In Community:

Summer 2023 Newsletter

Let the Little Children Come

by Pastor Kohei Takeda

As parents, we still remember that one of our desperate prayers was about our children when we moved to Seattle and were settling down to a new place during Covid. The pandemic broke out a couple months after our 8-year old started going to a new church and new school. Both the church children’s ministry and school had to shut down immediately. Obviously, it hit pretty hard on our three young children. Since then, they could not receive a meaningful education, academically, physically, socially, and spiritually. Nor could they make any friends or develop English and social skills for over a year.

However, it was not only our children who were most vulnerable. So many children in our church and neighborhood were seriously affected by the situation. I am sure almost all children and households struggled, not only for months, but years. It negatively impacted especially on children and their development. Without having communities and connections, unfortunately, it resulted in having extremely few children and families in our church these days, even after the pandemic. Now, we need to see the reality honestly and humbly that children and families are still at risk. 

Actually, this kind of issue was nothing uncommon in the history of the Church and Christianity. In the days of Jesus, young children were deemed insignificant and they were disconnected from the Jewish community. Even Jesus’ disciples rebuked the people who brought children to Jesus and asked him to pray for them. But, Jesus told them to bring little ones closer to him “for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these (Matt. 19:14)”   

This is the same situation as ours today. For whatever reasons when little children are disconnected from a community of faith, the church is called to bring them to Jesus. The good news is that we have the ultimate solution for this – the Gospel. All the more because of a crisis like this, we are called to ask God, pray, and step up to sacrificially serve the most vulnerable. And, the Gospel is a promise that God will actually bless and use our work for others, through his work on the cross.

We are grateful that we have been able to share Jesus’ love with children over time. On Easter Sunday, God blessed our simple act of love such as Easter Egg Hunt by having 30+ children at church. After 3 months of prayer and preparation, we are now excited to invite children to our Vacation Bible School for the first time in the past 4 years. Lots of people, both kids and volunteers, have signed up, whether English or Japanese speakers. Praise God, lots of unbeliever kids and families are coming, and we want to welcome them wholeheartedly.

But, I want to point out that our goal is not to win a number by organizing events and programs. Our goal is to help both children AND parents build relationships with Jesus and encourage them to obey God. Here, I’d like to highlight parents because, practically speaking, most Christian education takes place at home, not at church (hours per day vs one hour per week). This is the essence of discipleship, bringing people closer to Jesus, which is aligned with our church’s mission statement. 

Then, how can we actually “let the little children come to Jesus”? I would like to suggest three things.  

1. Pray, Pray, Pray
   God’s work is initiated by our prayers, not our strategies. As the body of Christ, we want to intentionally pray for children as Jesus intentionally prayed for them. 
   

2. Put Love into Action
   We want to put our prayers and heart into practice. This is not only for those who like children by nature, but the whole congregation. As an example, I really hope to see something like what this article suggests, which helps us understand what loving children looks like –  25 Tiny Ways to Welcome Kids in Church.

3. Build communities with Children AND Parents
   We want to create more open and safe communities for children and parents where we can actively invite them. That’s the reason why we are creating a safe space for parents/guardians during VBS, called “FBC Café.” We are not imposing anything on people, but we want to gently and prayerfully invite more people to church communities. After VBS, this could be something like our parenting group or house churches, where we share life and build deeper relationships with both believers and unbelievers. In a sense, we are like a church plant. Unless we invite people from outside FBC, the Children’s Ministry continues to be very difficult.

During covid, it was such a difficult time for our children even when they started attending school in-person. Initially, our kids significantly lacked confidence at school to converse in English. They could not understand a single word in class. They literally had no friends to play with during recess and struggled with loneliness. But, with unfailing prayers and support from their teachers (of a Christian school), now we saw smiles on their faces every morning, saying “I can’t wait to go to school!”(in English!), feeling love and acceptance. Now, they have their best friends at school. What is more, their families are attending our house church small group every week. They are coming to VBS for the first time in their lives. We see that God is at work in all this, redeeming the lives of our children but also others. 

Let’s continue to pray for and invite children and families to our church communities so that we can share Jesus’ love. God’s kingdom is like a mustard seed (Mark 4:26-33). When we follow God with faith, no matter how small it starts, God may surprise us because God grows it big.

Pastor Kohei

Sacred Road Mission Trip 2023 Newsletter

by Amy Li

Hello FBC ohana!

As I write this article, I am realizing we are three days away from our Sacred Road trip – which also means I very much procrastinated in writing this article, sorry Mina! We were sent out last Sunday, with special words of wisdom from Uncle Gary and Ly, and covered in prayer by Uncle Kenji and you all, but we then proceeded to return to a normal week of work and life per usual… Finally though, it’s starting to sink in! In 72 hours, we’ll be settling into our home for the week, basking in the faint glow of a beautiful sunset in White Swan, WA, while getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Just a hop, skip, and jump away, (well technically, three hour road trip) east of the Cascades, is the Native American reservation of the Yakama Nation. Statistically speaking, this reservation is a place of high poverty rates, as well as crime, abuse, addiction, homelessness.. But it’s one thing to know the statistics, and another thing entirely to see it up close, and realize it’s not just numbers… it’s people, human beings, each of them carrying the image of God.

… people that we will have the privilege to serve, in our short time there, alongside the continual work of Sacred Road and Hope Fellowship Church, who do this tangible work of loving on the Yakama people, year-round.

… people who need hope – the hope of Jesus.

The team of seven this year is made up of two returners (myself and Brian), and five first-timers (Cindy, Kelsey, Doreen, Matthew, and Dan). As a returner, I’m excited that I get to share this experience with the first-timers… to be able to experience the wonder and amazement at the beautiful things that God is working on in the reservation… but also to wrestle through the harder things (that God is still working on, both there and in ourselves).

Amongst the team, I know that there are a lot of emotions and feelings leading up to the trip. I remember feeling them the first time I went and I still feel them too! But mostly, there’s anticipation. We don’t know exactly yet how God will work in us and through us during the upcoming week, but we know that He will. My advice to the first-timers is… just try to not “overthink” it – coming from the greatest overthinker in the world (myself).

Anyways, thank you for praying for us!

If you could, please pray for the following, as shared by the team:

• spiritual protection
• physical safety (no heat stroke or fatigue)
• unity amongst team members and with other churches
• that God would show us how He is working in White Swan
• for team members to go with open hearts ready to serve
• for it to be a spiritually fruitful week
• that we would be focused first and foremost on God and glorifying Him
• that we would be reminded that it is the grace of God that we can serve Him in this way, and that we are able to share that grace with others we encounter
• for ice cream (lol just kidding, ask Dan Matsumoto what this is about…)

See you all in a week when we get back!

If you would like to help support us financially as a team, you can make a donation to the church either by venmo @faith-bible-church-seattle, check, or cash, with a note designating “Sacred Road”.

Hello FBC Ohana. Thank you to Amy, Brian, Cindy, Dan, Doreen, Kelsey and Matthew for serving in Yakama. One thing that is downplayed at FBC is raising support for serving on the Rez. Each year team members raise or donate the $475 needed to serve in Yakama. Extra funds are spent by the team to provide snacks and crafts for the Kid clubs. This year’s team is looking to raise about $4000 to cover all the team expenses.  If you feel led to support this year’s team, it can go to FBC earmarked to the Yakama summer team. Thank you!

ROCK Graduation BBQ 2023

by Kenji Kumai

It is our tradition to end the “ROCK school year” with an end of the year/ graduation celebration party.  It is always with a bittersweet feeling that we get together one last time for our last event together.  We always have a blast of course, but we also know that there will be goodbyes at the end, knowing that our seniors are now leaving our group for bigger and better things!  And to add to that, we also had to say goodbye to our dear Sam He whom everyone loves so much!

This year, we had a BBQ at the Kumai’s house.  The weather was perfect, and we were able to hang out outside.  We had a nice program to honor our seniors and to hear from each of them some of their highlights and memories and what they learned through these past years.  Our seniors this year were – Hailey Crawford, Sydney Louie, Hijiri Kobayashi, Christine Sun and Hana Chang.  We will miss each of them! They added so much to our ROCK group this past year as the leaders of the pack.  We are excited for each of them as they all have exciting next steps.

We all thank God for Sam He who joined us this year and had such an impact on our ROCK ministry.  He just gave it his all and connected and built relationships with the HS students.  Both “on and off the field”.  He truly showed the love of Christ and modeled His love and obedience to Christ through his life.  We will miss Sam and wish him the best as he moves to New York for additional education/ work as he continues in his career path.  You are in our prayers, Sam!

We thank God for another amazing year.  This year, we were able to do all in person gatherings, starting with a Corn Maze event.  We were able to have fellowships, various events, couple of retreats, a lock out at church, joint worship night with CYC, 3 Soul Food preps/serving and misc. activities that our leaders would do spontaneously.  And since we also combine ROCK with HS Sunday School, we had a nice end of the school year Sunday School time with pancakes and eggs on June 25^th (our last Sunday School class together).

Thank you FBC Ohana for your support and prayers throughout this past year.

Serving Him together,
Kenji for the leadership team – Jeanne, Chris, Sam, Kelsey and Amy.

CYC (College/Young Career)

by CYC Leadership

This past school year has absolutely flown by! We can’t believe we’re already having to say goodbye to some of our graduates, but as we reflect back on the past year, we’ve made some great memories and are so thankful for how our group has grown!

SUNDAY SCHOOL

A few weeks ago, we wrapped up our study on the book of Revelation. Looking back, it was so much easier to study this intimidating book as a group and be able to talk through and even physically draw out some of the very specific imagery mentioned in this book. We are heading into a break for the summer, but the CYC teachers have already decided that when Sunday School starts up again in the fall, they will be teaching on the book The Epic of Eden, which focuses on the Old Testament.

FELLOWSHIPS

April– multiple ministries came together for a Worship and Prayer Night! After enjoying a meal together, members from WASABI (middle school), ROCK (high school), and CYC, as well as other post-grads, gathered in the sanctuary for worship led by Josh Kwok and his team, and then Josh Huang led us in a time of guided prayer for our church, our city, and our country, and we also got the chance to pray for each other in smaller groups. It was amazing to see all the youth and young adults of FBC worshiping together- something that we haven’t done before, but we’re hoping this becomes a regular occurrence for our groups in the future!

May – one of our classic fellowship traditions is to attend a Mariners game together! Even if you’re not a huge baseball fan, there’s nothing like hanging out with friends, getting some garlic fries or Dippin’ Dots, while rooting for the hometown team! While the game didn’t end in the Mariners’ favor, God blessed us with a beautiful sunny day, and we got to enjoy the sunset and see an amazing fireworks show afterwards!

GRADUATES and LINK SUNDAY

As the school year began wrapping up, we were able to celebrate our graduates and all that they have accomplished in their studies. Another tradition we have is getting small gifts and writing notes of encouragement for our amazing grads. At the same time, we were able to welcome in the newest batch of high school graduates that have the opportunity of joining CYC this fall!

The Joy of Serving in the ‘SoulFood Ministry’

by Kevin Chan

I am certain that when the members of the FBC Board came up with the idea of the SoulFood Ministry, they weren’t thinking of solely serving lunch after service twice a month! Remember, in John 21:17, when Jesus said, “Feed my sheep…”, He meant it figuratively. And in Matthew 4:4, Jesus said, “It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Those of us that have been at FBC for a while (meaning pre-COVID) may remember when we had our monthly fellowship hours, when lunch would be prepared and served by different small group teams. That almost seemed like it was eons ago, but it was just a little over three years ago. For some of us, that may even seem like it was just yesterday!

The pandemic had such a major physical and psychological impact on all of us, young and old! It also created a real physical separation for many of us for quite some time, most significantly from our family and friends. And in some cases, even a separation between us and God!

God made people to be social beings and we love to be in fellowship with others, who are just like us! So, God opened up this safe space for us to be in communion with one another here at FBC. Yes, we’ve been having our SoulFood luncheons twice a month after Sunday service. And there’s a lot of humble people working hard in the background to make it all happen each time! People are preparing/cooking/working in the kitchen, setting up and serving in the serving room and in the fellowship hall. There are even ‘runners’ that can help serve our seniors that may need a little assistance. Everyone simply steps up and serves by example, which truly demonstrates a servant’s heart!

A ginormous “Thank You!” to all the leaders of the SoulFood Ministry, as there’s a lot involved with the planning, preparing and leading all those who serve alongside. Just imagine having to prepare and to feed 120+ people each time. It’s a real blessing to have everyone work together (in some cases shoulder-to-shoulder), and as the saying goes: ‘It takes a village!’ It’s a great testimony of how God orchestrates as we serve together: young and old, guys and gals, the English and the Japanese Language Ministry!
Our family is blessed to have the opportunity to serve together in this ministry. However, we too are recipients of the ministry when it’s not our turn to serve in the rotation. When it’s our turn to sit out, we get to relax, enjoy lunch and fellowship with our friends across the table as well as across the room. It’s truly wonderful to see all the kids playing together again, to see our seniors conversing with the new CYC members, and to see the JLM families sharing with the English-speaking families.

We may not be able to live on bread alone! However, we can certainly break bread together! As we come together to encourage one another, the Lord’s love will nourish our spirit and our soul! Our family has been attending FBC for about 30 years now and from early on, we’ve been encouraged to join the different ministries. And in doing so, we’ve learned so much from simply sharing and working together (especially with our seniors)! Now, it looks like we’re becoming the new seniors and it definitely gives us great joy to share, to learn and to work with our younger members! May our Lord be blessed and glorified by this wonderful ministry and all we do!

“A Taste of God’s Work – With John & Joy!”

by Theone Tollefson

Or, as the Lord just popped into my head:  “Sharing Life with John and Joy!”  For many of us at Faith Bible Church, John and Joy are “ohana” (family)! Joy is the daughter of the passionately faithful, deeply loving, nurturing, and iconic FBC ohana of Jack & Helen Akamine. Joy decided to follow Jesus at age 5, at FBC’s family conference. As Grace Spray reminded us: “Our daughter Noby [Kennell] used to babysit Joy when she was young!” We’ve watched their son, Andrew, grow from a young boy serving along with his parents, to a grown man. After graduation from Brown, we journey with him as he’s using the gifts God has given him, researching cancer treatment in a 6-year medical physics program.

Our FBC Ohana had the joy (pun intended) to our hearing ears, open and eager hearts, and hungry palates of being blessed during our worship service and luncheon on Sunday, June 11, 2023, with a taste of their ministry in this region in Asia that we will call “Shangri-La”.  

One of the primary goals of FBC leadership is moving intentionally towards fulfilling our Lord’s Great Commission of making disciples, here and among people from other countries. John and Joy come alongside the people in their village and city, and in the churches where they and their Christian and pre-Christian friends worship. They serve in music & worship, teaching children, making and serving meals, visiting friends/missionaries/church leaders and families who are ill, grieving, or weary, channeling funds for local leaders’ special projects and outreach programs, and in every way that the Lord leads them to serve. Quite often John is asked to bring the gospel message in the local language. The Lord is working powerfully in this country, transforming many lives.

They shared about a road trip John and friends took “…to deliver oxygen concentrators to clinics connected with one of our local partners, Beautiful Gate organization, and to meet with congregations that have grown out of Beautiful Gate church’s ministry to people with disabilities. First, disabled people in the communities had come to the city for treatment and heard the Gospel while staying at Beautiful Gate facilities for out-of-town patients. Later they shared with their relatives and neighbors, and small groups of believers grew around them.”

I love this faith-filled, God-glorifying statement: “It’s great to see Jesus’ light and hope break through in these remote places. We had three or four days in two locations, offering encouragement, training, and fellowship.”

Many years ago, a missionary friend shared this message: “You may think that you’re not in the mission field, that you’re not bringing the gospel message of salvation by grace to those who do not know the Lord. You ARE! You’re right there with us when you partner with us in our work.” Joy & John asked us:  “Please pray for believers in these fellowships, that they will know God’s presence as they face many tough circumstances in a world that is steeped in tradition, yet also changing fast.”

The beautiful song that Joy & John led us in during our worship service, “The Lord’s Prayer”, has also been sung by their friend Pema in a Youtube video. Joy wrote to Pastor Kohei: “In 1996, I stood at the border and said a brief prayer that God would come to that place.  Kinda forgot about it for years, until I met Pema at a fellowship in the city.  He had become a believer maybe around 2000, at a Christian children’s home.” Pema became a leader and writes new worship songs and videos in their language, like this original song “that just came in my heart” recently, posted on Youtube.

In John & Joy’s prayer requests, we see the same heart for the salvation of the amazing people that the Lord sent them to come alongside with His love, compassion, and faithful pursuit:

1. Little toddler with heart trouble.
2. Encouragement and strength for Mugu Church believers, in spite of accidents, deaths, landslide.
3. Strength and endurance for Church leaders as they serve their communities.
4. RSAC village house church continuing to grow and reach other villages, while their leader is away for a year, finishing his master’s degree.

We certainly had a very informative, educational, and oishii taste of God’s work during the luncheon that Pastor Kohei organized. The opportunity to enjoy two kinds of fabulous curry, rice, dal (lentils), chutney, salad, and fruit – prepared by Akiko Takeda, Mina Chen, other gifted JLM women, John & Joy – greatly blessed all of us with double portions (again, pun intended) of God’s abundant-to-overflowing grace. We tasted the goodness and faithfulness of our sovereign Provider God through John & Joy’s obedience and joyful service to His people. Thank you, John & Joy, for being good and faithful servants of our Great and Mighty Father God. To God be the Glory!

Baptism – April 9th, 2023

Shannon Maruo

Testimony at the Baptism on April 9th 

I grew up in a Christian household. I remember spending every Sunday at church and seeing my parents serve in many ways. Because of their love and obedience, I always knew who God was. However, throughout my adolescence, I began struggling with knowing God in my head vs. knowing God in my heart.

Once I was in college, I served in the children’s ministry, the welcome team and led a small group. I wrestled a lot with God during this time. Amidst the hectic pace of life, I found myself overwhelmed by the opinions of others, particularly their expectations regarding my faith – that I should try harder and be better. I felt like God was silent during this time, so I served harder in hopes that I would feel His presence.

By the end of college, I realized I harbored a lot of bitterness towards the people around me and lacked joy in my life. When I finally graduated, I took a break. I stopped going to church and started to ask myself “was it all worth it?” In this season I experienced the lowest of lows and really couldn’t imagine what my life was supposed to look like and what my purpose was.

Finally, I heard God’s voice. In my doubts, God met me and reminded me of His greater plan for me. I felt Him tug on my heart and say “not yet, but soon.” Those words didn’t answer any of my questions but it sparked some hope. It took casting out all the distractions and opinions of others to discern His voice and know His truth.

With that, I started attending a new church where God revealed new opportunities that would push me out of my comfort and would require complete faith. I listened and followed. Through it all, I felt His hand over me and guide me. I learned that He isn’t a God that would abandon me, but one that walks besides me through all the uncertainty. I had a new found confidence that God was always with me.

Fast forward a bit, this church is where I met some of my closest friends and where I eventually met my husband, Yusuke. In the last several years, I experienced a whirlwind of things, as did many others during Covid. I experienced loss, layoffs, and a career shift, but I also experienced the joy of marriage as well as moving to a new state and finding a new community. In all these things, I realized that all the hardships prepared me for this season. Instead of worrying, I turned to prayer. Instead of complaining, I made a conscious decision to hold onto the truth that God is good. Throughout every circumstance, I am confident that God remains faithfully by my side.

One passage that constantly comforted me was Psalm 23:1-4:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

I’ve been looking to get baptized for the last couple of years but life circumstances prevented it which made me wonder when I would. But God’s timing is perfect. This time last year, Yusuke and I hadn’t found a church and didn’t know many of you here today. Now I have so many people in and out of FBC here to celebrate this day with. I’m blessed to witness God’s plan unfold and be so much greater than I could have ever imagined. Now even in moments of uncertainty and doubt, I know God will be with me because my name is written in His hands. I pray that my testimony would be an encouragement and reminder that God will always pursue you and fight for you.

– Shannon Maruo

FBC Calendar (link)

Summer Schedule

9:30am Summer Break for Sunday School

10:00am Summer Connect (Refreshments and Fellowship)

11:00am English-Japanese Joint Worship Service/ FBC Kids

12:15pm SoulFood (First & Third Sunday in July)