wfn.org | Growing toward baptism

[BethAH@mbm.org]

December 20, 2000
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

December 20, 2000

Growing toward baptism:  Rui Shogenji (Advent 4)

KITAMI, Japan (MBM/COM) – On Nov. 7, 1999, nine people gathered
for worship at Kitami Mennonite Church, a now 13-year-old
congregation on the northern island of Hokkaido.  The seven
adults present shared their first impressions of church,
Christians and what led them to faith.  It was “thinking about
baptism” month, as the congregation worked to answer the
questions of its newest participant about the meaning of baptism.

The congregation is a family to each other.  Their numbers are
small, but they are determined to continue together in
fellowship.  “Even the little handful that we are, to gather
together and know that we are met by God is a gift … worth any
price,” said Mary Beyler, a mission worker in Kitami since 1988,
appointed by Mennonite Board of Missions and the Commission on
Overseas Mission.  She has served in Japan since 1974.

In this final story of a four-part series, Rui Shogenji shares
his story.  A talented graduate student in computer technology,
he has only recently discovered Christianity.  At church, he
speaks quietly to his elders, sharing his questions about
baptism.  After church, he is animated as he demonstrates how to
eat sushi and shows the Tamura children new magic tricks.

Rui Shogenji found his way to church by following a sign, just as
the magi followed a star centuries before.  The entire
congregation remembers the first time he walked in the door in
February 1998, though he remembers little other than being
nervous.

He came because he saw the church sign along the main road.
Shogenji just showed up, not knowing whom he would meet or what
would happen when he walked inside the doors.  The congregation
assumed he came with the guest speaker that Sunday, since it is
rare in Japan for anyone to come to a church without an
invitation.

But he came back the next week, and every week after that.  “I
had been reading in books that the possibility of Japanese having
no religion seemed strange to foreigners.  I felt somehow that
having a faith would be an asset,” he said.

He had decided weeks earlier to visit the church, but for several
weeks he made excuses for why he was too busy.

“This church is the first one I’ve approached as an adult and
come of my own will,” he said.

He said he must have gone to a Christian preschool because he
vaguely remembers prayers in kindergarten.  He attended a church
high school in England, where he saw many church buildings.  At
school, there were chapel services and prayers before meals
there, but he said he never approached those experiences with
faith.

As the congregation shared the stories of their baptisms, he
honestly shared his questions.  “Before coming, even after coming
here, even now, I don’t know the importance of baptism,” he
said.  “I’m not sure how to think about it.

“I don’t understand why baptism is more important than everything
else.  The bigger step for me was coming here in the first
place,” he said.  “Can there be anything more important than
coming here for the first time?  I haven’t ever seen someone
before and after baptism.  I haven’t seen the process, so I don’t
know what changes.”  He wants to learn more, and plans to
continue worshiping and praying with the Kitami congregation.

Rui Shogenji faithfully attends Kitami Mennonite Church and
continues to consider the meaning and implications of baptism.
* * *

Bethany Swope       PHOTO AVAILABLE