Around the time when Oyasama withdrew from physical life in 1887, the government\u2019s interference that Tenrikyo faced was so severe that followers could not establish churches. In the following year, 1888, they eventually obtained official approval for the establishment of a Church Headquarters in Tokyo and, soon after that, the headquarters was moved to Nara Prefecture, where Jiba is located. Since then, general churches have been established throughout Japan and in a number of overseas countries and regions. As of now, the total number of Tenrikyo churches is about 16,000.<\/p>\n
Churches are referred to as \u201cplaces that represent Jiba.\u201d Bearing in mind that the intention of God the Parent and Oyasama is to save all human beings, missionaries have devoted themselves to the salvation of others at various places, which has led to the establishment of churches. In this respect, churches represent the fruits of sincerity in salvation work.<\/p>\n
The classification of general churches has been modified slightly over time. Currently, there are \u201cdirectly supervised churches,\u201d which are under the direct supervision of Church Headquarters, and \u201csubordinate churches,\u201d which belong to one or another of the directly supervised churches.<\/p>\n
Churches are also classified as \u201cgrand churches\u201d or \u201cbranch churches.\u201d Grand churches have roughly 50 or more subordinate churches. While all grand churches are directly supervised churches, there are many branch churches that are also under the direct supervision of Church Headquarters. Overseas churches\u2014both directly supervised churches and subordinate churches\u2014are called \u201cchurches\u201d instead of \u201cbranch churches.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationships among Tenrikyo churches are based on the direction in which the teachings spread, not necessarily reflecting geographical location. For instance, a grand church located in Osaka may have a subordinate church in Tokyo or Hokkaido.<\/p>\n
A group comprising a directly supervised church and its subordinate churches is referred to as a \u201cchurch lineage.\u201d All followers have a church affiliation, and most belong to the lineage of a directly supervised church as well.<\/p>\n
From Tenrikyo no kangaekata kurashikata<\/em> published by Doyusha Publishing Company<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Around the time when Oyasama withdrew from physical life in 1887, the government\u2019s interference that Tenrikyo faced was so severe that followers could not establish churches. In the following year, 1888, they eventually obtained official approval for the establishment of a Church Headquarters in Tokyo and, soon after that, the\u2026<\/p>\n