プリンストン日本語教会／Princeton Japanese Church

Happy New Year! Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Thank you for always reading the PJC newsletters! We, PJC celebrated the beginning of 2015 by having a New Year's Day worship service with our brothers and sisters! In New Jersey, we are having a relatively warm winter for now without much snow nor cold weather. However, many places in the US have reported widespread flu activity. Everyone, please take care of your health. In this issue, we will tell you about our ministries and events we had from autumn through winter in this past year. Please pray for this year's activities at PJC as well.

PJC Ministries Fall Semester

◆ECC(ESL Ministry)

Happy New Year! At ECC, we are always doing something new every class. We have discussions on various topics, learn about our “5 Love Languages”, look at cooking recipes, and etc. I can see that the students are more comfortable using their English.

We wrapped up our last ECC for 2014 with a Christmas party. We had a potluck. My class made desserts with rice krispies. We sang Christmas carols as well. We had a very good time. I am excited for what we will be doing at ECC in this year. Please continue to pray for ECC. (Joshua Nelson)

◆J-Youth

At J-Youth we began by reading Ephesians. One of the biggest topics was on Grace. We learned what grace means through Ephesians and also talked about

how we should live as those who received grace. Next we began a series on Jesus' parables. We would interpret the parables and

talk about what we can learn from them. Every week we begin with a time of worship, eat food

together, read the bible, talk about the passage, and pray for one another. This past semester we had some special hangout time where we made macaroons, had camp fire in the freezing weather, and went ice skating.

Starting this year we would like to have more personal time with the youth and also invite more of their non Christian friends to join us for special events. Please continue to pray that we will be able to maintain a good balance of meeting the needs of individual's spiritual needs and also creating more opportunities for outreach. Please pray that the youth will be able to receive God's love and continue to walk as God's children. (Arisa Wada)

◆J-Kids On December 6th, we

had a “Christmas Celebration” at PJC’s new location. 11 children showed up and enjoyed this special event. We watched and listened to a “Christmas story” put on by the J-Kids staff. We sang & danced to the praise songs. We played games such as “Fruit Basket” and “daruma-san-ga-koronda,” which is a traditional Japanese game. We ate tasty snacks, and made fun crafts as well.

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“New wine must be poured into new wineskins.” Luke 5:38

January 2015 2014

Scripture for this year "From whom (Christ) the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." Ephesians 4:16

Theme for this year "To be built up in love by Christ"

プリンストン日本語教会／Princeton Japanese Church Some children who are not able to come to the

weekly J-Kids because of the long commute after moving to the new church were also able to come. Thankfully they were able to join this special event and we were all happy to see their faces.

Now PJC is located in an area where lots of Japanese reside. Please pray that more and more children will be able to come to J-Kids! (Ayumi Kurisu)

Special Services/Events

◆Special Service with Rev. and Mrs. Inoue

We welcomed representatives of "Small Stone Ministry”, Rev. Kaoru Inoue, former Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) and his wife, Mrs. Hiroko Inoue. They had been engaging in mission work in the East Coast of the U.S. since the beginning of November. Rev. Inoue gave his personal testimony at the Praise Presbyterian Church, a Korean church located in Somerset, NJ on Nov. 15 (Sat.), and at Princeton Japanese Church (PJC) in the afternoon of Nov. 16 (Sun.), and at the Windsor Chapel, who offered to let us use their church for our worship on the same night.

During his miserable 10 years of Yakuza life, when he attempted to commit suicide three times, he met a Christian woman (Mrs. Hiroko Inoue) who gave a bible to him. He became immersed in reading the Bible, and then he felt the love of Jesus Christ, and decided to quit his Yakuza life. He boldly gave his dramatic personal

testimony and through this testimony, God was able to touch the hearts of all the audiences at each place.

This trip marks their 4th visit to PJC since 2010 for Rev. Inoue and

his wife. On their mission trip to the East Coast of the U.S., God gave them an opportunity to bring their message to non-Japanese places other than PJC.

At Praise Presbyterian Church, roughly 200 people came. Rev. Inoue and his wife gave a strong impression to many Koreans who also allowed Rev. Inoue to talk much longer. Furthermore, in the evening of Nov. 16 (Sun.), we had an opportunity to eat dinner and meet with the people of Windsor Chapel. After the dinner, Rev. Inoue gave a message and approximately 60

people including not only Americans but also Chinese and Koreans attended.

We are grateful that Pastor Huh and Assistant-Pastor Kim of Praise Presbyterian Church and Pastor Andy Straubel of Windsor Chapel welcomed Rev. Inoue and Mrs. Inoue. (Norio Hasegawa)

◆Thanksgivings Dinner

PJC's Thanksgiving dinner was held on Nov.27th in a large meeting room at Windsor Chapel. The origin of the Thanksgiving celebration comes from the Puritans, who thanked God's amazing help for their survival in 1620. They experienced a very harsh winter with no food just after emigrating from England to Massachusetts. They prayed to God for help. And as a response to their prayer, neighboring Native Americans helped their survival in the winter and lead them to next year's great harvest.

In our celebration dinner, the family of those in ECC and J-Kids and other PJC members were able to come together. It was a potluck dinner and there were many delicious meals and desserts served with the specially flavored turkey. We enjoyed the harvest of grace from God and remembered to thank each and every act of grace that had been given from God. After the meal, everyone, from the small children to the adults, enjoyed fun games, like drawing games, guessing games, games using chairs. The dinner was a warm blessed moment full of smiles. (Kenichiro Takeuchi)

◆Christmas Service

This year, it was a tumultuous year for PJC, especially concerning our worship place. However, God arranged everything for us in the end and we were able to have the Christmas service on the Sunday of December 21st with our brothers and sisters of Windsor Chapel.

I thank God that God allowed us to experience the importance of praying and being obedient to give up everything to God. God blessed me so much through these experiences.

In addition to the brothers and sisters who attend the services regularly, we celebrated this Christmas with people who hadn't come in a while, first comers, and non-believers. We

プリンストン日本語教会／Princeton Japanese Church read the Bible verses about Jesus' birth and sang hymns together. We praised and thanked Jesus that he was born in this world to save us. After the service, we had a joyful and blessed fellowship time with snacks. (Shoichi Takagi)

Relationship with Windsor Chapel

PJC's new worship and ministry location at Windsor Chapel (WC), where God had led us last September, is full of blessings that are beyond any human understanding. I thank and praise the Lord!! Pastor Andrew Straubel always cares about PJC and prays for us. Pastor Andy, who is passionate about church planting and World Mission, believes the presence of a "small Japanese church that has been in the area for more than 20 years" is a blessing from God, and PJC is his new mission that combined two of his passions. Also, from the elders of WC's leadership team, we are hearing how PJC is a blessing for them. I am so encouraged by our relationship that I am humbled by the certainty of God’s guidance.

Also from the fall through the winter last year, both churches blessed each other through special services and events, and were able to deepen our relationship. For the special service with Rev. Inoue (see the article), people came from other churches in the area as well as WC. We were also invited to and joined the Christmas dinner and Christmas Eve service at WC.

We feel that we are unilaterally receiving so many blessings like these, but at the same time God showed me a glimpse of direct and indirect blessings to each person at WC through PJC as God’s vessel. Now I would like to continue to experience more and more of what it means to be that the churches in this world is the “one body of Christ”. (Nobu Kurisu)

The Woerners’ Mission News

Thank you, the family of PJC, for always praying for us!! We have entered into our second semester of language study. - Because Yire is in her third trimester now, we decided that it'd be best for her to go part time, instead of full time. Stephen is still studying full time, so continue to pray for Stephen to be able to learn much and for strength for Yire for the commute to the

language school (one hour one way - sometimes nice ladies give us their seats, but it doesn't happen that often!). - Although till next year Spring Stephen will not be involved in full-time/official ministry (in order to fully focus on language), Stephen joined the worship team at the church. Please pray that through this, God will be glorified as His children gather to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. - The baby Woerner is coming soon! Please pray for a smooth, safe delivery and that God will prepare those who will be involved in this process (doctors, nurses, etc.). We are excited to meet this baby in 6-7 weeks! (Yire & Stephen Woerner)

The financial condition of PJC and how you can help

Princeton Japanese Church will celebrate its 24th anniversary this year. We have continuously faced the challenges of church size and finance in the past, however, we thank God from the bottom of our hearts that He has supported us through these years. Also, we are very thankful for your prayers, financial contributions, and the different ways in which you all have supported us.

As we have informed you in our past newsletters, last year was especially a hard year as we went through significant financial trials. But by the guidance of our gracious God and your faithful prayers, we left the place where we met to worship and held our ministries for a long time just before the summer, and we were welcomed by Windsor Chapel in the fall.

Also, God continued to send people who continued to pray for PJC, and people who support us in the form of donations. He also brought those people from unexpected places, and as a result, PJC's financial needs were met at the end of last year. We praise the name of the Lord.

However, PJC is still facing financial difficulties this year. We believe that God has built PJC on this land and has led and protected us to this day. And we believe that He will continue using PJC in the future as in the past.

So once again, PJC needs your prayers and financial support (donations). We need you to join our mission even if you are away from us physically!!

プリンストン日本語教会／Princeton Japanese Church

We strongly believe that each Christian is called to support one's local church through tithes and regular offerings. Therefore, after having given to your local church, if you feel led by God, please consider participating prayerfully and financially in God's work in PJC. May God bless you always and abundantly.

Princeton Japanese Church Website: www.wwjmpjc.org Office: 19 Hawk Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648 Telephone: (609) 731-0701(Pastor's Cell Phone)

Senior Pastor ： Nobu Kurisu E-mail: pjcadmin@gmail.com (PJC) nobu.go@gmail.com (Pastor)

Specifically: ・We are looking for people who would like to make donations regularly. This enables us to proceed God's works through PJC, while making a future financial plan.

・PJC currently needs about $5,000 as its expenses for each month. Of course, we don't mean to rely on only your contributions. We set a "$ 2,500" as a goal amount of money, which is half of one month's expenses. We really appreciate if you support us, even a little will help.

There are 3 ways to donate: ◆For your contribution in Japan

Bank： Hiroshima Bank Branch: Inokuchidai (Phone 082-278-5611)

Branch #： 127-00, Account #：1660947

Account Holder： Princeton Japanese Church (Rep: Hideo Kurisu)

◆For your contribution by mail (in the US) Princeton Japanese Church c/o Pastor Nobu Kurisu 19 Hawk Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

◆For your Paypal contribution Please visit PJC’s web site