Harvest Church | Tokyo

The following seven values guide all that we do as Harvest Church Tokyo:

1. Welcoming community

Knowing that “Christ has welcomed us” (Romans 15:7), we commit to receiving others well even when it means giving up our own comforts. We show hospitality to all, without favoritism, both within church gatherings and also throughout the community.

• We create space to “belong before believing,” so that people who don’t yet believe can easily find community with us.

• Our Community Groups and other ministries are open, always ready for one more.

• We use language that newcomers can easily understand, avoiding excessive use of Christian lingo.

2. Whole-life worship

We live our lives in response to the person and work of God, worshipping with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28) individually, in Community Groups, and in our weekly celebration.

• We maintain a sense of expectation, anticipating God will make his presence and power known.

• We cultivate an atmosphere where people want to join because they find worship meaningful and everyone has a part to play.

• We have set patterns for our celebration gathering, and also some creative variations.

• We use story-telling in our gatherings, sharing the biblical story and also our own stories of faith.

• We have a variety of “prayer focus weeks,” taking time in Community Groups and corporate worship to focus on one area of life and society, some of which are in sync with Japanese holidays such as children, elderly, newborns, small business owners, labor/workplace, those who have passed away, graduates, and others.

3. Generosity

As we experience God’s abundance, we seek to grow in our giving both individually and as a community, to be a church that freely shares its resources cheerfully (II Corinthians 9:6-8).

• Our Community Groups share their time to bless others through service and outreach.

• We have an annual time of focusing on whole-life stewardship, opening ourselves to new steps in giving.

• We share our church’s offerings to support other Christian work such as ministries to the poor, always giving more than a 10% tithe.

4. Everyone gets to play

There are no spectators; everyone has a role to play. We live out I Corinthians 12’s teaching that “the body is one and has many members.”

• We involve everyone in practicing the “one anothers” of the New Testament.

• We break down larger roles so people can easily take on one part.

• We welcome people who are not yet believing to play a part.

• We make opportunities for people to discover their spiritual gifts and try new roles.

5. People development

We grow together spiritually, helping each to become rooted and built up in Jesus Christ, well-established in the faith (Colossians 2:7), equipped to fulfill God’s calling.

• We equip people to dive deeply into God’s Word, led by the Spirit and actively applying scripture in our daily lives.

• We understand our identity in Christ and seek to reflect that more and more in our character.

• We actively learn about our spiritual gifts and develop them together.

• We seek to cooperate with God’s healing work in our lives, seeing that bear fruit in relationships.

6. Continuous improvement

We seek to do everything well, knowing that in all things we are primarily serving the Lord (Colossians 3:23).

• We regularly evaluate everything, and schedule more formal evaluations for worship, Community Groups, and children’s ministry every third year.

• We strive for excellence, but with flexibility and grace.

• We create an atmosphere where people can try new roles, often with the support of their Community Groups.

7. Multiplication

Called by Jesus to “make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:18) we seek to raise up leaders and through them, to reproduce Community Groups and congregations.

• We invite everyone into the discipleship process, both being discipled and discipling others.

• Our congregation supports parents as they raise their children in the faith.

• Our Community Group leaders identify people to raise up to lead future groups.

• We identify within two years of our launch likely locations for later church plants and begin outreach in those areas.

• Our budget includes funds for pastors-in-training, and for starting churches that start churches.

Read more about the New Kind of Church we want to develop, Our Vision, our 3-Step Plan, and Timeline.