Background Information:

Jack

Jack was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, coming to a strong faith through his time in high school and studying Engineering and Science at Sydney University. He loves to serve his church community through music ministry—playing guitar and drums, and preaching.

Amanda

Amanda grew up on a farm in the Bega Valley, Australia. She moved to Sydney to study Ancient History at Macquarie University where she and Jack met through church. She has worked in garden centres as a qualified Horticulturalist and has personal interests in cooking, gardening and face painting.

After they married in 2016 they went to study at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. They now have two beautiful daughters, Ingrid and Gwynn. Jack took on a role as Assistant Pastor at Tuggeranong Presbyterian Church in Canberra in 2021.

During a holiday to Japan they were encouraged to meet some missionaries—this became the highlight of their trip. They were struck by the need for the gospel in Japan and their growing love for Japanese people and culture. For the first time they felt that they may have something to offer in a mission field—something they felt convicted to prayerfully pursue.

Ministry Assignment:

Preparing in 2025 to join the Missional Partners team in Japan.

Advice to Potential Missionaries

Pray, pray and pray. Ask lots of questions of friends in mission if you can. Don’t rule yourself out as a good missionary candidate—God can use anyone. We had many reservations about whether we were the ‘best’ candidates for mission—a big turning point for us was reaching the conclusion that all we can do is be available to go… If God wants us on the mission field, he will get us there!

Fun Cultural Story

We didn’t picture ourselves as missionary material… God had to give us multiple nudges before we decided to just apply and trust Him in the process.

One of these nudges was when a friend from our church in Canberra, Australia, told us out of the blue that he was getting married to a Japanese lady. We decided to go to their wedding in Tokyo. Just before we flew out from Sydney, Jack received a text asking if he would give a speech at the wedding ‘In whatever Japanese you have…’ (Which was none!) Jack spent a large portion of the flight to Japan writing a speech. When we landed, he put the speech through an online translator, then sent that to a Japanese friend of ours to check.

This friend was super helpful and recorded himself saying the speech aloud so Jack could also practice pronunciation. The day of the wedding arrived, and by God’s grace, Jack was able to fumble through a gospel centred picture of marriage in Japanese, to a room full of non-believers. His audience was incredibly encouraging—perhaps they’d had a bit too much to drink at that point!

When you are in Japan, be sure to...

Try and visit at least one location off the beaten track of tourist destinations—for us this was Lake Suwa and Matsuyama. We found some incredible restaurants, sights, and small but very welcoming churches in these areas.

What are some ministry methods or activities you find especially meaningful?

We have a strong belief in relational ministry. We want to see churches be places of fellowship—building Christians up in their faith and showing God’s love to the surrounding community, with an open invitation to join.

What are some ways you see that God is blessing your life and ministry?

As we prepare to come to Japan, we have very clearly felt God at work in our lives. We have felt a real sense of God opening the doors throughout our application and support-raising process. While we have felt stressed with the open-ended nature of this season of life, we also feel very settled in the fact that God has it under control and will get us to Japan when he intends us to be there.

How can we find out more about your ministry?

If you are interested in receiving our prayer newsletters, you can sign up through our SIM Australia profile:
https://sim.org.au/batchen

ARTICLES RELATED TO JACK & AMANDA BATCHEN