We have a desire for people to see Jesus through us, realizing that it is only Christ who can save them.
The vision of Mustard Seed Christian Church Sendai is that the earth would be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. We have a desire for the people of Sendai to know the one true God who saved them from their sins. The local church is the manifestation of the kingdom of God here on earth. It is an intersection where heaven and earth collide. God is holy and so we are to be holy as he is holy. Thus, as God’s holy people, we love Him and love others. This is why we started a church in Sendai, Japan.
Our gatherings started meeting together on Easter Sunday of 2021. If you were to come to Sendai and see what God is doing here, you would see: a bilingual worship service where the gospel is preached every Sunday, prayer and the reading of scripture, a bilingual kids class that teaches 9 kids every week the good news of Jesus, a collection of fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis for a local food bank, men’s and women’s fellowship groups, lots of personal evangelism, and of course many broken people being sanctified by the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.
I (Sam), my wife, Rachel, and our three kids, Justus, Rosie, and Graham have been in Japan for almost three years. We are still trying to grasp the language. Our kids are doing a hybrid of Japanese public school and homeschool, while Rachel and I still take Japanese classes on the side. We love living in a city of 2 million people, where public transportation is the norm and we meet someone new almost every day. God has taught us many things as we have built up a brand new life here in Japan.
He has broadened our idea of what church looks like and how big our world actually is. We all know that the church isn’t a place, but a people. But the church isn’t the church unless they gather in a place. Now, where that gathering is, doesn’t matter, as long as a church is gathering to break bread, praise God, and enjoy each other’s fellowship. We have a desire for people to see Jesus through us, realizing that it is only Christ who can save them. We don’t want to be a hindrance to the gospel, but an ambassador of the gospel.
What does this look like for our family?
Realizing that we didn’t come to Japan, just to proclaim the good news of Jesus to Japanese people, but to all those who would listen. We have found ourselves interacting with people from all over the world.
Our home has become a center for loving people. We play board games every Thursday night with several college students in the area. Sunday nights have become our pizza and movie night for our family. And now we just include other families in our tradition. We seek others out at local parks, coffee shops, food banks, and an art inclusion organization for people who have disabilities. We just pray that God opens up opportunities for us to tell others about Jesus. As we know the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Now we need the boldness to use these opportunities to share the Gospel.
