Café: ENGLISH

Every Thursday between 19:00 and 20:00 at the café there is a fun coffee drinking session were people can come to enjoy some friendly banter. Or should I say, some friendly ENGLISH banter!

That's right, people can come to this session at the café and practise their English skills while speaking to a native English speaker. This is usually a short-termer staying at the church who has came from far-off Eigo speaking lands.

I have enjoyed going along to these meetings and getting to know some really cool Japanese people! As well as adding the odd Japanese word to my extensive Nihongo vocab. (I think I have around 20 words now - yay! ...) We discuss various topics related to recent news events as other countries and.. anything really! We also play a few games which include using the English language to build sentences - fun AND educational.

Anyway, I think this is a great opportunity to bring in more people to the café which also acts as a bridge to the church. May God use the relationships with these people so that they may know who Jesus is! This has been a great opportunity and I feel blessed to be able to be a part of it!

Gary (short-termer from Beatles-land, Igirisu)

Getting Ready for Cross Village

Cross Village is the name of the upscale one nite bazaar that Lighthouse holds 3 time s ayear.
This Saturday 26 artisans will welcome hundreds of people to taste, try and make. Martin will do a stained glass workshop, Naomi will help a Young Life booth with floeats and do a craft corner, while Ruth Mae will be cooking up a storm and selling out as usual. Hoping will lead to people interested in teh Bread of Life as well.

Serving the Church

Serving the churches in general and the Christians in particular is a passion of Lighthouse Books. Because of not having male staff, he store has not been able to visit churches with a bookstall for 2 years now.
After much prayer and consideration, we are planning a 2 month trial period of opening the store for 2 afternoons a month for people to access the books. Closing a 6pm and not open Sunday and Monday has meant that very few Christians and pastors come.
Very few churches have evening services so we are hoping that we can serve in some way.

My trip next door to Itayanagi

I came to the Lighthouse today and bought a caramel latte which included a squirt of thick caramel sauce on the foam, hmmm it was delicious. There is also some really unique and eye catching pottery on sale made by Miyo and Shuhei. As you venture further into the coffee shop there is some nice jewelry on sale and then even more excitingly a whole range of Christian books. I think this branch is invaluable to the church as it means there is always somewhere open when the main church isn’t. I also think it’s a great place for people who may feel intimidated by entering a church as a coffee shop is something more familiar they may be more comfortable coming to talk about Christian things. Also fusing of a coffee shop and Christian bookstore means non Christians who enter to have a coffee may end up having a browse in the Christian bookstore.

-Anna Parkinson

Caffeine Refuge (aka Cafe Iris)

Adjoining the Lighthouse Bookstore is cosy Cafe Iris. The delicious aromas of fresh coffee and home-baked treats creates a welcoming atmosphere for inquisitive customers to browse the books and a selection of local crafts. This western-style haven has also recently lured in several Aussie short-termers in search of a cup of much needed caffeine! We have definitely enjoyed a few free moments relaxing in Cafe Iris out of the snow and cold; sipping caramel lattes, vanilla maple tea and legendary hot chocolates. The cafe's unique and delightful crockery, handmade by local potters Miyo and Shuhei, has certainly added to the experience. I know we'll be back for more cosy, chocolatey goodness before we leave!!

What can a bookstore teach you?

For someone who knows probably less than ten Japanese words and maybe five Hiragana what can Japanese bookstores offer? Most can't offer me much of anything, though Lighthouse Books, the Christian bookstore at Itayanagi Chapel, has given me a challenging and encouraging insight to Japanese Christianity. Like everything in Japan the store is small, though packed with many well-produced resources. The kids books were especially impressive, they all looked bright and colourful (also, they were the only books I could understand! Pictures, hurrah!) These books would definitely be well received as gifts.

But when I remembered that this store has to serve two prefectures, the small size makes a big difference. We're very blessed in Australia to have so many Christian books and resources, at so many stages of Christian life, from pre-Christian to new believers to the hundreds of books for mature Christians and even Bible college students. We have so many that we can even spend a great deal of time debating the finer theological points of each. It doesn't look like the Japanese people have such a luxury. There were just not that many books in total, and though I couldn't tell what they were about I would guess that most were on the basic end of theological depth. That's not a bad thing, it fits where the Japanese church is at the moment. But as the Japanese church continues to grow many more books will need to be written, expanding on both the range of topics and depth in each.

The situation is similar for Bible translations. There is one translation in archaic Japanese (like our KJV), another like our NASB which does use modern Japanese but has many uncommon words and is generally hard to understand and finally there's a paraphase which may not always be theologically accurate. Hopefully another translation in normal simple Japanese will be written soon.

So if Lighthouse Books has given me two things to pray for, it's that we praise God for the many great resources that are already available, and ask him to bring talented authors, editors and publishers into the church to serve the future. Join me in prayer!

Cake Buffet

What is your idea of a decadent afternoon. At Cafe Iris, we wanted to celebrate the renewal of the shop and we had a cake buffet. Ruth Mae and Miyo made 15 varieties fo cakes. It was all you could eat with free coffee and tea for 700 yen- which is like 7 bucks. In case you don't know- THAT IS A STEAL. The upper limit was supposed to be 20 people- first 20 to sign up. Well by the time we could get emails and phone calls stopped there were 34 people. It was really cool to celebrate the renewal.