continued "Welcome Pastor Hausknecht" from page 1
My leadership style is transparent: I believe it is important for open decision making processes and active lay leadership in worship, fellowship, and community activities. My preaching would include learning as well as spiritual components, based on Biblical and Lutheran theological foundations. I am told that my sermons tend to be a bit intellectual and liberal........ I highly value community participation. I have been a social activist and long involved in service activities. For example, I had a local leadership role in protesting the Iraq war from prior to its start. I also believe that service in the name of the love of Christ is where our faith leads us. This includes cooperating with others of diverse faith backgrounds to seek solutions to such as poverty and working for peace.....Finally, I would emphasize the basic aspects of pastoral ministry: worship, learning, fellowship, witness, stewardship, service and pastoral care. For music leadership I would rely on the experience of leaders in the congregation. Administratively, I would work with the congregation council for planning, determining priorities, budget development, implementation of ministry, and conflict resolution."
Join with us this Sunday, for Holy Communion worship at 9:30am lead by Pastor Hausknecht and then for the Mother's Day/Welcome Pastor Haus fellowship time in the lounge following.
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 From our President
Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings to you all in the name of our Risen Lord! What a loud and joyous festival worship we had on Easter Sunday as more than 80 members and friends joined together to celebrate His resurrection. With trumpet and drum, violin and voice our rafters shook with the beautiful sounds. So many "thank yous" go out to all who participated in the service, the fellowship brunch that followed, and the Kids Day event that did its own rocking and rolling. When I see so many people eager to volunteer and participate in our ministry, I am once again reminded of why we are here and what keeps us moving forward as a congregation.
And moving forward is what we are doing! In early March, we held our Annual Meeting of the Congregation. Together we went over the reports and financial numbers for the year 2006, but then we turned our hearts and minds to looking ahead. By the grace of God and a network of many friends of our congregation, in early February our ministry came to the attention of an ELCA pastor in Nevada. By the time of our Annual Meeting, because we had made contact with this pastor and had even conducted a phone interview with him, the church council felt confident that this candidate would be a blessing to our ministry and so we asked the congregation to vote on our proposal: We invite Rev. Phillip Hausknecht Ph.D, to be our interim pastor for the next 18 to 24 months, leading our weekly worship and helping us to build up the foundation of our congregation. This proposal was unanimously supported by those present! And so over the next two months, many of us on the church council worked on the various details involved in bringing Pastor Hausknecht to Tokyo. And now he's here!
I want to thank everyone for your patience and support over the past 18 months as we struggled together to overcome a number of difficulties and hurdles in maintaining our ministry here at St. Pauls without a pastor of our own. With the faithful support of the Japan Lutheran Church (NRK) and the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church (JELC) we were able to have guest pastors leading our worship almost every Sunday. We could not have come this far without their help and advice! Thank you! And I also want to especially thank our own Church Council and Board of Elder members -- Takashi I., Martha H., Nancy T., Nancy RI., Ron F., Yoshiki N., Sumiko K., and Yuichiro Y. -- for their time and extra efforts in making our worship experience every Sunday enriching and at the same time, working on the background administrative details that needed attention. Thank you!
We know our work is not finished, but for a moment we can stop and catch our breath! We feel very privileged, humbled, and blessed to have Pastor Haus with us. He has a long history of working in the many different areas that make up the ministry of Christ's Church and it is the gift of this experience that he brings to us. Please take a moment and introduce yourself to him. And let him know any questions, thoughts and opinions you have about the ministry of St. Paul International Lutheran Church.
In the months ahead, now with the help and advice of Pastor Haus, it is the plan of the church council to continue to move forward in our dialogue with the JELC and NRK, discussing together and researching ways to make our congregation more firm and independent. Please keep these efforts in your prayers! The Lord has blessed our congregation with dedicated and enthusiastic members, encouraging partners in the faith, and now a pastor to lead and guide us in our ministry for Him. Alleluia! He is Risen, He is risen indeed!
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| with joy, Marcia page 2 of 3 |
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St. Paul International
Lutheran Church
1-2-32 Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo, JAPAN 102-0071
Phone : 03-3261-3740
FAX : 03-3261-2390
E-mail : 
Homepage :
Church season: Easter
Colors: White
May Rotation:
May 6 ... Christian Education
... Men's Mothers' Day Bake-Off
... Welcome Pastor Phil
May 13 ... Fellowship
May 20 ... Christian Education
... Council Meeting
May 27 ... Fellowship
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Thank You!
Easter Sunday morning, April 8th, was a festival of sound at St. Pauls! "Thank you" to Chris H. and Sean F. for their percussion/trumpet pieces, Ellie and Joel S. for the violin/piano number, the Parany's Group for their song in Malagasy; and the choir, lead by Yasuko H., for the lovely gift of their voices. And a special thank you to Pastor Dave P., for leading this service and for your faithful help whenever our congregation was in need. We pray God's many blessings for Pastor Dave and Nahoko as they return to the US and begin a new chapter in their ministry for the Lord.
Following the Easter worship service, our Fellowship group put on quite a celebration/good-bye spread! Thanks to all who brought treats to share and to all who helped with set-up and clean-up. And while the adults were in the lounge, the Kid's Day event kept the rest of the church jumping. Thank you to Amy and Katrina of LLI, for including our congregation's Sunday School children in this activity.
Thank you to Yoshi and André for sharing photos of these events!
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What a delightful surprise we all had in April, when Pastor Carl and Elaine walked through our front door! Here for a quick visit with their new grandchild (born to Nathan and his wife in February), the Westby's joined us for worship and a time of fellowship following. This photo was taken by Yoshi after our lunch at Denny's. Can you recognize the members of this "old" group?!
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Agenda for Prayer
Dear Ones in Christ,
This month we focus our hearts and minds on "how" to pray. In the Bible, Jesus teaches us that we are to pray to God just as if we are speaking to Him. We should pray not only when we are happy or have feelings of joy, but also we should share our complaints, our disappointments, our sadness and even our anger. Sometimes we are just too tired to make time for prayer; yet, He is listening to us always.
In a brochure on "Good Health," we found this prayer by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
I Cry to You
O God, early in the morning I cry to you. Help me to pray and to concentrate my thoughts on you: I cannot do this alone. In me there is darkness, But with you there is light; I am lonely, but you do not leave me; I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help; I am restless, but with you there is peace. In me there is bitterness, but with you patience; I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me.... Restore me to liberty, and enable me so to live now that I may answer before you and before humanity. Lord, whatever this day may bring, Your name be praised." Amen
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* * Mission Statement * *
St. Paul International Lutheran Church brings together people of diverse backgrounds who are deepening and sharing their Christian faith through English language worship, fellowship, education, and community outreach.page 3 of 3
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From this Sunday, May 13th, and into the coming year, our congregation is blessed to have with us a new interim pastor!
And just a reminder..... this is also a "Welcome Pastor Hausknecht" fellowship time, so if you are the child of a mother, you may also bring a treat to share! We are expecting a crowd.
