The next bigger event after the ski and Snowboard Camp was the Ministry school graduation. One ‚Generation‘ of Ministry School is usually around two years long, and the generation which I joined was coming to an end. Even though I only completed six months, I was still invited to join the graduation. As per usual, most of the members arrived on Friday to join the prayer night. I went to church earlier because Naomi called me to ask if I could decorate the room a little.
I used some festive balloons to stick on the walls, and on a whiteboard, I wrote ‚Congratulations on your Graduation‘, and Naomi wrote down the schedule of the graduation day.
On Saturday, we met early to listen to a teaching about how to be a loyal leader. This teaching contained a part that emphasized loyalty, a part that focused on becoming a leader and then of course the concluding part contained the combination of the two parts.
Christian and Naomi surprised us at lunchtime and said they would invite us to eat in a restaurant. We went to Shinjuku and feasted in an all-you-can-eat restaurant. We spent the lunch enjoying each other’s company, talking about the past two years in ministry school and how we grew in the past two years (6 months in my case). After lunch, we went to the top floor of the Metropolitan Government Building. We split into small groups, and then while walking around and looking over the magnificent view of Tokyo, we prayed for Tokyo and Japan in general. We spoke out blessings over the Land and proclaimed the salvation of the people.
After about an hour, we all met again and returned to the church. In the church, we continued with some teachings. Christian emphasized that the goal of church and ministry school is that we can become sendable disciples and leaders. Send us out into the nations, back to the churches we come from and be leaders there, build new churches, and send us to wherever God wants us. After this message, we spent more time praying, blessing one another and calling on the Holy Spirit. Then, the final part of the graduation day came—the ceremonial part. Christian asked one after the other to go up to the stage with him and Naomi, and then he prayed for us, prophesied and officially sent us out to be God’s disciples, servants, and helpers. This was such a unique and blessed time, and many of the students teared up hearing the blessings they received.
In the end, we all sat together one last time as ministry students, and we shared what we had received, what had blessed us, and our hopes and visions for the future. We heard many great testimonies, and I think all agreed that although we are happy to be graduates, we will also miss the time we spent together as ministry school students.
On Sunday, we went to church as usual. We all felt newly encouraged and refreshed by the blessed time we shared on the previous day. It was also especially nice for me that the people from the Fukuoka and Miyazaki churches were there because that Sunday night, I took my plane back to Switzerland. It was great to see all of the students before leaving and say a proper goodbye—or more of a „See you again soon.“
Ps. The Next ministry school generation will start in September. Until then, we are praying for more people to arise and join the new generation of students. Christian and Naomi also hold a ‚pre-ministry school‘ every two weeks until the school begins. In this ministry school, we learn some of the basics and things that will prepare the new students for their time in Ministry school. We graduates are also eagerly joining the pre-ministry school to encourage the new generation because we never really stop learning.