News Letter for Seinen-kai

The Japanese Congragation of
Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church
Church Service
Every Sunday 10:30am - 12:00
Prayer Meeting
Every Thursday
Sinen-kai
Every Sunday 1:00pm
Meet for Lunch & Prayer
Sepical Fall Event
Yaki-imo Taikai (Sweet Potato Festival)
November 3rd, 2:00pm
Volleyball
Once a month 2:00pm
Please Pray For...
- Fellow up with those who attened the BBQ outreach
- Growth in each members’ faith
- New members would be added to Seinen-kai
- Continual guidance for each weeks program and for the
core members (Marie, Ai, Aki, and Satoru)
Connect with Seinen-kai
Facebook Cornerstone Church Seinenkai
Email [email protected]
Phone Number 847-890-5978
Address 2 Shermer Rd. Glenview IL 60025
Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church
Japanese Young Adults
Seinen-kai
Acts 2:42-47 comes alive in Seinen-kai
S
einen-kai, the Japanese young adults ministry at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church, has been up and running
in a new form since the summer of 2012. Four core members come together to create a family like warm atmosphere
fills Seinen-kai.
Every Sunday after service, the Seinen (young adults) like
to have fellowship with young and older brothers and
sisters in Christ. After a little bit of mingling, the Seinen-kai
gets together at Ps. Hirunuma’s house. There, Seinen have
lunch together as they get to know how each one is doing.
After a good meal and some time to loosing up, Ai, the
MC for Seinen-kai, brings everyone together to share each
one’s praise and prayer request. Each member says what’s
on their hearts, and pray together in groups. “Being able to
share and pray who are around my age has been a blessing,”
Marie Kondo, the leader of Seinen -Kai says.
Once a month the Seinen-kai members join the volleyball
games the church sponsors. Other days, they may go out or
go to Karaoke where they can know each other better out
of a church setting. Their theme verse, Acts 2:42-47 comes
alive at Seinen-kai.
SUICIDAL GIRL FINDS TRUE HOPE
S
unday, September 29th, a BBQ outreach for the seinen-kai (the Japanese young adults ministry of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Glenview) took place in
the backyard of Ps. Hirunuma’s house. This would be the
first organized outreach event held by Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church’s Seinen-kai since Marie Kondo, the
present leader, has been in her position.
The aim for this outreach was to break the barriers people
have towards church, getting to know new comers, and
fellowship with each other. The regular Seinen-kai members, around 6-7 people, met once a week after church
service to plan this event. Three weeks of official planning
took place, one week including the pastor in the meeting.
The responsibility for food, games, MC, Worship time and
finances were given to each member of Seinen-kai. Every
one contributed with ideas, time, labor and prayer.
The day of the outreach was blessed with mid-seventies,
sunny weather. Four non-church goers, one of which was
his first time coming to any event held by Cornerstone
Evangelical Free Church, were welcomed by each member
of Seinen-kai as they arrived. Tomoyo Hoshino, a friend of
Midori Suzuki, one of the regular members of Seinen-kai,
stayed over night at Midori’s, so she could catch a ride with
her to attend this event.
Japanese style BBQ, including squid, salmon, and white
rice (a must for Japanese style BBQ!), were cooked and
O
served by Satoru Ito and Aki Tanaka, men of the core
member. The four non-church goers soon found their
places around the table or by the grill, where they felt most
comfortable. With upbeat worship songs in the background, circles of conversation took place with each other.
After a full stomach of BBQ, now it was time to really get
to know one another by games including water balloons.
“Bunny Bunny”, “Water balloon toss” which ended with
a water-fight, and “Capture the slipper” were filled with
laughter, screaming people and great teamwork. “Capture the slipper was my favorite. It made me want to play
a game I used to play when I was younger” said Tomoyo
with excited eyes.
Worship was lead with a guitar and a Cajon after the
exciting game time. 13 people, some still wet from the
water-fight, created a circle and sang praises on the lawn.
“Inochi no Izumi (The Fountain of Life)”, a Japanese worship song was one of them. “You (Lord) are the source of
life and strength that overflows”, a line from that song fills
the atmosphere. An announcement for the next church
event and a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord by the Ps.
Hirunuma closed the first Seinen-kai outreach.
“I was so glad to see new people come and having fun
together. I’m thankful for each one who planned and made
this happen. Next week I hope to go over today’s event with
the others.” With a satisfied smile Marie commented.
FALL BBQ BRING CHURCH BARRIORS DOWN
n Sunday, March 31th, a new Christian was added to
the Japanese congregation of Cornerstone Evangelical
Free Church in Glenview. Ai Marusawa’s bright smile when
she came up from the water was something to remember.
But there was a time in her life when that smile disappeared completely.
It was third year of junior high school, when Ai’s “normal life” started to fall apart. Her parents’ divorce and her
mother’s remarriage that soon took place after brought
confusion and bitterness into Ai’s heart. Her school told
her to go see a doctor and a counselor because she had not
been eating or sleeping due to this. “I wanted to open the
car door while it was running and throw myself out. I had
lost hope to keep living.” said Ai.
After high school, Ai decided to live with her mother in the
U.S. who had become a Christian after her remarriage. Her
mother took her to a Bible study where Ai was convicted
of her own sins. “The way I look at life and others changed
180 degrees, “ she said.
With many prayers and studying of the Word, Ai started to
smile again. She had found true hope for the first time.
(Photo: Ai, third from the left)