Coffee Break in Japan Changing Lives

Rho first heard about Coffee Break from friend. Now, she rejoices as she sees people come to Christ through their participation in Coffee Break.

Rho Hee Suk is a missionary to Hukuoka, Japan, where she and her husband support the leadership of a Japanese Church. When she first arrived in Japan in 2007, Rho missed the regular routines of her church back in Korea and found herself depressed and lonely. Hannah, her friend and fellow missionary from Korea, invited Rho and a few others to begin a pastor wives Coffee Break group. Rho really enjoyed the study and wanted to learn more about Coffee Break. She attended a workshop in Japan, led by a Coffee Break Trainer from the Soo-young-ro church in Korea and continued to meet with the pastor’s wives group.

At a New Year’s Eve service in 2009, Rho felt God’s nudging her to start a Coffee Break for Japanese people in her church and community.  The first step in that direction was to start a Coffee Break group for Japanese pastors.  The pastors studied Discover Genesis together.  It took about three months for the discovery method of using questions and conversation, rather than teaching, to catch on.  The pastors were not accustomed to sharing ideas and engaging in conversation about the Bible.

With encouragement and blessing from the pastors, Coffee Break groups began to meet in other churches with lay members and friends. Rho has been leading Coffee Break at her own church for seven years and it has become an important program for the church—especially for newcomers. She shared that in one newcomers group, four who attended became Christians and were baptized.  

One of the women who was baptized explained before the Coffee Break group that she was about 80% sure of her faith. After she participated in the Coffee Break group she was 100% convinced of the gospel. Rho’s church has also found that newcomers to their church who attend Coffee Break tend to stay connected and become part of the life of the church.

Rho has also learned that Coffee Break works with children. She has been leading a little “Coffee Break” with her children. She discovered they have amazing answers and creativity. They also insist on treats, because, after all it is a “Coffee Break”!