Japanese
Church of Austin
Blessings on each of you who teach children about the missions work of God in Texas
through the ministry of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. We hope you will learn
about our state missions efforts as you teach the children in your church and/or community.
START-UP PREP:
Please begin your preparation in prayer.
Pray for:
• Guidance from the Holy Spirit as you prepare to
share about missions work in the state of Texas
• The children to have open ears to listen and
develop a love for missions work in their
home state
• The missionaries, their families and their
mission work
As you prepare for the following lesson, please
notice that you will want to print the available
downloadable material. Also, you need to
acquire a Texas road map. Adhesive putty, yarn
or string are also needed.
An email is provided at the end of the lesson.
This is an email to send parents to explain the
day’s lesson and gives parents missional ideas
for their families.
**Use the following lesson as needed in your ministry - as a
complete lesson or to supplement another lesson**
Made possible through your Cooperative Program giving
What’s Included & Needed
INCLUDED:
• Intro activity
• Missions Story
• Missions Activity & Activity Pages
• Family Missions Challenge (optional). Print a copy
to send home with each child
NEEDED:
• Texas state map
• Map of the world or a globe
• Push pins/tape/adhesive putty
• Yarn or string
• Device to play Japanese Music (Optional)
• Extra pairs of child-size socks for your age group.
(Or you can inform children the week before to be
sure to wear or bring socks)
• Balloons
• Scissors, markers and craft items
• Typing or sturdy paper
• Small paper sacks
• Printed samples of origami patterns
Printed Signs
• Names of Pastor Lee and church
• Poster of Jesus/Japan graphic
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS OF TEXAS CONVENTION
Focal Bible Verse for the Week:
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in
heaven. .” Matthew 5:16
I NTRO ACTIVITY:
SUPPLIES NEEDED:
(This activity should last between five to six minutes)
• Texas state map
BEFORE CLASS—FIND OUT:
• Map of the world or a globe
1. How many miles it is from your town to Austin, Texas.
• Push pins/tape/adhesive putty
Yarn or sting enough to reach between
your town and Austin, Texas)
Optional (colored adhesive dots
or highlighters)
2. Locate Japan on the map or globe.
LOCATE TODAY’S TEXAS CITY
OBJECTIVE: Locate your present city, Austin and the
country of Japan
As children arrive at the Missions Stop, greet them by asking
them to take off their shoes. Provide socks for children who do
not have socks with them. Line the children’s shoes up neatly
near the doorway. Explain to the children that today you are
learning about ministering to Japanese people who live in
Texas. It is a custom for people in Japan and for many Japanese
Americans to remove their shoes when they enter a home.
ASK THE CHILDREN:
1. Who can remind us what this is a map of? (Texas)
What about this larger map (or globe)?
2. Raise your hand if you can show us where our town
is located?
3. Raise your hand if you can name the country which is
located where I am pointing? (Point to Japan. You
can ask a child to place a marker by using
either a push pin or colored dot. You can use a
colored highlighter if the map is yours to mark up).
(If you have time and you have some of the other
Texas Missions lessons, you can ask the children if
they remember any of the countries or cities you
talked about last time).
Today we are going to learn about a church which
ministers to Japanese people who live in Austin.
Austin is the capital of Texas and has people from
many different countries who live there. The church
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Japanese Church of Austin
• Depending on the size of your group,
this activity may be completed as a class
activity or small group activity.
If you choose to do the activity as a small
group, please provide one set of supplies
for each group.
• For the missions story: printed sign of
the “Jesus/Japan” graphic
ministers to people who are Christians and also to
others who need to know about Jesus’ love for them.
They may speak Japanese themselves, have someone in their family who speaks Japanese, or may be
just interested in the Japanese culture and language
and learning about Jesus, of course!
4. Can anyone guess how many miles it is from our
town to Austin, Texas (be prepared with the answer)?
Austin is where our governor lives and where our
legislators do a lot of their work. There are lots of
businesses and schools in Austin since it is centrally
located for many of Texas’ largest cities. Lots of
businesses have meetings and offices in Austin.
5. Who would like to guess how long it would take to
travel to Austin in a car, by train or by plane?
Say, “Let’s begin learning about Pastor Byong Taek Lee,
the church planter missionary and the church he pastors
in Austin.”
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS OF TEXAS CONVENTION
Focal Bible Verse for the Week:
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in
heaven. .” Matthew 5:16
MISSIONS STORY
Supplies needed:
Printout of Pastor Lee and church members names
and printout of the Jesus/Japan graphic.
Today we are learning about a special church in
Austin, Texas whose focus is sharing God’s love with
Japanese people who live there. Pastor Byoung
Taek Lee used to lead a Bible study once a month
for Japanese people in Dallas. Last year he learned
about a group of Japanese Christians living in Austin.
The Austin Baptist Association and Bannockburn
Baptist church agreed to sponsor a new church, also
known as a church plant, and provide a meeting
space for them; so in August of 2013, the Japanese
Church of Austin began. Pastor Lee joined with some
of the Japanese Christians living there and they
passed out flyers to neighbors to invite them to their
church and started meeting every week. The services
are conducted in Japanese but they have English
interpreters for English-speaking family members
and guests. The church started with about 25 people
attending every week and by the end of the year,
three people had accepted Jesus as their Savior! In
addition to the Sunday morning services, Pastor Lee
started a Monday morning Bible study where one lady
accepted Christ at the very first meeting!
Besides enjoying the worship services and Bible
studies themselves, the members of the Japanese
Church of Austin really want to reach out to the
Japanese community in their city. Each year they plan
special events to invite other people to learn about
their church and about God’s love. At Christmas they
have a special party and during Easter they also have
a special service with a party that includes Japanese
food after the service. The members of the Japanese
Church also attend special community events like the
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Japanese Church of Austin
Japanese Festival in Austin where they hand out
special flyers and invitations to people to let them
know about their church.
Pastor Lee uses a special symbol on his church website and in the church’s flyers to show how much
Jesus loves all people. The pastor says this sign
means that “Jesus’ blood overflows Japan and
Jesus saves Japanese.” The Bible tells us that God
loves everyone and this is Pastor Lee’s special way
of showing the Japanese people in Austin that
God loves each of them! (Hold the graphic up at
this time to show the children. If you do not have
a printout of the graphic, it is easily recreated by
using black and red markers to draw it on a piece
of paper or white board and further explain its
meaning.)
If you have Internet access during the lesson, you
can visit the church website to view Japanese
writing, along with English writing, to see what else
you might enjoy learning about the church. If you
don’t have Internet access during your class time,
you might find it helpful to print a few pages from
the church website for the children to look at after
the story.
www.japanesechurchaustin.com
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS OF TEXAS CONVENTION
Focal Bible Verse for the Week:
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in
heaven. .” Matthew 5:16
MISSIONS ACTIVITY
OBJECTIVE: To pray for...
1. Pastor Byong Taek Lee and the members of the
Japanese Church of Austin.
2. The Japanese people in Austin who need to begin and
grow in their relationship with God.
3. Opportunities to share the good news of Jesus with new
people they meet.
To learn some of the customs of Japanese people...
ACTIVITY 1
• Packages of medium to large-sized
balloons. Plan on approximately eight
balloons for 16 children
• Permanent markers
• Copies of memory verse on small strips
of paper (approximately one copy fpr 16
children)
• Scissors
Before you lead one of the following activities, invite children
to find Matthew 5:16 in their Bibles. Try to say or read the
verse together. Ask the children if they can think of some of
the ways, either from today’s story or from their own ideas,
the Japanese Church of Austin members to share the love of
God in their community (inviting people to church, attending
local festivals to share Jesus with others, pray for their
community, etc.)
ACTIVITY 2
• Printed samples of origami patterns
You can choose between the activities below or do them
both depending on your time and group size.
• Small paper sacks (1 per child)
If you want a snack as part of your learning session, you can
have watermelon or cantaloupe. In Japan people often try to
find the nicest watermelon or cantaloupe to give as a gift of
appreciation to people or to show respect to people. They
take their fruit very seriously! You could also prepare sticky
rice or Ramen noodles and let the children try to eat those
with chopsticks. Then you could send each child home with
his or her own set of chopsticks.
Afterwards, help the children find their shoes and send home
the parent letters as children leave or you can email/mail
them the letters the following day.
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SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Japanese Church of Austin
Download patterns here:
www.origami-fun.com/origami-for-kids
www.origami-instructions.com
• Typing or other sturdy paper, crayons or
washable markers and colored pencils
• Various small craft items to decorate the
sacks: fabric pieces, glue sticks, washable markers, stickers, etc.
Optional: Library books on origami;
mailing label stickers or small copies of
the Jesus/Japan graphic
Optional supplies for bonus activities:
Chopsticks (1 set per child); cooked
Ramen noodles and/or sticky rice;
watermelon and/or cantaloupe
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS OF TEXAS CONVENTION
Focal Bible Verse for the Week:
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in
heaven. .” Matthew 5:16
MISSIONS ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY 1 • ORIGAMI TO GO
ACTIVITY 2 • BALLOON VOLLEYBALL
For this activity you will need to do a little preparation
ahead of time. Work through the activity yourself so you
can demonstrate for the children how to make different
origami shapes. Download and print origami patterns
on the sites provided in the Supplies Needed section.
In addition to Internet searches, you can also find simple
pattern books about origami in your local library. Pick
simple patterns for today’s activity for younger children
and more advanced patterns for older students who may
be familiar with this activity.
Before the game inflate balloons and insert slips of paper
with different parts of the verse (an example for eight parts
is below). Depending on the size of your group you can
make as many verse sets as needed. Use different colors
for the sets if possible. If you don’t have different colors of
balloons, just use a different color of marker for each set.
On each of the balloons write the “address” for today’s
verse, Matthew 5:16.
Tell the children that in Japan, people of all ages enjoy
the art of paper folding known as Origami. People fold
paper to make simple or complex shapes. Say, “Today we
are going to make several shapes to help us remember
the ministries of the Japanese Church of Austin. After you
make several shapes, you can decorate them or unfold
them and color the paper and fold it again.” Take a small
paper sack and write out today’s verse on the sack (for the
youngest children in your group, you may want to have the
verse written directly on the bag or on a strip of paper for
them to glue on the sack). “You can decorate your sack
with the supplies provided and take your origami creations
home to share with family or friends.” Include small mailing
labels either with the Japan/Jesus graphic on it or show a
sample of the graphic and encourage them to recreate it
on their sacks. Encourage the children by telling them that
when they share their origami, they should remember to
tell someone about how a special church in Austin is on
mission to reach the Japanese people in their city, right
here in Texas!
Matthew 5:16 | In the same way, | let your light shine |
before men, | that they may see | your good deeds | and
praise your Father | in heaven.
Depending on your group size, divide the students up into
an equal number of teams. Each team will sit on the floor
across from another team, divided by a simple tape line
across the floor or a couple of pool noodles as the dividing
mark. You will need one verse set of balloons for every two
teams. Give someone on one side of the marker one of
their verse balloons and start a simple game of volleyball
with that one balloon. After the children get going, introduce
another balloon to the game. See how many balloons they
can keep up in the air at one time. Add as many balloons
as you can. After you let the children play a few rounds of
volleyball, you can stop the game by shouting “freeze” or
game over.” Whoever ends up with a balloon will be asked
to pop the balloon and work with the other people in that
color group to put the verse together. Have them consult
their Bibles to check their work.
Ask the children to write the name of the Austin church
and the name of the pastor somewhere on their bag. If you
have time let the children show others what origami pieces
are in their bags. Take a few minutes to invite each small
group or have someone lead the entire group in a prayer
for Pastor Lee, the members of the Japanese Church of
Austin and their efforts to reach people for Jesus in Austin.
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Japanese Church of Austin
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS OF TEXAS CONVENTION
Focal Bible Verse for the Week:
“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in
heaven. .” Matthew 5:16
TEXAS MISSIONS FAMILY CHALLENGE
Dear Parents,
First, thank you for taking time to learn what your child or studied in our missions stop this week. Today
we learned about the outreach to Japanese people in Austin, Texas by Pastor Byoung Taek Lee and the
church members of the Japanese Church of Austin. To see a copy of the entire lesson from today, you are
welcome to visit sbtexas.com/missions4kids. We hope you will make time to talk to your child about what
he or she enjoyed or found interesting about the Japanese culture, as well as what the Japanese Church of
Austin does to share the love of God with Japanese people in our state’s capitol city. The church’s website
is japanesechurchaustin.com.
There are a couple things you can do to help your child remember to pray for Pastor Lee and the Japanese
Church of Austin. One way is by reinforcing one of the activities from today which your child enjoyed and
then looking for things to remind you of that. Each time you are reminded of something Japanese, you can
prompt your child to think about Pastor Lee and remember to pray for him and his church, as well as the
work they are doing in Austin. Another thing you could do would be to help your child learn more about
the Japanese culture. Today we talked about how people in Japanese families take their shoes off before
entering a home. Your family could try that one night and talk about other Japanese customs. In Japan,
people often search for the best watermelons to give to others as a sign of respect. Their watermelons are
not like the large ones you find in Texas grocery stores, but any watermelon or cantaloupe can help start a
conversation about Japanese customs. If you have older children, you might also tell them that sometimes
Japanese people take fruit or bowls of rice to their ancestors’ graves in hopes that their spirits will enjoy
them. You can use that as an opportunity to emphasize how important it is for us to share the truth of God’s
love with the Japanese people.
Today one of the activity options was for students to try their hands at the art of paper folding, origami.
You might want to do an Internet search on origami for kids or calligraphy for kids. We did not talk about
calligraphy but your child might find that interesting and challenging. Also, like people from China, the
Japanese also use chopsticks. Why not try fixing some sticky rice or Ramen noodles one night this week
and let your child try to eat with chopsticks?
We hope you can think of some other fun and interesting ways to talk about Texas missions and international
missions with your child(ren). Each time, please pause to thank God for the gift of his Son, Jesus, and pray
for ways to share him with our Japanese friends!
Thank you again for taking time to encourage your child to learn about and pray for our Texas missionaries!
Made possible through your Cooperative Program giving
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS OF TEXAS CONVENTION
Japanese Church of Austin
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
JAPAN
JESUS
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
let your light shine
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
In the same way,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
before men,
Japanese Church of Austin
let your light shine
In the same way,
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
that they may see
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
your good works
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
and give glory to
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
your Father in heaven.
Japanese Church of Austin
Pastor Byong
Taek Lee
Japanese Church of Austin
of Austin
Japanese
Church
Japanese Church of Austin
Japanese Church of Austin
-Matthew 5:16
In the same way,
let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father in heaven.