We're vision casting for more church planting out of Denen Grace Chapel. Here's a bulletin insert I wrote:

Imagine you’re aboard a cruise ship. Together with friends, you’re enjoying a time of refreshment and inspiration. You’ve settled into a comfortable cabin. The boat is full of life and activities. You’ve even been asked to help out with things. Food and laughter fill the air. You’ve been sailing the ocean for quite a while, but not sure just where you’re headed.

One morning as you stroll the deck, you notice a large, strange box alongside the railing. Curiosity gets the best of you. You peek inside. Under a layer of dust, you can see coiled ropes and folded nets. For the first time you notice other such boxes all around you. You can just make out the faded letters stenciled on the side: T-A-C-K-L-E. You ask a fellow passenger what this means. He only shrugs. The cabin steward shrugs. But a ship officer seems to remember a story. Before the cabins and carpeting. Before the pools and deck chairs. Once upon a time this ship had a different purpose.

On my desk I have a boat model to remind me of my task in Japan, which is also the task of the church. It’s a fishing trawler with nets on the side ready to drop into the water. You may not have realized it, but when you placed your faith in Christ and stepped aboard the church, you stepped aboard a boat designed to be a fishing trawler. When Jesus said, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19), that was also your calling to a specific mission of which you are a special part. True, the church could be converted into a cruise ship, but that isn’t the plan of its Builder. Our Builder, Christ, intended us to be about the task of fishing. He’s supplied us with gospel nets of forgiveness, reconciliation, joy, wholeness, and compassion. He’s given us people who know how to this tackle in creative and effective ways. He desires that we work together to go fishing, to draw all kinds of people toward himself.

It’s important that our church sometimes pause and ask the question, “What is it that we’re really doing here?” Very simply, we're casting nets into the ocean of this world and drawing in people toward Christ. We're growing them to be like Him in every way. Christ will steer the fish, but he needs us to let down the nets. As Jesus challenged Peter, he challenges us, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4

Church planting is building another fishing trawler. Let’s face it. The amount of fish in Kawasaki (99.5% of 5.2 million people) alone is far beyond what one boat of fishermen can handle. One boat may never catch some types of fish. And one boat alone could never hold them. If a spiritual awakening comes to Japan, what would we do? We need greater capacity! We need new people trained to fish along with us, using their own unique approach, and catching their own unique catch.

Wouldn’t it be great if the church in Japan faced this dilemma of the disciples: “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.” Luke 5:6-7

Let’s not forget the purpose we were built. Let’s trust God to bring about a miracle catch. As a missionary family, it is our vision to be sent out from Denen Grace Chapel, to work nearby building another fishing trawler, to be “partners in the other boat” fishing closely in this area together. Would you pray with us? Let’s go fishing!