This is a port of life

It is where you, as a ship worn out by the rough ocean seas, obtain relief:, you take off your traveling clothes, stand firmly on the ground, repair and refuel the damaged ship, reconfirm the purpose for and the final destination of your journey by consulting with maps, and prepare for your departure tomorrow. It is where you think and act together on how to live your one and only life, based on the Bible. Rather than just thinking abstractedly about your life, here you think practically and engage in conversations to improve how you live. This happens by getting involved in many practical issues in the local community, through life-training to live together with different personalities and through hard work to support your life.

Features of activity

１．Experiencing changes in a short period

There is no specific educational program, no training or counseling. The four to six-hour-long work day experience allow even an eighty year-old lady to say that it is a comfortable rhythm without the smallest strain. The daily life is full of laughter, and anyone can naturally fit in with the atmosphere. Many people said how relaxed the place was and how it provided a natural and magical comfort as a place for consolation. Then they experienced their own inner change for an amazingly short period. This is because our lives here are not based on human means, but through trust in the invisible work of God based on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

２． God provides solution

There is no specific educational program, no training or counseling. The four to six-hour-long work day experience allow even an eighty year-old lady to say that it is a comfortable rhythm without the smallest strain. The daily life is full of laughter, and anyone can naturally fit in with the atmosphere. Many people said how relaxed the place was and how it provided a natural and magical comfort as a place for consolation. Then they experienced their own inner change for an amazingly short period. This is because our lives here are not based on human means, but through trust in the invisible work of God based on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

３．Understanding and support from parents

We feel strongly about the need for parents’ understanding and support. We cannot look after children whose parents are not open to our religious beliefs since we are afraid that it tends to create problems later on. No matter how much healthier mentally and physically these children became by the grace of Christ, they would probably return to their suffering after returning home, unless they are grounded in faith. Most parents view their children’s problems as an outside event that has nothing to do with them. In fact, some other unresolved problem for themselves or their family is often the root cause. Without dealing with this, we are unable to adequately address the situation for their children. Therefore, we wish parents also to grow, adapt and change together with their children. We ask them to make up their minds to entrust not only the children but also themselves to our training. We ask for parents’ involvement if children are older than 20 years of age and are mentally immature and have been deeply discouraged by suffering. We ask parents not to force responsibility for the problem only to their child just because they are adults, but to be a part of the solution and to participate actively in the education at 3 Keisenjuku. To achieve this, we ask them to come to Keisenjuku with their children at least once, to see us, and to experience life here with their own eyes.

Feature of human education

１．Early morning Bible study

Most of the participants said that they enjoyed the morning Bible study. Even someone who studied the Bible for the first time became absorbed in the study of the Bible within a few days. The Bible is a book in which God (the subject) speaks to man (the object). We read and meditate on His word to understand what He desires, expects and commands us to do. In contrast, many Christians read the Bible to know what they can expect from God and what grace is promised by Him. They believe that the gospel is meaningless unless it is a convenient help for them; they are unaware of themselves treating Him as a slave of man. God will not respond to such a “faith.” We believe that God always responds to our prayers so clearly because we treat Him properly as the Creator. The foundation of human education is to know God.

２．Work up to sweat and fatigue

Agricultural labor provides us with a healthy life deriving pleasure from our food, sound sleep and good bowel movements. Genuine agriculture, not for making money, makes us understand the providence of God and really feel the presence of the Creator. Nature is generous enough to pay no heed to the minor mistakes of humans. Agriculture is better suited to team work than to individual isolation…. The refreshing feeling after working together with one heart and mind is far beyond description. Such experiences develop a feeling of fellowship and provide pleasure in helping others grow with an eagerness to learn agricultural techniques. It is really gratifying to work with all your heart. The human body is designed to till the land and take care of trees and 4 plants and to feel good about it. Too much mental exhaustion could kill us.

３． A warm and happy family circle

Many people get into trouble with human relationships. A quarrel between a husband and a wife, a rupture between parents and children, and bullying at school or in the workplace are all problems involving human relationships. Moreover, adultery, running away from home, school non-attendance and withdrawal from society, they are also reflections of these problems. A pleasant human relationship is based on love. Love is not a feeling but a will: it is a constructive will to lead other people to complete their personalities, and is a servant’s will to give a helping hand to let them bloom. The servants are slaves: they have a pure will to devote themselves heart and soul to serve other people. The slaves bring victory to their master at the cost of their lives and are satisfied by discovering their lives in the master’s victory. The slaves never assert themselves. Parents devote themselves to developing their children’s mind and body. The children reach adulthood by love from their parents nurturing their growth. Love cannot be effective unless it is expressed modestly with endurance and tears. A family circle is a quiet waterside where love prevails naturally. Invitees there moisten their dried hearts with water of love as much as they wish. Jukusei members think “warmth” or “something not of this world” is what the Keisenjuku represents, and the family circle is the foundation of such feelings. There is no superior hero/heroin in the circle.

As activity stage of God

１．A sphere of the God’s activities

There are many people who are wounded, sick and exhausted. They all have sincere, very serious and innocent souls. They have gone astray in a territory where modern medicine can’t help and they are facing a wall of despair. What can we do? None of us is a doctor or a counselor. We are powerless, completely powerless. But God will hear us when we call to Him from the lowest pit of powerlessness and despair. God can do things that no human being can do. Anything is possible with God, as the Bible says. These are true words and we can confidently, relate to what we have witnessed. When we become aware of being powerless and commit everything to God, He will answer. When we become lacking in our obedience to God, or spiritually lacking, our lives become a sphere of God’s activities.

２．Keisenjuku for God to invite the poor

God drives a magnificent plan to remove all barriers of hatred, to restore all human beings and creatures in the right order and to let them live Godly, eternal lives. Our Keisenjuku is like a modest repair shop along a backstreet, which takes on an extremely tiny part of the magnificent plan. The existence of such a useful repair shop where any problem can be brought is quietly becoming known among invitees by God through word of mouth. It is God’s will to invite the poor loved by God, like Lazarus, to the kingdom of heaven. It is a holy project for God’s sake and a holy place which denies becoming the means of accomplishing men’s dreams or ideals to satisfy themselves.

３．Demonstrating the power of the Gospel

The Lord God continues to demonstrate the power of the gospel to this day. Mizutani is a missionary, who is a shepherd and head teacher. He is called to minister at a gathering place where sin settles in today’s world and he prays for intercession from God. God in the Bible is Almighty God. He gives overflowing grace to people who return to the right relationship with God. To receive exhausted visitors who have pushed through the self-centered way of life without knowing of the existence of God, to bring them back to a Christ-centered life and to lead them to repent and offer themselves to God as a chosen living sacrifice are the shepherds’ holy commission. Keisenj uku at Yoichi is full of God’s grace: here, the life-giving gospel is spoken, prayers bursting out from the bottom of hearts are offered up, laugher and thanks are everywhere, and wonderful peace surrounds every life. Life here reminds people, who have adapted themselves to urban existence of important things they have long since forgotten as human beings. Being lit up by God’s light, they all shine and gradually recover their strength. This is achieved through God’s grace and love to make us all shine with His light. The reason why we cannot shine is that we avoid the light and try to shine by our own strengths. Each time we receive a new guest, we are compelled to substantiate that the God of the Bible is present and is at work now. We also reinforce the abandonment of common knowledge that the world has taught us and instill following the never-changing Word of God along with living a pure and simple-minded believer’s life.