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Prejudices

Sometimes I think that the Lord enjoys playing little tricks on us. No, He is never devious or petty. However, He sometimes lets us build up a good head of steam rolling down the tracks of our own devising and then removes the tracks to see what we are going to do (as if He doesn’t already know).

I somewhat felt that way when the Lord called my single daughter to go across the globe as a missionary. I had always avoided women missionaries like the plague. When one called, I always found an excuse not to have her in. It just did not seem right—a single lady going to a missionary field. Could she handle it emotionally? And, what could she do? She could not preach or start a church. Surely this was not of God.

I cannot say that I had a biblical conviction. [Check out article on What is a Conviction?] It was more of a foreboding, a hesitancy. It did not seem right. Then…well, then there was that little girl of mine. My own daughter gave her life to go. Personally and selfishly, I wish I had a real conviction against it. I could keep her home. What about marriage? What about a family? What about grandchildren? This is the girl who spent much of her youth dreaming about having a large family. She studied homeschooling so she would be ready to homeschool her own children. Now she tells me that going to a country where missionaries are not allowed to tell unknown children and their mothers about Christ is more important to her than having the husband and children she had always dreamed about.

I fear for her safety. I miss her. No, when she was gone for five months last year, I grieved for her. This was my little girl. Everyone says she is like her daddy. We always understood each other. Our hearts have always been entwined. Now…she is leaving. Not to move across town where we can visit her often, but across the world where messages have to be filtered for words and news that might be offensive to the foreign government.

Well, I brought her up to put God first. I can only praise God that my children seem to be set on doing so. But what about women missionaries? I still had to settle that issue. So, I searched my heart and went to the Bible. Either God’s word will be our authority or something else will be. What saith the scriptures?

First, we all know that missionaries have to be men; preferably men with families. Only men can preach, found churches and train indigenous pastors. It follows that only men can be missionaries. Only men were missionaries in the New Testament, right?

Well, it is difficult to prove who was and who was not a missionary in the New Testament since the word is never found there. We still argue about who exactly a missionary is. That makes it very easy for each of us to define missionaries in our own understanding.

Scriptural Example

So, without arguing definitions, let me approach the question in a different way. Does God allow ladies a special place in ministry in the New Testament? And, do they travel to other lands in that ministry?

To answer the first question: yes, ladies do have a special place of ministry in the New Testament. Paul, in speaking to the Philippians, referred to those "women which laboured with me in the gospel" (Phil.4:3). These women labored. They labored with Paul. And, they labored in the gospel. That is, they worked to get the gospel out to the lost.

But, you say, they are so limited in who they can reach. Are they? They probably reach certain groups better than men; namely, women and children. As last I recall, women make up about half of all people in the world—actually more, because they live longer. When you add male children to those who can be reached by ladies, they can directly minister to about 60% or 70% of any population. And in a more personal and intimate way than a man can. This means that they can teach them, win them to the Lord, disciple them and counsel them.

In addition to this, these ladies can reach out to all in helping ministries just as Martha did in Luke 10:40; as Lydia did when she offered her house as a place of worship (Ac.16:14-15). We all have limitations. They are not barriers to service given by a vindictive God. They are rather funnels to direct us to more profitable service for Him. No man can do everything that needs to be done. Our limitations only serve to guide us.

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