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Training Center for the Joyous LifeWe refer to a church as a "training center for the Joyous Life." We also explain it as a "training center for single-hearted salvation." What is it, then, that makes a church a model place where one can receive training in the Joyous Life? I think it is the atmosphere of radiant joy--so desired by God--that spontaneously emanates from the people who gather there in order to inquire into God the Parent's teachings.132 (1969): Ushigome Grand Church Head Minister Installation Service and 80th Anniversary
We often explain that a church is a training center for the Joyous Life. A training center is a place where one receives training in a particular art. If you wish to master judo, you need to go to a judo training center. At the center, you learn various techniques and, at the same time, you train your mind, which I am sure can be applied to your private and social life. Since a church is a training center for the Joyous Life, the purpose of going to a church should be to learn about God the Parent's intention and to master the art of living that accords with that intention, which is the Joyous Life. Thus, it is important for our churches to create and maintain an atmosphere that serves this purpose. 142 (1979): Kanamekai Convention
A church is explained as a model of the Joyous Life for its community. If people belonging to the same church work together, or if people belonging to the same church work on constructing their own minds, they will be able to savor a particular atmosphere arising from the efforts they made together. It is this atmosphere that enables that church to serve its community as a model of the Joyous Life. 142 (1979): Takayasu Grand Church 90th Anniversary
Only when people's minds come together can a church serve its purpose. In addition, a church must have a bright and spirited atmosphere. The brightness and spiritedness of a church will in turn serve to attract yet more people to it. 143 (1980): 12th Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers
Churches are not our personal properties. Churches, which God the Parent entrusts us with, are to serve their communities as the core of the Joyous Life. Our churches will become truly meaningful, therefore, only if they become gathering places for those who seek the Joyous Life and those who do not know much about it but are curious about it. 154 (1991): Kanamekai Convention
The expression "the Joyous Life of a church" signifies that a church is a place in which those who seek the Joyous Life--which is the intention of God the Parent--gather together. We are taught that if these people discuss things with one another, refine one another, enlighten one another, and give encouragement to one another, the atmosphere emanating from their minds will certainly be that of the Joyous Life itself, whether or not their natures differ, or whether or not their habits and temperaments differ. 154 (1991): Autumn Grand Service
I feel that an ideal church--a model of the Joyous Life for its community--would be a place where those who are interested in Tenrikyo's teaching of the Joyous Life could be invited to visit for a first-hand experience of the Joyous Life. 148 (1985): 21st Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers
I should like you to be clearly aware that an ideal church--a model of the Joyous Life--is a place where people from all walks of life can gather together and yet can interact with one another joyously, thereby making others curious about how this is possible and enticing them to follow its example. 140 (1977): Directly Supervised Church Head Ministers Training Seminar
The ideal we have of our churches has nothing to do with whether they are big or small or whether they are new or old. Rather, it has to do with the joyous mood emanating from the church--the mood that helps people dispel their depressed feelings and become joyous when they visit the church. I should like you to imagine a church with such an atmosphere as the goal or ideal of your churches. It does not matter if your churches are extremely small. If your churches are such that visitors always feel warmth emanating from the minds of people there the instant they open the door--an atmosphere of joyousness that is in accord with God the Parent's intention--then God the Parent will be happy to extend blessings to your churches, acknowledging them as ideal churches. 151 (1988): 27th Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers
Training Center for Single-hearted SalvationThose of us who serve our churches must never forget the spirit of single-hearted salvation. First, however, we must remember to inquire into Oyasama's intention time and again. A church is a place where people gather in order to inquire into Her intention. As these people grow spiritually, it becomes a base for those who are resolved to serve in single-hearted salvation. I should like you to be aware that this is how our churches become truly meaningful as models of the Joyous Life and as training centers for single-hearted salvation.132 (1969): Spring Seminar for Newly Appointed Head Ministers
A training center is a place where one not only refines one's techniques and skills in an art but also trains one's mind. The phrase "training center for single-hearted salvation" implies, therefore, that our churches must be places where people who are resolved to serve in single-hearted salvation work together to train their minds and learn various skills in order to get on with the work of single-hearted salvation. 144 (1981): 14th Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers
People who received blessings of salvation became heartily intent on establishing a church: they ardently wished to respond to God the Parent's loving care by spreading God's intention and by serving the path of single-hearted salvation in exact accord with Oyasama's Divine Model. Permission to establish a church was given in response to the sincerity of these people. Therefore, our churches must be places where we devote ourselves to the path of single-hearted salvation in order to help people receive blessings of salvation. They have to be places where people who are drawn there can learn the truth of origin and the way of living the Joyous Life. 144 (1981): Oyasama Centennial Anniversary Head Ministers Institute
The desire to settle the teachings more thoroughly in the mind and to share the joy of faith with as many people as possible prompts followers to ask for permission to establish a church. This is how a church begins. Thus, a church must comprise those who are committed to doing, and have an irresistible urge to do, the work of single-hearted salvation. 155 (1992): Akiyoshi Branch Church Relocation Service
A church is a place where people gather to learn about God the Parent's teachings. What is your motivation for going to your church? . . . I feel it is your yearning after salvation that motivates you to go to your church. This is to say that a church is a place where we can be saved. How can we be saved? By listening to the teachings and settling them in our minds, we follow the path of salvation. In fact, not only by settling the teachings in our minds but also by putting them into practice, we shall attain salvation. 133 (1970): Kajiso Branch Church Head Minister Installation Service
We are given the teaching "By saving others you are saved." As God's intention gradually settles in our minds, we shall have to go beyond simply desiring to be saved and reach the next stage where we have an overwhelming urge to save others and share our joy with them. Thus, our churches must be gathering places for those who, having learned about God's intention, are resolved to serve in single-hearted salvation. 139 (1976): Yamatotensei Branch Church 21st Anniversary
Church ActivitiesIn short, the mission of our churches is to convey God the Parent's teachings to people, or to spread them widely in the world. The point of our church activities is to serve the path that settles the entire world, that is, to apply ourselves intently to the work we are given each day, always focusing on the ultimate goal of receiving the blessing of the Joyous World as soon as possible. Thus, our church activities have no other object than to convey the teachings of God the Parent.143 (1980): 11th Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers
Please remember that God the Parent will never ignore any efforts you make in following the path if they are always in accord with the truth. I am sure that the efforts you have made over the years in this way will blossom and bear fruit through God's workings in a way befitting the number of years you have spent. Please look forward to this and dedicate yourselves wholeheartedly to your church activities. 144 (1981): 13th Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers
The true objective of the activities of a church is to assist Oyasama in sweeping away the dust from the hearts of people. It is to seriously discuss, with those who make the effort to purify their minds as taught by Oyasama, how to ponder in following the path in order to accord with Oyasama's intention. A church should thus help people with their construction of the mind, thus guiding them toward spiritual maturity. In other words, a church exists to sprinkle the fragrance of the teachings and to save people. The true mission of a church is to exert itself constantly to give encouragement and guidance to those living in and around the community in which the church is located as well as to those belonging to the church so that their lives are filled with joy each day. 150 (1987): Tenrikyo 150th Anniversary Doctrinal Seminar
Followers gather at their church to perform the service. If the church is a place to perform the service, then I should think that the whole world is a place for sprinkling fragrance and doing salvation work, which are carried out outside churches. In other words, we gather at our churches to perform the service and then, with our churches as the base, we go out to sprinkle fragrance and do salvation work. I should like you to be clearly aware that this set of activities is indispensable to our church activities. 146 (1983): 18th Meeting for Newly Appointed Head Ministers |
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