Yujiro, Bibles, & Friends

Last weekend I went to Tokyo for a young adults gathering of the Anglican Church in Japan. Like the church in the US, Japan is rapidly losing members. The young people in Japan want to be more involved and have more of a voice in the church. Therefor last year many young members met up and created “Yujiro” (Somehow it means “under 26 years old” I was a little lost in the explanation). This group has met two times since. They gather together to talk about activities in their home churches and dioceses, to talk about what they would like to see happen in the church, and to have a Bible study.

It was interesting to hear their thoughts and ideas. The concept of young adult's gatherings is a rather new thing for them so they are still working out the kinks. That also means they are open to anything, which is great. You could tell by the way that they talked that they are passionate about God and the church.

During the Bible study (or Bible sharing as they called it) I was blown away by how intensely they poured over the reading. We spent several hours discussing the meaning of the verse and looking at other passages for reference. I only understood about half of it but I am ok with that. I asked one of my friends if they have Bible studies at their church. She told me that it is very rare to study the bible as a group outside of Sunday worship. Because of this weekend and the bible study they had, many want to start a regular bible study in their home churches. In fact we are going to start one here in Sendai as well.

This was my first time to be around so many young people in the church in Japan and it was great. I don’t think I have laughed so much during a weekend in a long time. I love meeting new people but it is really frustrating to do so in Japan. I never know when/if I will see them again. But of course this means that I have people to visit all over Japan and they all have a place to stay in Texas whenever they visit. FYI Mom I offered our house to any/every one that comes...hope you don't mind!

 Thanks for tuning in!
        Katie Young