Janis & Emija Milevski
Jānis grew up in Latvia’s capital city, Riga. At the age of 11, he first encountered Christianity at Riga Matthew's Baptist Church. Serving in the church’s projection ministry, he began to understand the Christian faith and befriended Christians for the first time ever. Meanwhile, Emija was raised in Liepāja, Latvia’s third-largest city. She experienced Jesus for the first time through Josiah Venture’s Fusion camp when she was 11. At 15, she made a profession of faith, was baptised, and became a part of Grobiņa’s Baptist Church.
They met when Emija moved to Riga to study fitness. She joined the Journey program and started attending Matthew’s Church, where Jānis had just begun leading the youth ministry. Initially, Jānis thought youth ministry was just a phase he had to go through; however, within a few months, he began to enjoy it deeply and started to think that if God ever called him to full-time ministry, he should seriously consider obeying!
When Jānis and Emija started dating, Emija naturally joined the youth ministry team. When engaged, they were already talking about being open to full-time ministry, if God ever called them to it. They got married in September 2023, and, not long after, they realized how closely their ministry vision and values aligned with Josiah Venture. This led them to join JV’s extended internship program, where they continued leading Matthew’s youth and also relaunched the Journey program—the same one through which Emija had once deepened her faith.
After 13 months of serving as extended interns, they joined the team and became full-time missionaries in June 2025. Jānis and Emija lead both Matthew's youth ministry and the Journey program. Their responsibilities also include discipling youth ministry leaders from other church. In addition, Jānis serves on the Camps team, while Emija is part of the Edge team and leads a local fitness ministry in Riga.
