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Our Misson and Vision
"Our vision is to be a grace-filled and Christ-led church that is a welcoming, growing, and sending body of Christian believers in Kobe."
Our History
 Who are we?
We are a Christian congregation in Kobe, Japan, which is international in every sense of the word. From our beginnings last century, we have been the church home for people from many different countries of the world, and from many different Christian traditions. We are also the church home for many English-speaking Japanese. We will provide you with the stimulating experience of worshipping and serving Christ in the midst of great diversity.
The church offers a diverse program as well. Central to the church's life is worship which tries to capture the breadth and depth of our cultural and liturgical traditions.
Church Purpose
The purpose of this church shall be to worship God, through preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and celebrating the Sacraments; to realise Christian fellowship and unity within this church and the church universal; to render loving service toward humanity; and to strive for righteousness, justice, and peace.
 History
Kobe Union is thought to be the oldest continuing serving Protestant Church in Japan. It started with a small “international” group of two Americans, two Germans, three British, and on Dutch citizen in April 1871. They were given an area of land in the “concession” (as the foreign settlement was called), close to the present Daimaru department store. The building was completed in July 1872 at a cost of US $4,121.
At first the church was considered the home church for missionaries living as far away as Hokkaido and Kyushu. In 1903, Kobe Union Church adopted the name it still carries today and became a self-sustaining, international, interdenominational congregation worshipping in the English language. A separate German speaking congregation has shared the building from the beginning, as it still does today.
In 1927 the church found itself in the middle of its increasingly busy (and noisy) Motomachi location. This site was sold in 1928, and a new building was erected on land in Ikuta-cho. The third move, in September 1992, took the congregation high above the city to Nagaminedai in Nada-ku, where it stands today. |
