God’s love learned through dolls
In Osaka, Japan, I have a weaving studio where I teach hand weaving on a loom. I have always loved to make things. I enjoy sewing, woodworking, and using clay. I often made small dolls from wool and material for my children to play with. In 2001 a pastor friend of mine asked me if I could draw illustrations for Sunday school teachers to use. Drawing is difficult and I don’t have much confidence for it, but I agreed to try. As the deadline approached, I was getting desperate. I saw the handmade dolls I had made for my children, and I got an idea! I put them in the garden and took a picture. It seemed to work! So instead of drawings, I gave the pastor photos of my miniature dolls.
Later, those pictures caught the attention of another pastor. He wanted to publish photos of the dolls! Once per month for four years, I created scenes from a Bible text to appear in the magazine. Rather than using wool, I started to experiment with clay and material.
My joy of making Bible dolls grew when my family moved to Thailand where we were sent as missionaries. I continued to make dolls there, but my process changed, and grew. In Thailand, there are no handicraft stores nearby, so it was hard to find materials. My creative horizons expanded as I discovered new kinds of clay and unique fabrics to use.
A Finnish missionary who was also serving in Thailand asked me if I would be interested in working with her to create a “Passion Play” using my dolls. I was so surprised! I was thinking the dolls were just for decoration. How could my dolls that don’t move, perform a play?
We set up the exhibition in a small, dark room, after sunset. My dolls were lit up one by one by small spotlights. Only 10 people were allowed to enter at one time and a long line began to form at the entrance. I still can’t forget the shock I felt when the dolls seemed to be alive. I realised there’s a great potential here for sharing God’s love.
Our next project was to create 15 scenes for Passion Week. Two seminary students played traditional Thai flutes as background music. After a quiet service, the audience walked silently to see the Stations of the Cross. Seeing the expressions in their eyes, my husband and I knew that God was touching their hearts.
After that, I received many requests to hold exhibitions of the same dolls at other churches. This was the beginning of Bible Doll Ministry.
The following year, I completed a series of 13 doll series for “A Christmas Story”. Making Mary was challenging. When we see Mary in paintings and books, she is so beautiful and angelic. But when I tried to create Mary like that, it didn’t feel right. Mary in the Bible was an ordinary girl. She came from a poor family. She had no beautiful clothes. But God saw her heart and her faith, and he chose her.
After we returned from Thailand, I showed my dolls at exhibitions and workshops all over Japan. They have also travelled to the United States, Norway and recently Australia! A few months ago, I was able to host the ‘Stations of the Cross’ exhibition at the LCANZ’s Churchwide Office in North Adelaide. This display features 14 displays of the passion narrative and an additional display of an empty tomb, suggesting the resurrection and feature printed explanations of each scene in 12 languages: English, Japanese, Spanish, Hebrew, French, Chinese, Finnish, Thai, Russian, Arabic, Swedish and Korean – reflecting the true global reach of this project.
Making the dolls and scenes helps me think about God’s Word. As I create each scene, I think about the local climate and the people’s lives and feelings. By seeing his stories and feeling his love, God keeps showing me his great love and teaching me the joy of communicating that love. After I finish one scene, I want to make another, and another!
I try to keep the characters simple to give people a chance to use their imagination and consider a deeper meaning from God’s perspective. The main theme of each exhibition is the Word of God. The dolls, lighting, and background music play supporting roles to help God’s Word to reach the heart. My goal was never to make beautiful dolls to impress people. It is more to make each scene as faithful to the Bible as possible so that people feel closer to God.
The dolls also provide an easy way for people to come to church. Even if I invited my non-Christian friends to church, they usually didn’t come. But people say “yes!” to an invitation to go see handmade dolls. Some people even started going to church and got baptised after seeing the exhibition.
I’m very thankful to God because He gave me a chance to combine my faith and all I love to do, when he led me to begin the Bible doll ministry. My hope is that these dolls will continue to help people both in our neighbourhood, and all over the world, to know the love of Christ.
Many of our partner churches are working in new territory for the kingdom of God; therefore, spiritual attack is their everyday reality. As a member of a congregation, school, or family, or a couple or individual, you are invited to commit to praying for our partners in mission. For regular prayer point updates, go to www.lca.org.au/international-mission/act-now/pray
Read more stories about our partner church in Japan at http://www.lcamission.org.au/category/stories/international-partners/japan/
