Scott and Marjorie Brown
Missionary
serving in New Zealand
Raised in a traditional Jewish home in the suburbs of Washington, DC, Scott Brown began an earnest search for spirituality and “self-actualization” by dropping out of college and moving into the woods of northern Wisconsin. It was there at the close of a work day that a co-worker casually gave Scott a pocket New Testament. That little Bible launched a crisis of faith, which led to Scott’s seven-year struggle with the conflict between biblical truth and rabbinic tradition. God’s Word was tugging at Scott’s heart and mind, but the prospect of being ostracized by Jewish family members and friends motivated him to continue the search undercover. After all, he reasoned, Jews don’t believe in Jesus.do they?
In 1977, Scott married his high school sweetheart, Marjorie. Four years later, after viewing a series of films depicting end-times events, Scott and Marjorie simultaneously experienced a sudden awareness of their sinfulness and their desperate need for salvation. Burdened and confused by this intense sorrow and sense of urgency, they silently drove home. Together that same night, in the quiet of their home, they surrendered their lives to the Messiah, Jesus. The following year Scott and Marjorie moved to Alaska where they spent three years receiving formal training in the Bible.
Scott entered full-time missionary service with Chosen People Ministries in 1988 and launched Son of David Congregation (SODC). By God’s grace, SODC flourished and later birthed a daughter congregation in northern Virginia, Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace) Fellowship. Both Messianic congregations continue to faithfully proclaim the Good News of Messiah, “to the Jew first” in greater Washington, DC, and to fulfill Jesus’ command to make disciples. Scott also served within Chosen People Ministries as a Regional Director and U.S. Director of Congregation Planting, assisting other Chosen People Ministries planters in their efforts to raise communities of Messianic followers of Jesus.
With a view toward increasing his effectiveness as the spiritual leader of a growing family and a growing congregation, Scott made the difficult decision to leave his staff position with Chosen People Ministries in 1998. In subsequent years, however, SODC and Chosen People Ministries continued to partner together in hosting Messianic retreats, children’s summer camps, and the creation of Joined Together?, an evangelistic video geared toward the spiritual needs of Jewish-Gentile intermarried couples.
After 19 years of pastoral leadership at SODC, Scott and Marjorie opened a new chapter in their ministerial lives by returning to missionary service with Chosen People Ministries. Along with four of their seven children, they are now serving in New Zealand with Chosen People Global Ministries, reaching out to thousands of Israeli and other young, international tourists whose physical journeys are often attended with spiritual quests. Through servant evangelism, literature distribution, Jewish evangelism training in local churches and direct, intentional encounters with the global community that is continually streaming through the land down under, Scott is “going into all the world” as all the world visits one of the Creator’s finest achievements: New Zealand!