Nakaburi
Church
Pastor and Keiko Kimura
Nakaburi Church is a small congregation (most churches in Japan are very small) next door to the Clarks' home in Hirakata, a suburb of Osaka. Pastor Noriaki Kimura and his wife Keiko lead the congregation, though Brother Kimura has to drive taxi to make ends meet. They are a very dedicated couple and have been with the congregation since 1983. They have two children, Mana and Hosana. Mana is a student at Osaka University of Foreign Studies, having studied for a year and a half at the University of Missouri in Columbia while she lived with Chris and Jocelyn and family. Hosana studies at a techincal high school/junior college nearby.
We are fairly close to Kansai University of Foreign Studies (Kansai Gaidai) in Hirakata and through the years we have had several students (both foreign and Japanese) worship with us and attend our International Nights at Hikari no Ie. If you are a student at Kansai Gaidai, please feel free to visit and/or become a part of Nakaburi Church while you are in Hirakata. Although our services are basically in Japanese, some of you may want practice the Japanese language. We can also provide translation. Our praise songs are often sung in both English and Japanese.
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Nakaburi
Church |
Pastor and Keiko Kimura |
Nakaburi's pre-school program, Mokyoroom, teaches 3-year-olds and their mothers about Jesus through stories, songs, and crafts. |
We have a pre-school program, Mokyoroom, with 17 three-year-olds this year, that meets two mornings a week. The children are taught Bible stories, songs, and crafts. The church also has an annual fall outreach that reaches many with the good news that they can be reconciled to the Creator through Jesus. We have a Fall Outreach every year--usually a Mexican Taco Party--and one year we had a turkey dinner. Our guests loved it and there were hardly any left-overs. Paul preaches once a month at Nakaburi Church and Rickie plays the piano once or twice a month. Rickie also teaches A-B-Cs and English words and songs to the Mokyoroom children once a week and speaks to the mothers once a year about God's perspective in raising a family.
The congregation was started in the early 1950s by missionaries Ray and Mattie Mings. At that time the congregation met in the basement of Hikari no Ie. The first church building was built in 1970 and our new building was built on the same site in 1997.
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Fall
Outreach |
How
to fix a taco! |
Our
guests really like tacos |
"If it stays together, I'll get it down!" |
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Nakaburi
Church also offers an English class and English Bible class each week |
Pastor
Kimura drives taxi to help support his family |
Nakaburi's
50th Anniversary Celebration |
Christmas program 2009 |
Nakaburi Church also offers an English class and Bible class each week. Rickie teaches English every week. On alternate weeks she teaches English Bible and Pastor Kimura teaches the Bible in Japanese. These ladies have toured parts of the U.S. and Canada with Paul and Rickie on three trips, the first one in 2001, the second in 2003, and the third in 2006.
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| America or Bust! (2001) | Carriage ride on Vancouver Island (2003) | At Bishop's Castle in Colorado |
The congregation received a generous gift from a congregation in Georgia, which enabled the roof to have needed repairs. Further plans are being made for additional parking and play area.