Catherine porter

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Catherine is a harpist working as a Christian missionary in Japan.

Catherine Porter

Profile

Catherine began harp at the age of eight, studying under Jeanette Bevan and later under Charlotte Seale. After attending the Purcell School of Music, she read music at Clare College, Cambridge and completed postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She worked as a freelance harpist in London, appearing on both television and radio. In 2010, she joined WEC International (Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ), a Protestant mission organisation. In Spring 2011, Catherine began working as a missionary in Japan serving the survivors of the 11th March Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Power Disaster. She partnered with the 3.11 Iwate Church Network and Morioka Bible Baptist Church. Through her testimony and harp performances, Catherine hopes to bring God's love and grace to the unreached people around her. After a year of home leave in the UK, Catherine returned to Japan in Autumn 2021 and is currently living in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture attending Sendai North Christ Church. She has released CDs 'Lift your eyes', 'Into the Light' and 'Invited to Joy.'

Testimony

２０２３年の活動の予定

１月１３日：岩手県山田町飯岡コミュニティセンター（JECA三陸望み教会主催）

１月２８日、２９日：ライフライン・テレビ番組にて出演

２月１１日：ZOOMにて世界福音伝道会聖会、特別賛美と証

２月２８日：バプテスト仙台北キリスト教会、シニア交流サロンにてミニ・コンサート

３月４日：茨城県同盟教団古河教会コンサート

３月１１日：宮城三陸３．１１追悼記念会

３月１９日：宮城保守バプテスト中高生リトリート・コンサート

４月１６日：バプテスト仙台北キリスト教会イースター親子コンサート

４月２２日、２３日：大阪茨木聖書教会、コンサートと礼拝メッセージ

４月２８日：神戸グレースミッションチャーチ

４月３０日：京都復興教会特別礼拝

５月２７日：長岡福音キリスト教会　午後２時～
５月２８日：三条福音キリスト教会　午後３時～

６月２日：小出福音キリスト教会　午後７時～
６月３日：新潟主の港キリスト教会　午後２時～
６月４日：直江津「学びの交流館　午後２時～

６月１７日〜１８日：帯広ライフラインの集い

７月９日：宮城県名取ニューライフ教会

７月１５日：岩手県滝沢ハレルヤ・チャペル

７月１６日午前：岩手県盛岡月ヶ丘教会伝道礼拝

７月１６日午後：岩手県盛岡チャペル伝道礼拝

７月２３日：宮城県気仙沼第一バプテスト教会伝道礼拝

９月２４日：気仙沼キングスガーデン

１０月１５日：保守バプテスト七ヶ浜教会

１０月２２日：仙台泉教会

１１月１２日：新宿西教会

１２月１０日：浜松ホーリネス教会

１２月１２日：清水市民クリスマス

１２月１３日：津田塾大学クリスマス礼拝

今後の予定

証（Testimony）

My Story

I was brought up on the Isle of Wight, just off the South Coast of England. As a child, I attended a local Anglican Church with my family. My first encounter with a harp was at age 7. From that day there was no turning back! I began lessons the following year, to start with on a hired lever harp, and then later on a full-sized Salvi Orchestra student model. Although there were definitely times when I hated practice and barely touched the instrument, after I joined the National Youth Orchestra, things changed for me. I absolutely loved the residential courses we had three times a year. The music made me feel alive and my talented friends provided motivation to keep practising and improve my skills. It was incredible to play in venues like the Royal Albert Hall: this was the life I wanted.

The thing is, although glamorous, this was also a very vulnerable route to take. Most orchestras employ one, or at the most, two harpists. My chances of getting a job seemed dependent on not only current harpists retiring, but also improving my playing to a standard higher than my friends and succeeding in audition. I started practising harder and harder. Even up to 7 hours a day! I was tense and scared of ‘failing’. I started seeing my friends as rivals: competition rather than companions. I yearned for praise and fell emotionally when my fingers slipped. By this point, I was studying music at Clare College, Cambridge University. I was performing sometimes 4 times a week on top of my studies. And it all got too much. I could no longer see why I had wanted this life. I became depressed.

I started seeking God. I went to church, my heart like a dry sponge longing for oasis. The words that I heard entering straight inside of me and took root there. Jesus loved me. He was calling me to hope, not to despair. He was calling me to walk in His light, not in darkness. He saw worth in me. The me that looked down on and criticised others! The me that wanted love so much I felt myself to be dirty. The me that couldn’t help but to sin. He loved me so much that He had died on the Cross to take away my sin, to make me clean and to give me new life. I gave my life to Jesus and asked Him to use it for His purposes.

One summer, after I had left Cambridge, I was serving on the Children’s team at the Keswick Convention. It was raining, as it does in Keswick. We were staying a little walk outside town and I had no umbrella. So I took refuge in the Missions Tent waiting for the rain to pass. By chance, (or God’s design,) I got talking to Richard from WEC International. He told me how WEC were recruiting artists to serve in missions. I felt my heart leap! I could serve God AND play the harp?! That seemed like a job made in heaven! I couldn’t wait to apply. As I journeyed into WEC, what struck me was the way the missionaries knew God. I wanted to know Him like that. I wanted to walk closely with Him like they did. So I followed the call to go into the world.

I joined WEC in 2010. As I was preparing to leave the UK, I received an anonymous gift of £12,500! It was financial provision I was sorely in need of, but also a hugely encouraging confirmation that this was God’s will for me and that He would be with me all the way. A week after receiving that gift, Japan had their worst natural disaster this century. An earthquake, followed by a tsunami, followed by the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Power Plant. Planes were cancelled. Some expats were being evacuated. I chose to fly as scheduled on the 24th March 2011, less than two weeks after the disaster. I believed this was God’s timing for me to be in Japan.

As a new arrival, my hands were empty of the responsibilities many others had, and I was free to spend my time volunteering in the disaster zone. To start with, it was physical labour. We cleaned the mud out of the gutters so that the streets wouldn’t flood. We helped locals clear houses that were half-fallen. And we got to know people. There was time to visit the temporary housing units people were housed in and time to visit one-to-one too. I didn’t always have the right words. In fact, with my limited Japanese at that stage, I would say I very rarely had the right words! I did have my harp though. I was able to play songs to bless the survivors.

The work with my harp expanded so that I have played concerts throughout the whole of Japan, from Hokkaido down to Shikoku. My heart is to reach the unreached. In every concert, I share parts of my testimony. I pray that seeds are being sown, that they will be watered and that they will grow into powerful oak trees. My hope is that I can help local churches and missionaries in their evangelism.