Get to Know Us
San Diego Japanese Christian Church (SDJCC) is here to share the good news that a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is the key to abundant living in today’s world.
Our church was founded as an outreach to Japanese speaking farmers in San Diego County over 80 years ago. SDJCC now has English and Japanese speaking ministries.
SDJCC Mission Statement:
"Our mission is to grow in Christ and share the Word of God with all; having special resources to reach Japanese and Asian people."
What We Believe
A. The Trinity
The Trinity is one God eternally and equally existing in three Persons - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are of precisely identical nature, attributes and perfection.
1. God the Father
God, the Father Almighty, Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe; His essential nature is Spirit, His essential attribute is absolutely holy, and in His essential character is love.
2. God the Son, Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, thereby having a fully divine nature and a fully human nature in one person, and is the only mediator between God and man. To accomplish salvation, He lived a sinless life, completely fulfilling righteousness and offered Himself a substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of the world, satisfying divine justice. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, died, and was buried. On the third day, He arose bodily from the dead. He ascended into heaven where in His glorified state He intercedes for believers. He shall come again personally and visibly to judge the world in righteousness and to establish His kingdom.
3. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. His ministry is to reveal Christ through the Word of God, to fulfill salvation in the regeneration and sanctification of believers, to direct and empower the church in the fulfillment of the Great Commission, and to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
B. The Bible
The Bible, both the Old and the New Testaments, the Word of God, is a divinely inspired revelation; it is without error in its original manuscripts. It is the supreme and final authority in matters pertaining to faith and practice.
C. Man.
Man was created in the image of God but he disobeyed God, thereby incurring spiritual death, which is separation from God. Man is saved from the condition of spiritual death only by the grace of God through faith in Christ and His redemptive act and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. His spiritual growth and maturity is initiated by God's Spirit and by a conscious act of dedication on the part of the believer and is effected by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
D. Salvation
Salvation is based solely on the grace and love of God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Man never gains salvation by his merit or deeds. It is only received by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior because of His redeeming work on the cross. Through salvation the believer is forgiven of sin, becomes a child of God, is empowered for godly living and service, receives eternal life and an everlasting relationship with God in Heaven, and is saved from God's wrath and Hell.
E. The Church
The Church consists of all who have received salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and have been united into one body under Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the Church. The Church is called to make disciples of every nation and people by the instruction of the Word, by the fellowship of believers, by the practice of ordinances specifically baptism and communion, by loving service and by the sharing of the Gospel.
Meet Our Pastors
Ichibei Honda (English Ministry)
Reverend Ichibei Honda is our English Ministry Pastor. He was born in Japan, and came to the U.S. at the age of 8 months. He experienced an overwhelming sense of God´s love at a summer Bible camp as a young boy, but it was not until he was at a JEMS Mt. Hermon Conference as a young teen that he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord.
Growing up, he had a clear sense of God′s calling to be in full-time ministry. During his years at UC San Diego, he began to explore the possibilities of tent-making missions work in India. After graduating with a BA in Urban Studies and Planning, he went to Japan to work. Continuing to seek opportunities to minister in India, he went to Eastern University (near Philadelphia, PA) and graduated with a MS in Global Economic Development. Through an opportunity to do simultaneous translation for Dr. Billy Graham at an outreach event in San Jose, he was called back by God to embrace his roots and go into an English-Japanese bilingual ministry. He is married to Yunike and they have 5 children: Timothy, Jonathan, Stephen, Keileina and Phillip.
Makoto Okura (Japanese Ministry)
Reverend Makoto Okura is our Japanese-speaking Ministry Pastor. He was born in Korea to his Korean father and Japanese mother. When he was only 3 months old, his father passed away. At the age of 2, his mother moved him and his sister to Japan, where he was raised as a pastor′s son.
Pastor Okura accepted Jesus as his Savior at the age of 10, and when he was 18, he moved to the United States to study at Tusculum College in Tennessee, graduating with a degree in psychology. He describes himself as a prodigal son during these years. After graduating from college, he traveled throughout China and India to "seek himself". It was during these travels that God spoke to him. He received God´s calling to become a pastor by the Ganges River in India. He later attended and graduated from Tokyo Biblical Seminary. Pastor Okura has a wife, Mika, and 3 children: Kou, Kana and Kei.
OMS Holiness Churches
The San Diego Japanese Christian Church belongs to a conference of churches called the OMS Holiness Church of North America. The Conference is composed of and finds its substance and purpose through its local churches. Our churches are each the fellowship of people who have been called by God into a restored and intimate relationship with Himself by His mercy and grace through Jesus, His Son. Having been saved and called into being by the grace of God, we are congregations compelled by the love of Jesus Christ to share the Good News of His grace with all in our world; this is our highest calling; this is our greatest joy. We affirm that all members of our churches are called to, and gifted for, ministry in the Body of Christ, including those whom God has called and gifted to serve our congregations as pastors, whose ministry is to teach the Word and to shepherd and equip those under his care.
To learn more about OMS Holiness Church of North America, click here.