Hiraoka & Omagari

OMF began a new church plant in Hiraoka (Kiyota Ward of Sapporo) in May 1991. Initially work was done though tracting, English and cooking classes as well as Sunday School and Sunday Services. For the first 10 years meetings were held in rented houses. However as numbers grew there was a pressing need to move to a venue bigger than what a rented house could offer.

The Lord supplied a meeting place in an ideal location with limited parking, but on a convenient bus route. The implementation of cell groups, with an emphasis on training believers to exercise their gifts, was blessed by the Lord and resulted in a surge of growth. In 2006 the church called it's first Japanese Pastor, who worked under missionaries for a couple of years before taking on the leadership.

In 2007 evangelistic activities begun to be carried out in nearby Omagari, a town with a population of 16,000 but no church. Two of the church cell groups meet in this area, and n 2008 Sunday services began to be held once a month at a rented public facility.

In 2009 OMF missionaries were sent there to assist this new church plant and Sunday services increased to twice monthly. working as 'cooperating missionaries' with the church planting team overseen by Hiraoka church members. This mother church's sacrifice of people and resources to help start a new church is bearing fruit, with the first baptism of the church plant taking place in 2011, and a number of people continuing to hear the Gospel through different church activities.