An international student at our church took the initiative to organize fellowship for young people through frisbee. On that day, an elementary school-age boy happened to be at the park and joined in their game. He seemed to have enjoyed himself very much and wanted to keep playing with the group. The organizers said he should ask his parents for permission first, if he wanted to play with them at church.
The boy went home and told his parents. Perhaps he told them how fun it was to play frisbee with those nice people, or perhaps he said that the church had English classes and that he wanted to visit. In any case, this incident — of being invited to a Christian church — caused anxiety to his parents. Maybe they did not know the circumstances leading up to this invitation. Anyhow, they responded by giving a low rating on Google to the church’s profile and posting this review:
Why do you come from another area and try to get young schoolkids to come to your church? Please don’t do that; they’ll end up getting lost.
After praying and hearing about the circumstances from two of the young people involved, I wrote the following reply. I am sharing this incident with you as I would like us to think together about how to handle situations like this one.
My reply:
“We apologize deeply for causing you to worry for your son.
“Please allow me to explain the circumstances of what happened 2 weeks ago on Sunday afternoon. That day, 12 young people from our church (university students and school children, led by a international graduate student) went to the park for frisbee. On that occasion, your son joined their game and seemed to have a good time.
“When it was time for them to leave the park, it appeared that your son wished to continue playing with them, so they explained that they rarely go to that park but he could meet them again if he visited our church, which is 4 minutes’ walk from Minami-Nagareyama train station. They said that he should first ask his parents for permission if he wished to go.
“When I consider your perspective as parents, what you have pointed out is well-justified: Your son was invited to a church you knew nothing about. At the same time, it seemed your son wished to meet his new friends again, and our young people had also enjoyed playing with him. I hope you will understand the circumstances that led up to their invitation. But once again, we apologize for causing you anxiety over this incident.
“If this has somehow eased your worry, please know that we would be glad to welcome your son at our church. We have many international students coming to our church, including students from University of Tokyo, Tokyo University of Science, and Tokyo University of the Arts. They come from countries such as the U.S., Canada, China, South Korea, and Ghana. Our worship songs are sung in both Japanese and English. On Sundays, we have a children’s class as well. In addition, English conversation classes are taught by a missionary couple from Malaysia who studied English at a U.S. graduate school. Lastly, we engage international pastors and overseas churches for special events. If you feel that such international exposure would benefit your child’s education, we would be most happy to welcome him. Likewise, if you ever wish to visit us, we warmly welcome you.
— Shoichi Ino, Pastor of IBF.”