Sermon on “International Community” (Sermon series on Alive International Vision)

I preached on “the International Community” from the Book of Ruth 1:1-18 on January 10. This was one of the six-week sermon series on Alive International Vision Statement. Mine was the second one. We three each (Tom, Tetsuya, and I) preach on in twice. I enjoy preaching with Tom and Tetsuya on the same vision. For this, we weekly meet to talk about our sermons on the vision and pray together.

I believe our AI vision statement is excellent. So we three try to have the AI congregation memorize it and seek to become as the vision says!

AI is not a Japanese congregation nor a community of foreigners in Japan. AI is an international community that includes every nationality, including Japanese. There are no foreigners in AI, and there are no foreigner cards among the AI community. Unfortunately, many people in Japan tend to separate “Japanese” and “foreigners.” Therefore, we AI intentionally say, “we are an international community made up of every nationality!” I believe that this makes the AI community so unique in Japan and among many Japanease churches! I love the AI community and love the AI vision statement!