English Page

Regular Services

Sunday Service

* We use the Bible and a hymn book (Shin-Seika) during service. Please feel free toask for an English Bible at the front desk.

Pastor

Michio Arai

Welcome to Our Church, Japan Holiness Church Yokohama Church!
Our church family is made up of all generations—from the elders to the little children—and an atmosphere filled with laughter and the love of Christ.
You are invited to be a part of this community that welcomes you home!

History

Our church has over 100 years of rich history. It was founded in March 1914 in the Yokohama-branch of Oriental Missionary Society (OMS), having begun as a house church led by a christian merchant. God worked mightily through just one believer and blessed him abundantly. In the beginning years with pastors Juzo Iino, Goro Mori, and Toshi Sugeno, the church’s membership had steadily been increasing when it was struck by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The church building collapsed and many church members lost their homes. They put up a barrack house at the site, and the church began to recover and get back on track.

It was on June 26, 1942, in the midst of WWII, while the authorities launched a crackdown on churches, that pastor Toshi Sugeno was arrested on the grounds of offense against the Peace Preservation Law. The police raided the church and confiscated all the property and documents including books, name lists, and account books, right down to a drum they were using for a street preaching. By the following April, the church was ordered to dissolve and Sugeno and his wife Yuki, and pastor Akira Obana were deprived of their office. Sugeno died a martyr of the faith in prison. As the war ended, the oppression ceased. Pastors were reinstated to their former position, and the church began to gather regularly at members’ house. In 1949, the church acquired land at the current location, but there was no prospect of a new church building. The following June, Mrs. H. Kilbourne from OMS visited their temporarily jam-packed worship service in a postage stamp sized room. Moved by their faith and spirit passed down from Sugeno, she promised them a church building for Christmas, and just as she promised, support poured in from the U.S. so much so that they were able to construct a building. A rectory was added to it in the third year. Our church was named “Sugeno Memorial Church”, after Toshi Sugeno. God himself certainly has established the church in the middle of a barren land, and has been asking bringing many people to his salvation.

Pipe Organ

Our pipe organ was installed in 1993 by Orgelbau Werner Bosch GmbH,Germany. We have an annual pipe organ concert every autumn.

Werner Bosch Orgelbau GmbH
https://www.bosch-orgelbau.com/

Location (Google Map)

How to Get to our Church

By foot

It takes about 15 min from the West Exit of Yokohama station.

By bus

Take bus #35 (from the stop no3), #44 or #87 (no6), #34 or #83 (no7), #1, #7 or #13 (no8), #11 (no9), #10 or #5 (no10), or #291 (no32), and get off at Sengenshita. You can find the church up the hill.

By taxi

Tell the driver to go to “Minami-karuizawa kouen”. The church is up on the slope on the hill.

By car

Though our church has no parking lot, there is nearby public parking available.