God Gave Me a Big Family
A share house, a relatively new concept in Japan, is where several people rent a house and live together. Kazue Ishihara started a Christian share house called “Grace House” in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, in the hope of providing healing for the loneliness that afflicts many people.
There are now three Grace Houses in Japan (Kazue is involved with two of them). Each serves not just as a home for residents but also as a meeting place for local Christian groups and organizations. Weekly Bible studies where people from various backgrounds come together to fellowship are held at each Grace House. It was Ishihara’s experiences living in Singapore and Shanghai that led her to start share houses in Japan.
The Starting Point: Life in Singapore
Ishihara began working in Singapore in her late 20s. She encountered struggles with her new life, but found comfort and encouragement at the share house where she was living. Then, her boss at work developed a mental illness and began to depend heavily on her. Remembering Jesus’ parables, which she had heard when she attended a Christian school, she started attending a Bible study at a colleague’s home with her boss in the hope of finding help there. There, she cried when she found out she was God’s creation and that He had a plan for her. Both Ishihara and her boss came to Christ through that Bible study.
Ishihara recalls those times in Singapore as “some of the most beautiful memories of my life, even now.” She continues, “My life was changed at a home Bible study; not at the Christian school or the church services that I attended. When you welcome people into your home, cook for them, listen to their stories, and share the Bible — you feel for each other. What I’m presently doing through the share houses had its starting point at that time in my life.”
After four years in Singapore, Ishihara’s desire to return home grew, but she was worried about about living in Japan. Around that time, “the president of AT&T Japan (a large US telecommunications company) visited Singapore, and I was asked to show him around. When I mentioned my concerns about the future to him, he offered to interview me for his company. And that was how I began my career there.”
Meals with Chinese Colleagues
Ishihara’s job at AT&T was busy. “For example, I was involved with providing a global network that supports the iPhone, so I gathered information from all over the world and presented it to customers in Japan. I woke up early to call and email people in Europe and stayed up late at night to communicate with people in the USA. I had no time to sleep, to the point that some days I felt I might die. I prayed and cried out on Sunday nights, ‘God, I’m burned out. I can’t go any further.’ However, this experience also prepared me for my current work.”
Ishihara was first stationed in Tokyo. She moved into an apartment two to three minutes from Pastor Yasuo Atsumi’s church, Tokyo Megumi Church, because she desired to learn more about God. She welcomed the young people from her church into her home, eating with them and enjoying their company. Watching them spend time together, she realized “how fun eating in fellowship was and discovered the joy of cooking and showing hospitality to others.”
Transfer to China
Three years after joining AT&T, Ishihara was transferred to Shanghai, China, to provide customer support for Japanese-owned companies. Actually, Ishihara had been praying for a transfer to China. “When I was in Singapore, there was a Chinese colleague I didn’t get along with, and I used to judge Chinese. When I became a Christian, I repented of that.” Ishihara asked herself, “What can I do so that Japanese and Chinese workers can get along and work together?” Her answer was to “take time to eat together, rather than just doing business together.”
One of her Chinese colleagues came to Christ through Ishihara and began passionately evangelizing at work, causing a “mini-revival.” Five more people were baptized in a year through the house church meeting held at Ishihara’s home. “When people eat together, they get closer to each other. Their relationships at work improve as well as the actual business. I realized people need healing for their loneliness.”
Securing the Best through Persistent Prayer
After working four years in Shanghai, Ishihara returned to Japan. She first worked in Nagoya, near her father’s home for two years and then moved to the Tokyo branch. Every week, she traveled from Tokyo to Nagoya and back, attending the Sunday service at the Chinese House of the Japan Chinese Church. Feeling her mission at AT&T was accomplished, Ishihara resigned to “work for the Lord in Nagoya, my birthplace.” She established Grace House, the share house she had long desired and prayed for.
Ishihara believes she was given the best, a share house, because of persistent praying and crying out to the Lord amid hardship. “The Lord has given me — single and without family — the biggest family ever since my time in Shanghai. I am learning that the Lord is a God who listens to our prayers and gives us joy.”
From Christian Shimbun, June 7 & 14, 2015
Translated by Hiromi Kuichi
All photos contributed by Christian Shimbun
