True Jesus Church in Japan
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- This article was originally a direct translation from zh:日本真耶穌教會史.
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[edit] Introduction: The Pentecostal movement in Japan
Not long after the a group of American christians received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the United States, the resulting Pentecostal movement quickly spread worldwide and the Assembly of God in Japan was established. It was at this time when Mr. Murata (村田) also became a member of this large denomination and helped pastor the new Japanese converts.
[edit] Origins of the True Jesus Church in Japan
Elder Suda (須田清基長老) was living in Tainan, Taiwan during the Japanese era was once a member of the Japanese Holiness Church. In 1927, he accepted the gospel preached by the True Jesus Church and became one of its believers after being baptised. Not long after receiving the Holy Spirit, Brother Suda became one of TJC's preachers after the laying on of hands by Taiwanese preachers. He began preaching to Japanese residents of Taiwan.
In 1941, a Japanese pastor from the Holy Bible Church flew to Taiwan specifically to study the basic faiths, teachings and doctrines of the True Jesus Church. Among those who visited were Pastor Murai (村井) and Mr. Uwai (上井). After accepting the basic beliefs of the church, the two pastors received baptism and returned to their hometowns in Japan to spread the gospel there.
The following year (1942), Brother Murai Jun broke away the True Jesus Church and established his own independent church - the "Spirit of Jesus Church". Another believer, who was a pastor from the Japanese Assembly of God, Mr. Murata (村田) was baptised in Japan. Brother Murata subsequently moved to Taiwan along with his family and evangelised to the Japanese residents.
[edit] Events after the Pacific war
[edit] The Tokyo Church
In 1945, the Pacific War had ended with Japan's surrender and in 1946, most of the Japanese citizens living in Taiwan were repatriated back to Japan. Among those repatraited were forty Japanese members of the True Jesus Church and, upon returning back to various parts of their homeland, they each used their homes to hold church services. Brothers Suda and Murata headed back to Japan and helped establish the Kamitaira, and Nanjō (南條) True Jesus Churches in Tokyo. The two Japanese preachers later established Prayer Houses in Sakai, Fukui, Ueda, Hainuzuka (羽犬塚).
Brother Igarashi (五十嵐) also returned back to Japan in 1946 and used his home to hold church services . By 1951, they established the Tokyo Prayer House of the True Jesus Church and Preacher Murata ordained Igarashi as an Elder. In 1953, the Tokyo Church was established in Chiyoda Ward area of Tokyo. During 1956, the Tokyo Church was moved to Elder Igarashi's house in Tokyo's Suginami Ward and church services were held there for the next thirty-seven years until 1993.
In 1993 saw the fast-paced arrival of True Jesus Church believers from Taiwan, South-East Asia and China whom mostly came to the Greater Tokyo Area to seek employment opportunities and to study. Church attendance at Elder Igarashi's prayer house increased from the original 10~20 believers to around 80~100 believers. Elder Igarashi's house could not accommodate any more than 50 believers during church services, hence in 1994 they purchased a new church building in neighbouring Akitsu (秋津) and the Tokyo Church was moved to the new location.
Not long afterwards, the growing influx of believers led to a prayer house being held in a Deacon Sakiyoshi Kinoshita's (木下先義) restaurant at Omurai (小村井), Sumida ward. Due to the long two-hour commuting distance from Sumida to the main Tokyo church, the believers agreed to purchase a three-storey chapel and, in this way, the church in Sumida Ward was established by 1998. Soon after, they discovered that there was also a significant number of believers residing in the Yokohama area and, due to the inconvenient two-hour travelling distance to and from the main Tokyo church combined with the busy working hours of the church members meant that church attendance from the Yokohama area was quite few. Hence family services were then held at Brother Liu's restaurant. The believers later purchased a four-storey chapel for 25 million yen to form the Yokohama prayer house in 2007.
During September 2007, church attendance at Sumida had surpassed one hundred and they realised there was a need for the some church members to hold separate services at a different location. Therefore some believers began holding family services at Brother Sakiyoshi Norimatsu's restaurant in West-Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture. Likewise, family services are also held in Ōyama (大山) near Tokyo. At present, there are already four hundred TJC believers around the Greater Tokyo Area.
[edit] The Osaka Church
On 25 September, 1955 the True Jesus Church in Osaka was established and after their third evangelical service in 1957, the Japanese Coordination board was founded in the following year. The name was changed to "the Japanese General Assembly" in 1970.
Today TJC churches can also be found in Habikino, Osaka, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, Maebashi, Gunma, and Misaki (御崎).
[edit] References
- ^ The Records of Elder Igarashi: The History of the Tokyo True Jesus Church, December 10, 1984.
