Although we always thought we would have multiple full-time facilities for the cell church (in fact our first plan including renting three from the very beginning!), we weren't initially looking for one when a need came up. After a successful outreach at Osaka Christian College and more contact with some of the students at our International Coffee House (more about both outreaches in the June 2003 Osaka Direct), in the fall we learned that a Christian in the group (Yumiko Nakatani - read more about her in the December 2003 issue) had a group of girls interested in a Bible study for them somewhere near the college. We naturally responded enthusiastically, but searched in vain for a couple months for an appropriate room that we could rent by the hour. We had a Christmas party for them at a community center, but couldn't get the place weekly. In prayer we realized that God was closing the door on temporary spaces and trying to get us to rent a small office room we had found available. So we took the plunge in December and signed the lease.

Just like the Sekime Chapel, the Abeno Room was very close to transportation, and perhaps even easier to find. It was less than a minute walk from one of the entrances to the Abeno subway station (on the same line as Sekime, but on the other end of town), and right on a big well-known street with a covered sidewalk. A streetcar runs along the middle of that street, and a bus stop is directly in front of the building. Also, it is only a ten minute walk to Tennoji station, the largest JR (Japan Rail) station in Osaka. Finally, it was only about a ten minute walk from the Osaka Christian College campus, in the direction most of the girls go on their way home. There were no worries about singing praise songs too loudly for the neighbors - it shared the second floor with a karaoke pub, and below it was a bar. In this photo Karen is waving from the window of the room. We were also delighted to take it over from the previous tenant, who was a fortune teller - taking ground from the enemy! In March of 2008, due to lack of funds as well as lack of manpower to utilize it well, we had to let it go, but I will leave the description here for you to enjoy.

In the following photo you can see the sidewalk and the front of the building well. The glittery yellow sign is for the Cats karaoke pub that shares the second floor, and our sign is on a pole above the red one. Rurutu is the bar below us.

The room is only about 10 by 15 feet in size and the toilet and sink are in the hall, shared by the karaoke place. But that's about right to demonstrate that you don't need a big place to have church. We furnished it somewhat like a livingroom (at least more so than Sekime), with two sofas, coffee tables, and a TV for viewing teaching videos. Not only was it comfortable that way, but perhaps it also modeled the idea of having cells in homes.