Where We Are Now - Overview
Where We Are Now | History | MBCC
On the southern island of Kyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture, Munakata City was incorporated as a city in April 1980 when the surrounding towns and villages of Akama and Tougou combined their populations to become a city of about 58,000. From that time to April 2003, the population grew to about 94,000. Munakata City is considered what is called in Japan as a “bed town” located between the two over-one-million-plus metropolises of Fukuoka City to the south and Kita Kyushu City to the north. For fathers who find themselves working in the big cities of Fukuoka and Kita Kyushu, Munakata City is considered an ideal place for young families to live, relax, grow up and play. In April 2003, the outlying town of Genkai merged with Munakata City adding over 10,000 people to make its current population of 95,000 plus.
The city is considered “country” by most of its inhabitants. Munakata is surrounded by mountains, countless rice paddies and soybean fields in the summer months, wheat fields, Japanese mandarin orange orchards in the winter, and the Sea of Genkai with numerous varieties of fresh fish. All of this is only a fifteen to twenty-minute drive away from the center of town.
There are fifteen city-operated elementary schools (grades 1-6) and eight junior high schools (grades 7-9). High schools are two, but they are privately operated. Junior high school students who wish to attend one of these two high schools in Munakata must first
pass an entrance examination. If they fail, they can freely take entrance examinations for other high schools located outside the city designed for their level of ability. Besides these institutions of learning, Munakata also has two private universities.
Within the city limits there are major shopping centers, restaurants, post offices, banks, hospital facilities, bus lines and three Japan Railway (JR) train stations. The Akama JR station is presently being redesigned to accommodate the increase in the city’s population. Around the station there are many high-rise apartments that are referred to as “mansions” in Japanese. There are many residential neighborhoods within the city, whose names translate from Japanese to English the desire of how people want to live: Liberty Hills, Light Hills, Living Water Hills, Green Leaf Hills, The Sun’s Home Town and Hope Hills, just to name a few. All of these residential neighborhoods are located near the educational facilities named above.
I Love My City!
Upon arriving in Munakata, I got on my 50cc Honda Super Cub motorbike and spent a whole day riding around the city. We had just arrived and knew nobody, but the excitement of God was certainly in our hearts. I rode and rode that motorbike and would stop here and there, praying, wondering and memorizing roads. Towards the end of the afternoon, I made a final stop on a road and climbed up a brushy path to pray. The area of the city is called Big Well. I remember clearly praying out loud, thanking God for leading us to this place. Then I heard His still, small voice in my mind say to me, “My Spirit and glory will flow like a mighty river into the homes and families of this city.” I’ve never forgotten that encouraging word.
It was only a few years ago that I began calling Munakata “my city!” Please understand what I try to relate here. The city is mine. It is my city. All of the supermarkets, shoe stores, restaurants, cake shops, hardware stores, the houses, roads, hotels, rice fields, streams and mountains that surround the city -- they are all mine -- I simply let people freely use them. I don’t ask rent, fees or fares of the people. I don’t get rich, I don’t get puffed-up, heady or high-minded. I simply get blessed when I remember what God promised: “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”
One time I was talking to God and telling Him how much I loved the city. I would always wonder why at times I would begin weeping as I prayed for different people in the city. Then I heard His still, small voice in my mind again: “The love you feel and have for the city is not yours -- it is Mine!” Then I realized something: It is not in the heart of man to love. It’s in man’s heart to hate, fight, bicker, deceive, lie, steal, murder and destroy. It is in God’s heart to love -- after all God is love! God has placed His love in my heart to love His city called Munakata. “I’m My Beloved’s and He is mine; His banner over me is love.” Let’s reword this and it will be more easily understood: Munakata is My Beloved’s and He is Munakata’s (beloved); His banner over Munakata is love.”
Love the city God has given you!
Where We Are Now | Overview | History | MBCC
