Punch-Kun and the Person Sitting Next to You

Have you heard about Punch? I first saw the viral sensation about two weeks ago and since then the instagram algorithm has been serving me up new videos every day. Truth is, I’m loving the content but there is also an important lesson we can learn from little Punch. Let me catch you up.

Punch is a baby Japanese macaque, born on July 26, 2025, at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan. He was subsequently abandoned by his mother, who was suffering from heat stress and unable to care for him. So two zookeepers began hand-raising him and eventually tried to introduce him back to his mother but she refused.

So the zookeepers experimented with parent-substitutes including rolled-up towels and other stuffed animals before settling on a large orange, bug-eyed orangutan sold at IKEA. They chose it specifically because they thought its resemblance to a real monkey might help Punch integrate back into the troop later on. And it’s been a hit! Since he got the soft-toy, Punch has rarely been seen without it, and heaps of the videos show him dragging the cuddly toy around and nestling himself to sleep in its arms. 

This whole Punch story went viral about four weeks ago when the zoo posted about the backstory, and since then the crowds at the zoo have gone crazy and the number of videos circulating online is insane.

Now the heart-wrenching part of all this is that Punch was not only rejected by his mother but since then he has also been rejected by all the other monkeys. Despite his best efforts to make friends, Punch is shoved, ignored and chased away every time he approaches other macaques. He has no one to draw him into the clan. He has no place to belong. He has no one wanting to connect with him. No one to help him integrate into the troop. So video after video shows Punch, walking away from other monkeys with only his emotional support toy as comfort because he does not belong and is not being welcomed in. It’s as heart-wrenching as it sounds, but also, it sounds familiar.

We have new people in church every week. They’re sitting in your row. They’re sitting behind you. They want to know Jesus and they want to find friends in our church. And while I am pretty sure no one is shoving or chasing newcomers away, it’s still the case that too often they don’t have anyone looking out to connect with them. So they have no way to find belonging, to connect with others, to integrate into our troop.  

Sure we have a formal belonging team in each congregation but this work of welcoming and connecting people is a together work. We are all in the team. We all need to reach out, connect, and help new people belong. We don’t want anyone walking away in search of some emotional support because they didn’t find someone to talk to at Christ Church.

There are a million tips I could give you about how to do this well and I am sure you could come up with a million more. But here is one simple thing I do. When I sit down in church, if I don’t know the name of the person I am sitting next to (or who comes and sits next to me), or the name of the person in front of me, I just introduce myself, say hi and see where the conversation goes next. It’s a small thing but indicating that you want to know others and that you’re thankful they’re in church is powerful. 

God has welcomed us into his troop. Let’s do all we can to welcome others into God’s troop in St Ives. 

Oh, and things are looking up for Punch. There are still some bullies around but he’s got a friend who eats the fleas out of his fur now so it looks like he’s all good.