What do you think of when you hear, “Sunday Chapel Time?” It just sounds like a roundabout way to talk about a Sunday church service, right? Well, here at Shukugawa Bible Church, it actually refers to an hour-long bilingual Bible study that is co-led by an English teacher-missionary and a translator.

As a missionary here, our primary ministry is in fact the English school, and sharing the gospel in class during Bible time. But that doesn’t mean that’s the only ministry we are confined to. Sunday Chapel Time—shortened to “SunChape” (sun-chap-ay)—is one of the Sunday morning ministries that we lead. Each teacher may be involved in additional ministries based on their own interests, but SunChape and the English school are the two that every teacher is involved in. These are our main ministries.

Why am I talking about Sunday Chapel Time?

Well, I spend a lot (and I mean A LOT) of time developing content for Sunday Chapel Time. Hours of study, reflection, discussion, and writing to make one cohesive message with the translator. In times past, I led SunChape about once every six weeks, but due to some recent changes in scheduling, we’re on a shorter, four-week rotation. So I have a lot of content, just sitting on my computer.

I’d like to share my studies here on Salty Gaijin, so more people can study and engage with the Bible. But I first wanted to give you the lowdown on the format of Sunday Chapel Time before blasting you with my studies.

What does Sunday Chapel Time look like?

Before COVID-19, church members and English students that were interested in learning more about the Bible would gather at church in small groups, with the missionary and translator in the front. Imagine a semi-circle of small groups like this:

Since coronavirus became a thing, we have fewer people coming in-person to maintain proper social distancing measures, and we’ve utilized Zoom to accommodate those who want to participate but are still wary of going out too much.

The missionary leads the study and discussion in English, with the translator coming in after nearly every sentence. We include question sheets to encourage discussion in small groups throughout the study. 

What do we study, exactly?

Simply put, we study the Bible. But we don’t necessarily read through a single book of the Bible all the way through. We jump around quite a bit. The translator team actually picks the verses most of the time. Most often, we read passages from the New Testament, but occasionally we have special, topical series.

We’ve done an Advent series for Christmas, a “First Steps of the Bible” series, and a few other topical studies. Some examples include:

• Church Words: Sin, Holiness, and Grace
• The Patriarchs
• Creation
• The Book of Proverbs

Let’s get studying!

But that’s enough talking. Let’s study! I’ve adapted my scripts a little bit to make them better suited for this blog and your own study. 

Go ahead and check out my very first SunChape message—Church Words: What is sin, holiness, and grace?