Praying out loud in Japanese
Posted on: 23rd November 2022
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas serves among university students in Japan. Here she offers an insight into the practical and spiritual struggles that come with praying out loud in a new language. When I first arrived in Japan back in 2008, daily life was very challenging. I didn’t understand the language and culture, and I was […]
Blessed to bless others
Posted on: 25th May 2022
CMS missionary Chenny Thie works with the KGK (a Japanese university ministry affiliated with IFES) encouraging and training Japanese and international students. She shares how the ministry of KGK has been a blessing to many.
Checkpoint Autumn 2022: Spontaneous ministry
Posted on: 23rd February 2022
CMS missionaries Dene and Rachel Hughes are committed to long-term discipling in the context of their church in Japan. Here they write about what that looks like in practice. Rachel writes: I have an increasing appreciation for opportunities to do ‘guerrilla’ ministry. I didn’t value it at first—impromptu, unofficial, seemingly unimportant—but I have come to […]
Discipling through training
Posted on: 24th January 2022
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas has been working with university students in Japan since 2008. She works with the KGK (Kirisutosha Gakusei Kai), a Christian student movement affiliated with IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students). Kellie shares how some of the most encouraging discipling relationships have happened almost unexpectedly through training students in leadership. In 2018, […]
Christmas in Japan: fried chicken and Jesus
Posted on: 7th December 2021
CMS missionaries Adam and Helane Ramsay work in church ministry in the Japanese city of Chiba. Helane shares what Christmas is like for their family in a nation with little exposure to the message of Jesus but lots of fried chicken. Christmas in Japan A boy and a girl stroll through the city hand in hand on a chilly night, looking at the Christmas […]
Living out the gift of grace
Posted on: 7th October 2021
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas has served in Japan for 13 years. In this article she explains how difficult it can be to comprehend the concept of grace in a culture of reciprocity. The exchanging of gifts is very important in Japanese culture, and for relationships to be maintained, it must be continuous and reciprocal. (1) Gifts are given in order to carry out giri (2), and the […]
Making Jesus known in Japan: Checkpoint Spring 2021
Posted on: 6th September 2021
CMS missionaries Adam and Helane Ramsay, along with Steven and Sandra Parsons, are serving in Japan. Whether church planting or supporting in other ways, they explain their desire to see God’s people take every opportunity to grow his kingdom in a hard place. Adam writes We didn’t come to Japan to church plant. We came […]
The gift of friendship
Posted on: 15th July 2021
Moving to another culture brings with it many unexpected joys and challenges. CMS missionaries Matt and Jen Lim shared this insight into the blessing of friendship. “This year we couldn’t celebrate our son Obi’s 6th birthday with a party for his group of friends. Instead, we had a small celebration where he got to choose some of his favourite things including banana […]
Building strong leaders for Japan
Posted on: 1st July 2021
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas serves in Japan with KGK, a university Bible group. Here she describes the enjoyment and blessing that has resulted through online training of Christian student leaders. One of the upsides of doing ministry online is that meetings can be more accessible for students. Recently I started some online leaders’ training via Zoom. All the students in the photo have become leaders of their campus groups this […]
How I became a missionary in Japan: an interview with Kellie Nicholas
Posted on: 23rd June 2021
CMS missionary Kellie Nicholas has served in Japan since 2007. Here Paddy Benn and Aaron Smith (from the ‘Aspire’ podcast) interview her about how she went from being a struggling high school language student to a missionary among students in Japan. Kellie says: “I knew that Jesus was my Saviour, but I hadn’t quite clicked that Jesus needed to be my Lord…” In […]
