When Maho Furita moved from Japan to Wageningen to study Sustainable Business and Innovation, she stepped into a completely different world. New country, new culture, new language, and a new way of living out her Christian faith. She looks back on her first months in the Netherlands with deep gratitude, especially for the community she found through Navigators Internationals, her church, and her Connect Group.
Maho is in her first year of her master’s at Wageningen University. Before coming to the Netherlands, she worked in the IT department of a Japanese manufacturing company. She liked her job and the international contact, but over time something began to trouble her. She found herself struggling with being involved in encouraging consumption without sufficient consideration for sustainability and social inequality. That tension pushed her to question whether this was the kind of business she wanted to be part of long-term.
This inner struggle, combined with a growing sense of calling, led her to apply for a master’s in Sustainable Business and Innovation in Wageningen. Leaving a stable job and a familiar life in Japan was a huge step, and the English-taught master’s program would prove demanding. But she felt that God was opening a door and inviting her to walk through it.
Maho grew up in a Christian family in Japan, where Christians make up less than one percent of the population. Her home church was small and traditional, with a congregation mostly made up of people her grandparents’ age. Most of the time, she was the only young person in the church. It was a loving, close community that had known her from childhood. That background makes her current experience in the Netherlands all the more striking.
When she arrived in Wageningen in August, she didn’t know many people and was confronted with several layers of difference. The culture she grew up in was more hierarchical while the culture in the Netherlands is more flat. “In Japan,” she observes, “harmony is the most important thing. Your opinion doesn’t matter so much. Here, you have to say your opinion.” It was challenging at first, but she also discovered something she really appreciates: people in Wageningen are generally very kind, independent, and engaged with sustainability. The city’s strong focus on sustainable living fits well with her studies and personal values.
Soon after arriving, Maho started attending ICF, an international church in Wageningen. She chose it mainly because the services are in English, which makes it easier for her to follow along and participate. For her, the church feels quite large. It has over 100 people, much bigger than her small congregation back home. Within ICF, she joined a Connect Group in the Chinese ministry. There was no group specifically for Japanese or Asian students in general, but she felt at home among fellow Asian internationals who shared similar experiences of being far from home, navigating a new culture, and living between languages.
That Connect Group quickly became a small family for her. They share life, pray for one another, and talk about both faith and everyday issues. One significant change for her has been the opportunity to play guitar in the church services. In her traditional Japanese church, this wasn’t really part of the worship style. In Wageningen, it is normal and welcome, and she enjoys being able to serve in this way.
Alongside church, Maho became involved with Navigators Internationals. She had already experienced a student Bible group during a one-year exchange in Australia, and someone from that group connected her to the Navigators in Wageningen. What she values most is the small Bible study group that meets every two weeks at a host family’s home. Around eight students gather to cook together, share a meal, read the Bible, and worship. For Maho, this has been something deeply meaningful. She enjoys the fellowship with people her age and the mix of hospitality, open sharing, and Scripture has become a central part of her spiritual life. These regular meetings have strengthened her faith significantly. She has experienced many uncertainties living abroad, such as cultural misunderstandings, language challenges, academic pressure, and big questions about the future. In those moments, she says, she is learning more and more that God is the only one she can truly rely on.
Looking back, Maho describes herself in Japan as, in some ways, a “Sunday Christian”. She went to church faithfully on Sundays, but in everyday life there were almost no other Christians around her, and she largely followed the rhythms and expectations of the wider culture. In Wageningen, her week looks very different. On Wednesday she goes to Navigators, on Friday to her Connect Group, and on Sunday to church. On top of that, the Navigators encourages students to spend time with God. For Maho, that means reading two chapters of the Bible every morning and taking time for prayer. She also keeps a gratitude journal, writing down what she is thankful for each day. This rhythm of weekly community and daily devotion has changed the way she lives her faith. In small groups, she hears different perspectives on Bible passages and sees how others apply Scripture to their lives. That helps her to grow into a daily relationship with God, shaped and supported by community.
The value of this community became especially clear early on, when doubts and worries hit her. After leaving her job and moving, the academic program in Wageningen turned out to be tough. The weight of her decision and the challenges of a new environment made her question whether she had done the right thing. During that time, she went for coffee with a friend from Navigators. She shared her concerns about the difficulty of the courses, the fear of failure, the uncertainty about her future, and the sense of having left a comfortable life behind. Her friend responded by reminding her of the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. On the journey to the promised land, the people complained and even wanted to go back to Egypt, because it was familiar and comfortable. God, however, was leading them towards a new place they did not yet fully understand.
She helped Maho see a parallel: in Japan, she had begun to feel that something was not right anymore and she sensed that God was nudging her towards something new. Coming to the Netherlands was a step into that unknown. Even though it was hard, it could be part of God’s leading into a new chapter. That conversation became a turning point for Maho. She still thinks about it regularly, and she continues to meet with the same friend, who is also in her Navigators Bible group. It remains a reminder for her that God often calls people out of comfort into growth, and that He continues to walk with them.
As she continues her studies and reflects on how faith and work might come together in the future, much about Maho’s path remains uncertain. She doesn’t yet know exactly what kind of job she will pursue, but she hopes to contribute to sustainability and social justice in the food and agricultural sectors, and she prays that God will use what she is learning.
What is clear to her already is the importance of the Christian community she has found. Between Navigators International, her Connect Group, and her church, Maho speaks of having found a home away from home. A place where people pray for her, care for her, and point her back to God when she feels overwhelmed. She is particularly thankful that the Navigators offers a dedicated community for international students, where people from all over the world can feel seen, heard, and welcomed.
For Maho, this combination of faith, friendship, and shared life in Wageningen has become an important part of her experience abroad and a powerful expression of God’s care for her in a new land.
