Katsutoshi Kido, 2011, Japan
I grew up in a Christian family where my parents serve as full time ministers in a local church. At the age of 14, I had a personal encounter with God and it sparked a desire to serve Him with my life.
In 2007, Pastor Kong Hee visited our church, Fukuoka Harvest Church in Japan to preach. Thereafter, some of our church members went to Singapore to study at City Harvest School of Theology. Each year, I witnessed different ones going to SOT and coming back transformed by the Lord. The transformation was not something on the outward, but a servanthood attitude and a willingness to serve people and church with humility and faithfulness. They also had a strong passion for missions. I was impacted and wanted to experience this change in my life as well. However, I was struggling with an attitude of pride. I wanted to show that I was not weak and that I was just as “spiritual” as others. But deep down inside, I yearned to go to SOT and experience the same things that my church friends did.
All this time, my mother had been fighting breast cancer for a while now and her cancer had spread, leaving her in a very critical condition. I knew that her desire was to see me serve God. So while I could have stayed in Japan to spend her remaining days with her, I decided to fulfill her wishes by enrolling into in 2011.
My mother was someone who loved to write letters. She would write to me on my birthday, whenever we quarreled, or when I was having troubles in school or at work. She wrote her last letter to me when I was about to depart for Singapore. Her first line was the verse, Ecclesiastes 3:11, which says “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” She said, “You must walk in believing in God no matter what happens. 「叶う」(Fulfill) is made up of 2 Chinese characters, one is 口（mouth）and the other one is 十 (Cross). Son, no matter how difficult a situation may be, continue your walk of faith by confessing the Word of God.”
About a month into SOT, my mother passed away. Although there was great sadness in my heart, I had no doubt in my decision to continue with SOT. I was confident that my mother would be cheering me on in the walk I started. Since my graduation from SOT, I have been enjoying the ministry and having vision and purpose for my life. Even now, 11 years later, I vividly remember the words and experiences I received at SOT. That year, CHC had just moved into Suntec Singapore and the theme of the opening service was “Choose Love”. I was very moved to see the CHC pastors, members and my SOT friends loving God wholeheartedly and loving people fervently (Matthew 22:37). They also cried, prayed, supported and walked with me during my difficult times when I had lost my mother. It was this love that helped me get through it. Loving with God’s love became the foundation and milestone of my Christian life.
As I walked faithfully by the grace of God, He gave me something wonderful—my own family. Minako, who graduated from SOT a year before me, became my life partner. We have now two treasures—my eldest daughter, Ayame(彩萌) and my son, Raito(来叶). Ayame means “Good news” and Raito means “Light of Righteousness”. My son’s name contains the character, 叶, spoken of by my mother in her last letter to me.
I am now serving as a worship leader and my wife is serving in children’s ministry. Even though we are currently raising our young family, our desire to serve God has not waned, and we do so in whatever capacity we can. We often invite our non-Christian and Christian friends to our house to intentionally build friendship and relationship with them.
With regards to being a parent, I have learnt much and I’m still learning everyday. Loving and accepting our children as they are with God’s love is not all easy. But I believe that children can find strength and confidence to live when they are accepted and valued as who they are by their parents—they are a treasure from the Lord.
Whenever I am lost in what to do as a parent, I try to think what would God do if He is in my situation. I also try to remember how my mother treated me when I was young. I am still learning from my mother’s way of life—how she loved me with all her heart, loved God and the church. I realised that as parents, we are called to pass down the faith from one generation to the next. That is our mission as parents. I pray that my family can become like a mirror that reflects God’s love and mercy wherever we go!