History of Japanese Fellowship Church
The present church began in 1977 with former pastor Takashi Matsuda’s pioneering church plant. Services were first held in a borrowed room in St. Peter Church in Edina, Minnesota, and then moved to Bethel Church in Minneapolis. Prayers and 25 cent building fund offerings continued from the start, and finally in 1993, a warehouse for sale near Bethel was purchased, and with the cooperation of many laborers we finished remodeling what is now the church’s present building in 1994. God answered our prayers, and we are thankful to have been blessed with this place where we can worship free of time constraints.
Worship Service
Currently, worship services are held every Sunday at 11am. Besides Japanese people, international couples and Americans interested in Japanese language and culture also attend the services. People tend to think church is only for Christians, but this is certainly not the case. Anyone may feel free to participate. Messages in Japanese are translated into English.
Bibles and hymnals are provided.
Basic Doctrinal Position of our Faith
1. We believe in the Scriptures, both the Old and the New Testaments, as the inspired Word of God, and as the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
2. We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
3. We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary; that He is truly God and truly man.
4. We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned, and is thereby separated from God.
5. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that all who believe in Him are justified through faith in His shed blood.
6. We believe in the resurrection and ascension of the crucified Savior, Who now acts as our High Priest and Advocate with God the Father.
7. We believe in “that blessed hope,” the personal imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
8. We believe that all who by faith receive the Lord Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God.
9. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust.
10. We believe in one baptism by the one Spirit into one body.