the pastor must teach the importance of reaching our lost friends. We do this in the sermons. The people see your passion to reach the lost and caught it. Third, the pastor needs to develop a team of leaders who plan events. The purpose of the events is for people from the church to invite their friends. For example, two events we have had have been really successful. One is the English party, an idea I got from Pastor Masui in Hokkaido. At our English parties we eat, talk, and play games. Our Hawaii parties are about the same but we have our youth teams from Hawaii demonstrate some of their culture, like the hula or a song. The point is to remain creative and throw a party around some theme. The purpose of the party is not to preach the gospel as much as it is to develop relationships with non-Christians and give them a good impression of Christianity. This brings me to my last point. No matter how much outreach you do, if your church atmosphere on Sunday mornings isn’t friendly, then it’s pretty hard to expect the people to come back. AN ATMOSPHERE OF LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE We try to create a Sunday service in which non-Christians are comfortable, don't feel intimidated and feel they belong. We have to create a good feeling in our church on Sunday mornings. We have to make it fun. We have to make it a church people want to invite their friends to. To do this you must do three things. First, the pastor must make every thing that happens in the service understandable to the non Christian. For example, if you are talking about Jesus that morning, do the new people really know who he was? Most non-Christian Japanese people think of him as a great religious leader. That’s all. You may have to do some explaining before they will listen to your message. Also, the message must apply even to the non-Christian. He or she has to leave feeling that your message will be helpful in real life. Second, the pastor must create a friendly environment within the church. We try to make sure that no one is left sitting alone in a corner. We show our interest in the new person and make them feel like part of the group. People who are not yet Christians are treated as if they were. After service we go out to eat and always invite the new people. It’s a great time to develop relationships. Third, the pastor and his leaders must never allow guilt to be used to manipulate church members. The word in Japanese is gimu. The idea is to give the another person pressure or expectation. For example, if someone’s ministry is making coffee, but they can’t come on a particular Sunday, we graciously release them from their commitment. Or if someone didn’t make it to church last week, we try not to make mention of it. People are under grace and they feel that freedom. The result is a happy church member with no pressure. In return they tend to be even more committed and faithful to the church and to their ministries. But how can the pastor create such a positive environment? First by setting the example and secondly by teaching the these values to your church on a regular basis. At least once a year, usually in January, I try to teach the twelve values of Hope Chapel. This puts everybody on the same page and in the same frame of mind. How do you want your church to be on Sunday morning? Can you envision it? Can you find describe it? Can you find it in the Bible? Then teach it to your people, and they will follow. IN SUMMARY In conclusion, my advice to any church planter is to first watch what God is doing and join him in it. Next, create a heart for evangelism in your people. Give them that vision. And lastly, build an atmosphere of love and acceptance in your church. Make it a church where every one will feels comfortable, feels accepted, and can make new friends. If these factors are in your church then growth becomes the natural result.
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