Central Conference 2008

Over the past 3 days, I attended a conference held by the Japanese Christian Fellowship Network held here at Judson. The conference was attended mainly by Japanese, and those who have a passion for the Japanese. The theme of the conference was "HOME." It was a meaningful time spent in fellowship. Everyone had fun. Here, I have to kick myself for not taking any pictures despite I have a camera.


It is amazing how small the circle of Japanese Christians the world has. At the conference I knew people and was connected to a few through ways I could only imagine. I was invited to attend the conference from JD, a missionary to Japan for 30 years, who is now a professor at my school. She was introduced to me through STF and GL. At the conference the first person I met was Otomo-san. Believe it or not, we took a class together during my first semester at TCU. He attended STF's History of Western Civilization class in preparations to start taking classes when he planned to further his studies in the States then. Now he is a seminary student at Trinity. There were a few other TCU graduates. I was speaking to a participant who was visiting friends in Chicago. After speaking for 5 minutes, I also found out that she was classmates to Otomo-san and she knew Jewel. Other coincidences were people who know friends from Tsuchiura Megumi Church, and a participant from Singapore knew Yanagisawa-sensei too.


Here, I have a confession to make. I did feel uncomfortable at the conference at first. This is because I really do not know where I fit in. Maybe, more than that, I started categorizing myself and others. Oh, how petty I was. The conference and the fellowship was to encourage and support Japanese who encountered Christ overseas. I soon understood the focus of this group. Being a Christian is never easy in Japan. Those who met Christ overseas would like to learn and grow in their faith through fellowship in the language they best understand. Also, with only a small community of Christians in Japan, this fellowship aims to provide follow up and support to those returning to their homeland, finding a church, and living the faith in a closed society. So, regardless how I feel about myself at the conference. It is more of an issue of being their sharing our experience and supporting each other. It was refreshing how my mindset was changed. It should never be about me.

It was a fruitful 3 days. Although the sessions were long, but I have definitely experience the same transcending love and grace that transcends culture, nationality, and ethnicity. Home is indeed where the heart is, and I place mine above.