Stephen and Miku Inouye

Two Decades of Preparation

Steve's heart began to stir for missions as an undergrad at the University of Washington. He served as a core student leader with JEMS Asian American Christian Fellowship (AACF). After graduating from seminary, he moved to Japan and served God through teaching English and volunteering in a children's home. As Steve learned firsthand of the many emotional and spiritual needs of children, God gave him a burden and vision to minister the gospel through social welfare services. Steve furthered his studies with a degree in social work in Japan. 

Miku, a native Japanese, became a Christian in college while studying social work. During her practical training at the child welfare office, God gave her the vision to share the gospel to people in Japan who have deep social welfare needs. Miku completed a seminary degree and gained ministry experience serving at churches in Sapporo and Yamagata.

A mutual friend introduced Steve and Miku, and they were married in 2012. They have been blessed with two daughters: Amana and Emma. In 2017, they moved to Hokkaido to work at a Christian nursing facility with the goal of sharing the gospel to the residents. However, they found the demands of the caregiving job made it difficult to do as they intended. In prayerful pursuit of fulfilling this call, they joined the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS) in March 2019 as career missionaries in Japan.

Shared Vision = Mission Increase

As full-time missionaries, Steve and Miku's hearts are united. When they joined JEMS, they already had years of education and work experience in social work and theology, and were immersed in the Japanese culture and could speak the language, so they were ready to be used by God to share the gospel while meeting felt needs of families and communities.

In 2020, they became registered foster parents and shortly thereafter began fostering a baby boy who is now a preschooler and loves going to church, singing worship songs, praying, and listening to Bible stories. They started a network for Christian foster parents with the same vision of sharing Jesus' love to their children, and they meet regularly online to encourage each other in fellowship and prayer. There are currently 15 families in this group from Hokkaido, Aichi, Tochigi, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Nara.  They held their first foster families retreat in the summer of 2024, and plan to continue them yearly to fellowship and pray for each other in person. Two JEMS workers (Rick Chuman and Karena Kenmotsu) name to serve at the retreat, and more are planning to come this year to provide a program for the children.

Also in 2020, they partnered with a local church to open Hope Cafeteria, a place where families and individuals struggling to make a living can get free meals, along with other necessities. JEMS has also partnered with this ministry to provide ski equipment for the children, as skiing is a required class in Sapporo schools.

In 2021, God provided them with a fairly large house where friends can easily come together, so they have opened their house to hold English classes and other gatherings for kids. Their goal as a family is to build relationships with other children and their parents in the community, so they also participate in local events and volunteer at the elementary school. They envision their home to be a lighthouse and pray that they will be a family on mission with each member helping guide the lost to our Savior.

Through many generous donors, God has provided Steve and Miku's minimum monthly support to start their ministry. Donations beyond that goal will be used to help build current ministries and expand the ministry further. If you would also be interested in joining their prayer support team, please visit Steve and Miku’s ministry homepage: https://gospel2hokkaido.wordpress.com

Thank you and God bless you!

Give online here or if you prefer to give by check, make the check out to “JEMS” and write our name on the memo line. Mail the check to P.O. Box 86047, Los Angeles, CA 90086-0047.

If you have any questions please call the JEMS office at 213-613-0022 or email Steve.