They Are Missionaries, Too!
I heard it again recently.
It was an announcement at the worship services of a congregation we were visiting. The person making the announcement stated that, “our ‘missionary and his wife’ will be visiting next Sunday.”
Well-intentioned statements such as this one tend to elevate the more public role that male missionaries often have on the mission field, without recognizing and honoring the important and essential (and often non-public role) that missionary women also contribute to the success and vitality of the missional effort.
Because we haven’t said it enough, do our missionary women know how deeply we love and appreciate them?
Have we ever said it out loud? Very seldom, I’m guessing. And that is the purpose of this. It is to offer special honor and recognition to the missionaries who are also women because:
You, too, answered a call from God. And you also said difficult good-byes and packed up your home and heart because you had a passion to share the Good News with people you had yet to meet;
You also learned languages and assimilated into local cultures and traditions and made mistakes which still make you cringe;
You used your new cultural vulnerability to stretch your arms out to love and serve others who were your new neighbors;
Many of you gave birth to infants in inferior hospitals, assisted by doctors and nurses you could not communicate with. Cultural and language isolation created a shadow of fear and anxiety over an occasion that typically elicits joy and profound happiness;
You taught your babies new words and new customs and showed them pictures of their other “home” and grandparents far away. You chased your toddlers around the room with your computer on Landlines, Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, or WhatsApp, while tearful grandparents drank in these precious virtual moments;
You shared your husband, you opened your home and your heart, and you, too, proclaimed Jesus in ways that transcended all languages;
Some of you chose to serve God in other cultures as a single woman. And you learned to lean hard into God to help you deal with the blunting loneliness, exhaustion, and isolation;
You cared for children that snickered at your poor language skills but you loved them and taught them about the Savior they would need to save them. Many still adore you. And, thank you;
You walked into sick rooms, and hospital rooms, and into rooms of mothers holding their deceased. You loved and cared for and wept with them. You were Jesus’ hands and feet;
You received letters, pictures, and emails from “home” about happy occasions you missed and you received urgent calls about sad and tragic occasions. You wept alone and ached to huddle with your family and weep with them;
You wept with your husband, with your team, and alone over church splits, hurtful mission committee decisions, and those you loved who had rejected Jesus;
You studied the scriptures with those who were searching. And often you SAW it! You witnessed that illuminative, almost inexplicable realization in a person’s eyes when the veil lifts and they see the true gift of Jesus and salvation. You wept almost uncontrollably when you watched them give their lives to Christ and become his disciple;
You, too, dreamed of Dr. Pepper, Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, and Dove Chocolate, but you mainly dreamed of a vibrant, evangelistic, stable body of Christ where you were sharing your life and heart;
You dealt with culture stress, ministry stress, family stress, and personal stress and wondered if you would ever be the same. And by God’s tenderness and mercy — you are not! God clothed you in a strength and beauty that you didn’t have before and he shaped you into a beautiful proclaimer of his love and grace..
Yes, to all of the missionary women we say “Thank you.”
We love you. We honor you. We thank God for you and we ask our Father to be near you and take, oh, such good care of you. You, his beautiful daughter.
Continue Reading
