Stewart & Emma Claire Patterson
Stewart & Emma will be working in Tokyo with hopes to plant churches and see Japanese people be amazed with the man the Jesus was in His integrity, power, and love. They will be tentmakers working normal jobs as the Japanese people around them. They will be accompanied by their two boys, Judah and Solomon, born in 2018 and 2021.
The Journey to Japan:
2016 was when they first began wondering if they would move overseas. They had just returned from a short-term mission trip to NYC on which they met people from Egypt, Turkey, Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, India, etc. many of whom recently moved to America, could barely speak English, and had never heard of the gospel of Jesus. They began volunteering at an international student college ministry in their city where they continued to be amazed at seeing people seeing and interacting with Jesus for the first time.
Especially poignant was the time we they watching The Jesus Film with a group of students and when this line was read,
So from that day on they plotted to take his life. -John 11:53
The room was filled with audible gasps.
That story was being experienced for the first time by these students; and they were astounded that in spite of all the good Jesus had done, some people would feel threatened by Him enough to want to kill Him.
International student ministry led them on a short-term mission trip to Japan in 2018 where Stewart spoke to one Japanese student’s Japanese grandfather about how believing in Jesus meant that you would never truly die, to which he said, “I’ve never heard anything like that.”
Our Passions
Seeing those who have never heard of Jesus think and interact with Him for the first time
Offering ourselves to our host country as humble learners and servants in how we live, work, eat, and speak
Encouraging lay people in the church to confidently walk in their giftings and carry out the “one another’ing” of the Bible
About Emma:
Emma learned about the Bible and the beauty of God in the Catholic church from a young age. In college, she put her confidence in what the Bible says about Jesus and committed her life to Him. She never planned on living overseas, but has always been full of compassion for those far from her and those without hope.
In her free time, she reads many books, enjoys baking, birding, and bringing gifts to her friends and enemies.
About Stewart:
Stewart walked down an aisle and got baptized around age 7 when he believed that Jesus died for his sins. As he grew up, his religion also matured. In college God opened his eyes to greater depths of what he learned at 7, to the depths of his sin, the humble sacrifice of the Father, and the extreme pain and darkness of the Son. This caused Stewart to prioritize God’s people and His Word as #1 in his life (even if it meant skipping his college courses).
In his free time, he is always engrossed in one, maybe two hobbies which could be a video game, tennis, reading everything he can find on a topic, R programming, or anything else.
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