"Please raise your hand if you think you are straightforward" asked Rev. Fumio Konishi, the principal of Keiwa High School in the closing worship at the end of the five-day camp held at Sado Church in August. In the camp, about twenty students worked together, cooking together, serving one another, and learning from one another. The purpose of the camp is to empower the young people through the community life.
Keiwa High School was founded by the United Church of Christ in Japan in 1968. Rev. Konishi assumed his position from 2003 as the fourth principal of the school. He started this "Keiwa Camp" in 2007. He must have believed the power of community for the development of the personality of young people.
Five-day camp would be exceptionally long here in Japan. However, five days are not too long for young people to discover their friends, teachers, and themselves as they are. Actually, most of the students still hesitated to raise their hand when they were asked if they were straightforward.
Rev. Konishi published a booklet in September, whose title was "Find yourself in Keiwa High; to meet what you shall be." In the booklet, there are ten homilies he made for the high school students in the morning daily worship. He talked about the dignity and brokenness of human being as well as God's love, with vivid illustration. The messages sound powerful. It is because he talked straightforwardly.
Being straightforward is not just a subject for high school students. To be as you are where the pressure of conformism is relatively strong, you need a kind of discipline, like a camp that young people had on this island.
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