Ever since Mary Magdalene ran from the tomb to tell the disbelieving disciples, “He is risen!” God has used women — single and married — to take the good news of Christ’s resurrection to the ends of the earth. Sometimes, however, our sisters face greater difficulties finding acceptance, financial support, and even respect on their way to the field.
Several years ago, a young nurse asked if I would help her go serve Christ in Afghanistan. (In keeping with my Resurrection Day illustration, I’ll call her Magdalena.) Her pastor encouraged her to contact me because I was the director of a missions organization that works in restricted-access countries. She was well-qualified professionally and spiritually, well-commended by her church, and faithfully entrusted to the Lord by her parents. So, after working through all the usual issues of “how to get there from here” — plus the added complexity of living in a war zone — Magdalena went to Afghanistan and worked alongside a team. In the face of danger, kidnappings, and even the death of teammates, Magdalena served Christ with faith and courage.
Looking back, I can say (only half-joking) that the first obstacle Magdalena faced in her desire to take the gospel to Afghanistan wasn’t the Taliban — it was pastors who told her that their churches wouldn’t support single women missionaries. Churches should, of course, prayerfully discern the priorities and parameters for their missions programs. However, I felt it important to address this matter with these brothers — some of whom eventually supported Magdalena in her calling. Let me share with you what I told them.
History’s Heroines
Both in the biblical record and in the history of missions, God has chosen to use women — single and married — as his messengers for the gospel’s advance. When we read of Lydia, Priscilla, and Phoebe in Acts and Romans, they may seem like minor characters in the overarching story. However, they were not minor to Paul. That’s evident in the affection and honor he extends to these sisters in his Romans 16 postscript. In our equity-conscious day, we may be tempted to count the number of men and the number of women in the list and make conclusions to bolster an argument, but I doubt the thought ever crossed Paul’s mind. They were all dear to him as they served and suffered together, as they “labored side by side . . . in the gospel” for Christ’s sake (Philippians 4:2–3).
In the history of missions, women — particularly single women — have played an integral part in Christ’s unstoppable, church-building, gates-of-hell-not-prevailing work. Some are household names: Amy Carmichael in India, Gladys Aylward in China, Mary Slessor in Nigeria, Lilias Trotter in Algeria, Helen Roseveare in the Congo. But, of course, thousands more went, served Christ and his church, and died in obscurity. The words Paul used to describe his own ministry could be said of this intrepid band: “as unknown, and yet well known,” for their names are written in heaven (2 Corinthians 6:9).
I think also of the “Bible women” of China — single or widowed Christians who were quiet foot soldiers of the kingdom. They served as colporteurs, evangelists, and interpreters, providing a critical bridge for foreign missionaries as the gospel advanced into China’s vast interior. They were a key part of first-wave forces, and thus, when the Boxer Rebellion came, many hundreds of them received the martyr’s crown.
The stories of all these daring women are a rich part of our Christian heritage, and their example spurs us all on as we, too, follow Christ. They also inspire new generations of Magdalenas to venture all for his glory.
Behind the Veil
Another reason I urged these pastors and their churches to consider helping Magdalena was that she would have strategic access to a whole segment of the Afghan population that only a woman can reach — other women. The visible symbol of this deep divide is the veil. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born author and activist, writes from experience:
The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world. (Nomad: From Islam to America, 16)
There is an Afghan proverb directed at the whole shuttered half of the population: “Women belong in the house or in the grave.” But Magdalena could enter such a house — and she did. After reaching Afghanistan, she poured herself into learning the language — and, equipped with that language and her nursing skills, she parted the curtain. God used her among the women beneath the burqas because he had sent her there.
But the need for women in missions isn’t limited to a Muslim context. Women provide skills, leadership, and evangelism in every kind of setting as they live in community with the people they are reaching. The driving purpose of the missionary endeavor is to make disciples and gather these believers into vibrant word-centered churches whose roots go deep into native soil and outward into their communities. Faithful women — whether “over here” or “over there” — are a vital part of how Christ builds his church.
Spiritual Mothers
Our sister saints who venture all as they follow Christ to distant lands are worthy of much honor. A friend made this precise point in a letter to me from a city in East Asia, where she and her family serve. She had just said goodbye to a dear fellow sister and teammate, and so her letter was raw and real:
My eyes became misty as her taxi pulled away for the airport. The best ten years of her life were poured out here — in a no-name city on a no-name campus — poured into thousands of image bearers. I’ve hardly met a sister in this part of the city who has not been touched by her life. That’s why my blood boils when I hear the implication that these women aren’t doing the “real work.”
Because of that attitude, it’s hard for them to get support, and they aren’t asked to give updates when they return home. Instead, they’re often viewed as being driven by some prolonged post-college, restless wanderlust. They’re asked why they don’t want a family, why they aren’t committing themselves to loving and caring for children. I wish these folks could see how diligently these women pour into those around them and how they labor hard to birth new life into new friends. If only those folks could see these powerful, single spiritual mothers and their large families — some in the hundreds, some in the thousands. Let’s not disparage this form of childbearing.
Every time I read this letter, it helps me praise God, who is saving, sending, supplying, and remembering his servants all over the world — men and women alike — in places and ways we could never have imagined. This letter also reminds us to encourage and pray for the Magdalenas of our churches as they are sent out for the gladness of the nations. May they go with the same urgent joy as their namesake, who had such good news that she ran to tell it!
Desiring God