International Open and Affirming Christian Church
in Machida, Tokyo, Japan
yourchurch channel (video archive) →
Open and Affirming
We are an Open and Affirming church. We welcome people of any gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, race, ethnicity, faith background, physical and mental ability, marital, political, and socioeconomic status. We invite all to join us in worship, friendship, and leadership. Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s spiritual journey, you are welcome here.
Won’t you come and join us?
You are invited to come and visit Your Church! We are a community of people who are not merely practicing a religion called Christianity, but are passionate about following Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives. Jesus’ life, and the things he said and did, are recorded in a bestselling book called the Bible. Jesus lived on this earth 2000 years ago, but as you learn about his life and his words, we are convinced that you will want to get to know him better. Please let us introduce you to Jesus Christ. We look forward to meeting you!
Who We Are
yourchurch was started 1993 by Pastor Andy Nagahara and his wife Mari with help of other core staff to reach out to any generation of people in order to share the love of God. Many of the worship songs sung at the church were composed by church members that helps people worship God very naturally from their heart in an open and joyful atmosphere. Messages are spoken in natural and clear everyday Japanese and English. There are about 70 church attendances whose age’s ranges from 0 to 80. yourchurch can be perhaps classified as a “new wine skin church”, not just because they wear blue jeans, shorts, with T-shirts, polo shirts or aloha shirts during the worship service but also because of their free and open style of worship and ministry. It does not mean we do something totally new but we simply follow Jesus’ instructions written in the Bible. We worship our Lord through teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, praying and singing in a way that people can naturally and freely relax and enjoy in their relationship with God.
The meaning behind our name
We call ourselves “Your Church.” This grew out of our desire to have a simple name that reflects who we are and what we value. First, the “you” in Your Church points to God. We want our church to exist for God and to be what he desires. The other “you” is anyone looking for a church community. We would like to be a church that is responsive to your needs.