The Boys and Girls Association leaders’ first meeting of the year was held on January 27 at Dining Hall 2 in the Home of the Parent and was attended by leaders from directly supervised churches and dioceses.
This year’s guidelines for association activities are the same as last year’s, namely: “Let’s implement the Joyous Life each day and convey to children the joy it brings.” The concrete goals set for 2022 are the following three: (1) Let’s visit our churches with children; (2) Let’s do hinokishin with children—Let’s expand the circle of hinokishin in our local communities and churches; and (3) Let’s use resources such as Sansai (the association’s monthly magazine on parenting), Ritoru magajin (the association’s monthly magazine for children), and Michi-no-ko himekuri (the association’s page-a-day calendar with faith practice ideas).
At the meeting, Chairperson Isaku Nishida took the podium to speak. He mentioned that over the past two years it had been difficult to conduct regular activities but that the association was given a chance to return to some of the core activities of the vertical mission such as implementing our basic faith practices in the course of our daily lives and nurturing children with tender and loving care.
He went on to talk about the association’s concrete goals and said: “Visiting churches to worship with children can provide them with a great chance to connect their minds to Jiba and feel the atmosphere of the Joyous Life firsthand. . . . It is [also] important for us adult leaders to do hinokishin with children with a bright and spirited mind.” He also mentioned that, since it is difficult to gather children and conduct activities, the association will promote nurturing them by making full use of available teaching materials.
Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Boys and Girls Hinokishin Corps, Chairperson Nishida stressed that the association will promote doing hinokishin in local communities and enriching the contents of this activity. He talked about using “Tenrikyo Hinokishin Day” in April as an opportunity to gain momentum toward the regular practice of hinokishin in local communities and setting July and August as the months to encourage members in all chapters to do hinokishin.
Touching upon the consecutive cancellation of the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba, he announced the association’s plans to conduct a training course at the Boys and Girls Hinokishin Corps Headquarters as well as the “Children’s Hinokishin for Summer Vacation.” The latter event, which was first held last year, is scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 28, with the Hinokishin Center available in the Home of the Parent during that period.
Lastly, Chairperson Nishida stated, “We would like to nurture children with tender and loving care as we engage in the development and nurturing of children in high spirits so that we can advance forward this year in given situations from where we were last year.”
After the chairperson’s talk, the Boys and Girls Association’s advisor, Honbu-in Yoshitaro Fukaya, took the podium to deliver a talk, where he encouraged the participants to fulfill the role of conveying faith to the next generation in unity of mind.
After the meeting, the January meeting for those in charge of fife and drum bands was held. It was announced that two special events were planned for this summer—the fife and drum bands’ dedicatory performance as well as the Fife and Drum Bands on Parade.