From Maiko, Earth Ministry's Intern
I found an interesting coincidence..
Kanzo Uchimura was a Christian leader in Japan about 100 years ago. He is known as a founder of Mukyokai, one of movements among Japanese Christians. This movement focused more on the relationship between Jesus and each Christian in fellowships than the importance of existence of church. There is a teacher in the fellowship instead of a pastor. Through this movement, he had strongly been waiting for expanding of Christianity in Japan, which has not happened yet. He says in his book, “There are two J’s for me to love. One is Japan, another is Jesus.”
This line reminded me of JxJ. JxJ is a Japanese ministry group here in Seattle. This group was founded by Japanese Christian students from Japan studying at colleges or university in Seattle in 2006. There is an event once a month where anybody is welcome to eat Japanese food, sing worship songs in Japanese, and hear testimonies. This group had built the good relationships with Japanese people living in Seattle through the fellowship. On the other days, I asked one of the founders of JxJ about the reason of their naming with an expectation its relation to Kanzo Uchimura. She said, “JxJ stands for Jesus multiply Japan. We named it by believing that once God’s love reaches Japanese people, it will multiply among Japanese people through Japanese people anywhere in the world. Kanzo Uhimura? Who is he?”
I have seen the power of God’s love within both the movement started 100 years ago in Japan and the Japanese ministry group in Seattle. The members of JxJ have strong love over Japanese people because of their identity as Japanese. People usually notice the existence of their identity within themselves after they leave the places they used to be. When they are other places, they do not have real home and families. Kanzo Ucnimura also left Japan to study at Seminary in the United States. Then, he could see Japan objectively from outside. This helped him to find the importance of fellowship among people where they can focus on the relationship between Jesus and individual person.
These two know the importance of reaching Japanese people for God’s love by finding their identity through their experience they received in the United States. This was what I was thinking about while drinking a cup of green latte under the sunshine on Saturday.
Kanzo Uchimura was a Christian leader in Japan about 100 years ago. He is known as a founder of Mukyokai, one of movements among Japanese Christians. This movement focused more on the relationship between Jesus and each Christian in fellowships than the importance of existence of church. There is a teacher in the fellowship instead of a pastor. Through this movement, he had strongly been waiting for expanding of Christianity in Japan, which has not happened yet. He says in his book, “There are two J’s for me to love. One is Japan, another is Jesus.”
This line reminded me of JxJ. JxJ is a Japanese ministry group here in Seattle. This group was founded by Japanese Christian students from Japan studying at colleges or university in Seattle in 2006. There is an event once a month where anybody is welcome to eat Japanese food, sing worship songs in Japanese, and hear testimonies. This group had built the good relationships with Japanese people living in Seattle through the fellowship. On the other days, I asked one of the founders of JxJ about the reason of their naming with an expectation its relation to Kanzo Uchimura. She said, “JxJ stands for Jesus multiply Japan. We named it by believing that once God’s love reaches Japanese people, it will multiply among Japanese people through Japanese people anywhere in the world. Kanzo Uhimura? Who is he?”
I have seen the power of God’s love within both the movement started 100 years ago in Japan and the Japanese ministry group in Seattle. The members of JxJ have strong love over Japanese people because of their identity as Japanese. People usually notice the existence of their identity within themselves after they leave the places they used to be. When they are other places, they do not have real home and families. Kanzo Ucnimura also left Japan to study at Seminary in the United States. Then, he could see Japan objectively from outside. This helped him to find the importance of fellowship among people where they can focus on the relationship between Jesus and individual person.
These two know the importance of reaching Japanese people for God’s love by finding their identity through their experience they received in the United States. This was what I was thinking about while drinking a cup of green latte under the sunshine on Saturday.
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