Over the last few years I had found myself going back & forth from Japan & Australia for work, business & of course leisure. Lets be honest for a moment: Japan is an amazing country full of incredible culture, technology & food. On my first trip to Tokyo, Japan my brother & sister in law recommended me to visit Lifehouse Tokyo while I was there.

My family & I are all christians & have worked or served in ministry at some point in our lives. At the time I was the Media pastor for church that I had been a core part of planting & seen it grow from a small group of 6 friends in a living room to over 600 people in just under 2 years. So naturally you can assume that I love Jesus, church & have a strong grip on a un-compromised gospel, pentecostal is probably the best way to describe it.

I was in Japan for just short of 6 weeks, during this time I visited Lifehouse Tokyo twice & when I couldn’t make it I watched their live stream. My first experience with Lifehouse Tokyo was incredible. The moment I walked in the door I was loved. I was greeted by a greeting team that gave me some magical Japanese candy that tasted like pineapples. (I’m a sucker for candy haha) They asked me for my name & if it was the first time coming. Right away they introduced me to a young guy who was bilingual in English & Japanese. He took me down to the auditorium as the service was about a minute from starting. On the walk to the auditorium I was greeted by so many people with smiles & joy. The first thing that popped in my head was that this is like my home church & very similar to Hillsong. The best way to describe it was like they were all family members I haven’t seen in years. It made me think of 1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. While pondering on the body of christ I walked into the service & what I say blew me away.

Teenagers, Young Adults, “Wise” Adults were all up the front in what seemed like a mosh pit but full of people praising & worshiping Jesus, there were lights, amazing graphics & effects, incredible music & everything was full of such joy & praise. I instantly felt so at peace, I was home even though I was away from home.

They are a international church so they alternate between Japanese & English in the songs & then there is a translator for the message. Pastor Lewis Rice gave an incredible message that was full of sound doctrine & at the end of the service 3 people gave their lives to Jesus, after the service the whole church joined in prayer & there was a final song to close the service.

After the service my new friend Jullian who I was introduced to when I walked in introduced me to all the young guys & everyone I met was so polite & friendly. We all hanged out for a bit & chatted, after about 30 – 35 min or so it was time for the final service of the day which was the 5:30pm service. I attended this service as well & it was once again just as great as the 3:30pm service I first went to.

After the final service was finished I was asked if I wanted to join a life group, which is their cell groups where they go through the bible & do devotions etc. I attended one of the groups. I observed such a well organised system in place for this, Girls had their own groups & Guys had their own groups & each group had a leader. It started off with everyone sharing a good thing that happened to them during the week & then sharing 1 journal they did that week. Journaling is where you read the bible with the expectation that God will speak to you through it. I loved how open & safe the group felt. once life group was finished we all went out for dinner together afterwards & had a great time laughing & having fun. I made so many new friends & met so many inspiring people.

Overall after I went back home to Australia I came back with inspired & had all these great new ideas for structure I wanted to apply in my department at my church.
Lifehouse Tokyo truly is an amazing church & I highly recommend if you are visiting or living in Tokyo, Japan to visit. You won’t regret it. For more information visit their website: http://tokyo.mylifehouse.com