(Back - LR) Silvia, Ethan, John - (Front - LR) Caleb, Asher, Samuel Antony in October 2022
Meet the Eisenmann Family. We're a team of seven, on mission to glorify God in all that we do, in Brazil or Japan or any other corner of the world.
Our family was born on the mission field. We met as an American missionary to Brazil and a Brazilian passionate for kingdom service in her back yard, the Amazon Basin. Love at first sight you might say, and the rest is history.
We have been working in full-time ministry since 2009. The first four years were focused on supporting national church planting in Brazil as well as developing our personal ministry within the context of our local church through discipleship and small groups. We have learned much about ministering in the lives of individuals and helping them live in holiness, by the power of the indwelling Spirit. We've also learned about inter-cultural marriages and families, cross-cultural ministry, second languages, and missional living.
Now we are in an even greater challenge. In 2014, we joined a team of missionary families in Japan, with the purpose of planting an international church! God has blessed us with this calling to serve abroad, to take the gospel to the unreached nations. And so here we are!
The task in Japan seems enormous and difficult at times, but we beleive that God is moving and the Spirit stiring in the hearts of the Japanese people. We are "on mission" for the sake of the Kingdom of God in Japan and couldn't be more thankful for this calling to serve where the gospel presence is so minimal. Please pray for us to persevere through the challenges of this specific mission field and to thrive in the ministry that God has called us to do!
Our family was born on the mission field. We met as an American missionary to Brazil and a Brazilian passionate for kingdom service in her back yard, the Amazon Basin. Love at first sight you might say, and the rest is history.
We have been working in full-time ministry since 2009. The first four years were focused on supporting national church planting in Brazil as well as developing our personal ministry within the context of our local church through discipleship and small groups. We have learned much about ministering in the lives of individuals and helping them live in holiness, by the power of the indwelling Spirit. We've also learned about inter-cultural marriages and families, cross-cultural ministry, second languages, and missional living.
Now we are in an even greater challenge. In 2014, we joined a team of missionary families in Japan, with the purpose of planting an international church! God has blessed us with this calling to serve abroad, to take the gospel to the unreached nations. And so here we are!
The task in Japan seems enormous and difficult at times, but we beleive that God is moving and the Spirit stiring in the hearts of the Japanese people. We are "on mission" for the sake of the Kingdom of God in Japan and couldn't be more thankful for this calling to serve where the gospel presence is so minimal. Please pray for us to persevere through the challenges of this specific mission field and to thrive in the ministry that God has called us to do!
Ministry Life
We are now rooted in the urban life of metropolitan Tokyo, learning the ins and outs of Japanese language and culture as we work to contextualize the Gospel to the needs of the Japanese. We are founding members of an international church (PAZ Church), using Japanese, English, and Portuguese as our ministry languages.
We are planting a new church in 2023! PAZ Church Shonan-Hiratsuka is our second church plant since we planted PAZ Church Noborito in 2016. We are believing this is the just first of many more to come!
John is the administrative pastor for our international church plant, with occasional preaching and teaching opportunities. His principle responsibilities are in human resources, finances, membership data, and all other technical aspects of church management, including day to day management of church staff. He supports all of the church's ministries, such as Paz Bible College and Choose Life (the church's outreach to the depressed and suicidal), as well as leading the Welcome Team.
In 2018, John led the launch of a specialty coffee shop in the church, called PAZ Coffee Shop. Its main purpose is to bridge the gap between the local community and the local church, which for most Japanese is more like a canyon. Making the physical church location into a functional gathering place for the community, the barriers of skepticism and fear of the unknown is being torn down. We also employ non-Christians and model a kingdom-oriented way to do business in a Business for Transformation model. The profits will accelerate the ability of the church to multiply within the expensive cities of Japan and provide spaces for churches to meet where otherwise skeptical landlords would not rent to a church.
John graduated from Wheaton College in 2020 with an MA in Evangelism and Leadership. The program was a modular/cohort type program that allows full time people to take one course at a time, with only a small amount of time on campus. He enjoyed being able to study with other full time ministry professionals and is working to apply what he learned within his ministry opportunities.
Silvia is the mom of boys! There are no dull moments in her day and she is heavily invested in their lives. We love that she is able to do that. She spends her days with the boys at various activities, including outings with other moms, language lessons, and play groups. She also teaches them Portuguese and English, and tries to study Japanese when she can. We participate in various groups that support our homeschooling lifestyle.
Together we host a family group and disciple serveral other couples from our church, helping them to grow in spiritual maturity.
We are planting a new church in 2023! PAZ Church Shonan-Hiratsuka is our second church plant since we planted PAZ Church Noborito in 2016. We are believing this is the just first of many more to come!
John is the administrative pastor for our international church plant, with occasional preaching and teaching opportunities. His principle responsibilities are in human resources, finances, membership data, and all other technical aspects of church management, including day to day management of church staff. He supports all of the church's ministries, such as Paz Bible College and Choose Life (the church's outreach to the depressed and suicidal), as well as leading the Welcome Team.
In 2018, John led the launch of a specialty coffee shop in the church, called PAZ Coffee Shop. Its main purpose is to bridge the gap between the local community and the local church, which for most Japanese is more like a canyon. Making the physical church location into a functional gathering place for the community, the barriers of skepticism and fear of the unknown is being torn down. We also employ non-Christians and model a kingdom-oriented way to do business in a Business for Transformation model. The profits will accelerate the ability of the church to multiply within the expensive cities of Japan and provide spaces for churches to meet where otherwise skeptical landlords would not rent to a church.
John graduated from Wheaton College in 2020 with an MA in Evangelism and Leadership. The program was a modular/cohort type program that allows full time people to take one course at a time, with only a small amount of time on campus. He enjoyed being able to study with other full time ministry professionals and is working to apply what he learned within his ministry opportunities.
Silvia is the mom of boys! There are no dull moments in her day and she is heavily invested in their lives. We love that she is able to do that. She spends her days with the boys at various activities, including outings with other moms, language lessons, and play groups. She also teaches them Portuguese and English, and tries to study Japanese when she can. We participate in various groups that support our homeschooling lifestyle.
Together we host a family group and disciple serveral other couples from our church, helping them to grow in spiritual maturity.