THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF WOMEN ON THE FIELD

Written By Great Commission Council
 

STATEMENT

Women on the field, both single and married, have important God-given roles, and they face unique challenges that need to be understood and tended to. These challenges pertain to issues like cultural differences and pressures, care of home and household, balance of ministry responsibilities, cultivation of meaningful relationships, and a desire for further training and spiritual development. 

 
Article Written by Morgan Green

Teammates Lola and Candace sat with a local woman, deep in a conversation about the gospel. The late afternoon was creeping into early evening, and Lola, whose four kids and husband were at home, had to decide: should she continue the conversation, leaving her husband to make dinner, help with the homework, and get the kids ready for bed, or apologize and head home to take care of her family? Lola prayed, asked the Lord what to do, and chose to return home for the evening. Still, she left grateful for the gospel partnership she shared with her single teammate, Candace. Lola knew that Candace would continue answering this local woman’s questions and share the good news with her. While Candace would have loved for Lola to stay engaged in the gospel conversation, she was grateful for her singleness and flexibility in continuing to meet with their local friend. Nevertheless, she also had to consider the wisest way to travel home alone as a woman in the evening.

On the mission field, men and women alike face unique challenges. This story highlights women's opportunities and challenges on the field. The opportunity in this story is wonderful: two female missionaries sharing the gospel with a local woman who might not be accessible to male missionaries. At the same time, this story shows the challenge the married missionary, Lola, faces because of her God-given roles. She understands her role as a missionary, as well as a wife and a mother. Similarly, Candace faces the challenge of being a single woman, which brings added pressures to daily life in much of the world. Both single and married female missionaries face different challenges on the field, which are essential for us to consider as we send them out and care for them.

Challenges

Why is this statement needed for missions? Once women are on the field, they face frustrating, stressful, and emotionally draining challenges. They have low accountability and high stress. Each of these bullet points would be worthy of its own article, but given the scope of this article, they highlight areas that churches (both stateside and on the field), agencies, and teams need to understand about the challenges women face.  

Some of these can include: 

  • Living in a male-dominated society and struggling with the loneliness that it brings while being far away from supportive relationships and family.

  • Needing resources outside of their immediate context for personal, spiritual growth.

  • Needing training and ongoing continual education.

  • At times, not being able to provide input into theological and ecclesiological matters. 

  • At times, not being considered in decisions made on behalf of women on the field.

  • Lacking clarity about their role in the mission endeavor.

  • For married women with children, tending to family obligations (which may be a more labor-intensive process) while seeking to do ministry and learning a new language.

  • For single women, facing added security risks and cultural pressures. 

In our busy lives, we tend to live with an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, assuming that all is going well with others we don’t frequently see. There are many challenges that women on the field face that, if not tended to or cared for, can lead to discouragement, bitterness, unfruitfulness, burnout, or even a premature departure. Women can feel isolated when they don’t have opportunities for further training and spiritual development, especially in a context where language learning is essential to relationships and ministry. 

The remainder of this article will examine women's challenges in three major areas: singleness, marriage, and parenting. Much of this article will include lists that encapsulate issues for women on the field, though they are not exhaustive nor the same in every context. Then, we will consider how to care for our female co-laborers in the gospel.

Specific Challenges for Single Women

Ashley was new to the field and excited about the upcoming Christmas meeting with believers in the city. Only a few known believers were in the city of one million, and Ashley had yet to meet any of them. The organizers of the Christmas meeting had decided that Ashley, who played the guitar, would accompany the singing of Christmas carols and then leave the meeting to watch the team’s seven kids. Being new to the team, Ashley did not know the kids well and was unsure if she could watch all seven kids alone. However, no one asked if she was comfortable with this situation, and she did not want to disappoint her new teammates, so she did not express her concerns. Ashley was able to watch the kids with no problems, and she was grateful to be able to serve. However, as she reflected on the experience afterward, she thought it would have been helpful if she’d at least been asked.

The above story is a common experience of single female missionaries. Their role as single workers can make them feel isolated from meaningful relationships and ministry opportunities. In some sense, they have to “fend for themselves.” They often sense that if any assessment, reporting, or advocacy is to occur, it falls to themselves. Some of their challenges include:

  • A loss of interaction with men due to different cultural norms.

  • A desire for marriage but a lack of opportunities to meet godly men.

  • Facing life decisions alone (e.g., medical help in sickness).

  • Being overlooked and not included in things outside ministry work (e.g., holidays, family gatherings, etc.).

  • Lacking long-term relational stability (e.g., not having family/relatives, voices of authority, or healthy brother-sister relationships on the field).

  • Lacking consistent relationships with people who see her battles with sin, both on the field and off (e.g., a husband or child who sees a woman in all circumstances).

Paul himself valued the ability of single workers to serve the Lord without the anxiety caused by marriage (1 Cor 7:32-35). At the same time, it will go a long way to acknowledge that there are also challenges for single female missionaries. Moreover, it will help them have a more sustainable ministry for years to come.

Specific Challenges for Married Women

J.H. Bavinck, a 20th-century pastor, missiologist, and missionary to Indonesia, had wise and beautiful thoughts about the value of married life in missions. This quote is long but well worth the read: 

In some respects it is undoubtedly an advantage of Roman Catholic missions that their missionaries are unmarried. They are therefore freer in their movements, are less encumbered in times of danger, and are without the cares that threaten family life in a completely different world. And in some lands it is an advantage since it readily fits in with the asceticism so highly regarded in the East. It is on the other hand clear that in many respects marriage is a great help to the missionary. Married life is often a revelation when lived before the eyes of those to whom the gospel is preached. One of the weakest elements in the majority of the religious systems of the world is the low position assigned to women. The mere fact that a man and a woman are working together and that the woman is honored and respected, that she supports completely the task of her husband, is in many lands in itself a sermon. In addition, the woman has the great privilege of being able to supplement the work of her husband in many respects. She is able to fulfill many important functions. She can visit the sick and offer her loving assistance to the poor and distressed. By simply taking an interest in the ordinary things of life, she can show something of the completely new life revealed in Christ. The history of missions is filled with examples of women missionaries and the wives of missionaries who have contributed in an incomparable way to preparing for the reception of the gospel. The place of a woman is therefore of great significance to the missionary approach in the broadest sense. 

No one should think that marriage and family are peripheral to missions. They are part of God’s plan to reach the nations. That said, married women need help to know how to support their husbands in a cross-cultural setting. Many women feel they aren’t doing enough, and that whatever they’re doing they’re doing poorly. Here is a list of unique challenges married women face on the field: 

  • Relationally and socially, feeling isolated from friendships both with missionaries and indigenous partners. 

  • Struggling to understand the norms of married women in a new culture (e.g., marital expectations, hospitality responsibilities, etc.). 

  • Having few opportunities for mentoring relationships. 

  • Knowing how to support her husband and his ministry in a cross-cultural setting while seeking to do ministry among women.

  • Balancing responsibilities and competing expectations (e.g., language learning, ministry involvement, caring for home and family). 

  • Putting personal ministry aspirations on the back burner to serve in the background.

  • Feeling left out of the team because of being busy at home.

While these are legitimate concerns, it is good to remember how married women are valuable to the church’s mission work. Although they may often serve in the background, their ministry is crucial to those in and outside the home.

Specific Challenges for Mothers

In the article quoted above, Bavinck also shared the value of parenting: “It is equally obvious that the upbringing and conduct of the children in the missionary’s household is also of importance.”[2]  He said it is “equally obvious” that parenting is meaningful in missions. Why? Because the home is where both non-believers and believers alike see what the Christian life looks like, day in and day out. 

There are particular challenges faced on the field for mothers. Some of them include: 

  • Educating her children (e.g., homeschool support or school options).

  • Caring for children’s health in a challenging setting.

  • Lacking regular spiritual investment from a church in the children’s mother tongue. 

  • Dealing with cultural differences in parenting (e.g., how she disciplines and instructs, what things a child can/cannot be exposed to, etc.).

  • Learning to raise children without access to familiar resources (e.g., in some cases, pools, parks, libraries, car seats, cribs, church nurseries, good Internet connectivity, etc.).

  • Caring for children when they “stand out” in the culture and fearing for kids in difficult cultural situations.

  • Consistently transitioning between different countries (re-entering into her sending country and back to the country in which she serves).

  • Caring for children through their different stages of life.

  • Living far away from her extended family and friends.

  • Lacking support that would be available in the home country from grandparents, family, or role models.

  • Feeling like she is not doing enough as a parent/wife. 

  • Balancing various responsibilities and getting adequate rest.

Living overseas is often challenging. Women, in particular, face unique demands as they seek to live and minister outside their home country. Sending churches, mission agencies, church members, and friends can prepare women for these challenges and support them once they’re on the field. They should be a listening ear, a counselor, and a giver of care and guidance.

Fruitful and Enduring Labor

The purpose of these lists is not to relieve women of all of the burdens they may feel on the field. 1 Timothy 6:6-8 is a helpful truth to remember: “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” Paul reminds Timothy there is value in godliness with contentment. Contentment, not complaining, should mark women on the field.

At the same time, this statement makes people aware of women’s burdens as they take up their crosses to follow Jesus in missions. Training and equipping them before they leave is profitable. Moreover, if women are to be sustained over the long haul, sending churches and mission agencies must focus on supporting women once they are on the field. The sending churches and mission agencies should equip and encourage women to build transparent, healthy relationships with women from their field church (where possible). When this type of equipping and supporting is well done, women are better prepared to endure suffering, serve joyfully, abide in Christ, and grow in maturity and holiness. Additionally, their field church and local unbelievers will see biblical models of single women, wives, and mothers. 

This statement is here to help equip a “sent” woman to suffer well. It will help them be confident of their identity in Christ, be free from the guilt of unmet expectations, and avoid burnout and isolation. What does continuous care look like? It looks like intentional, ongoing relationships. Most women on the field are constantly in low-accountability and high-stress situations. They need clear, available “lifelines” to reach out for help, not merely for when they’re in crisis, but ideally as regular touchpoints in the context of an enduring relationship.

Recommendations

Members of the sending church have readily available resources and opportunities for spiritual growth. Like “drive-thru options” on every corner, solid Sunday morning sermons and Bible studies and opportunities to meet with mature Christians make it easier to feed ourselves spiritually. However, missionaries must often become better at feeding themselves. Ready-made meals are not as readily available. Instead, they must go to the store, buy the ingredients, prepare them, and cook the meal. These skills are necessary and invaluable for spiritual growth. 

The following are a few recommendations for how sending churches can begin to address some of the challenges women face on the field:

  • Provide an opportunity for a woman to speak and share with leaders. 

  • Take the initiative to ask women intentional questions.

  • Create a collection of questions that address these challenges to ask women as a resource for husbands, team leaders, and sending churches. [3] 

  • Create a network or group of like-minded women who occasionally meet online (for prayer, encouragement, accountability, etc.).

  • Send women along with elders for routine visits to the field

Conclusion

The following is from a missionary’s own experience that highlights how churches and agencies can care for their female missionaries poorly and well:

I was “sent out” from a church to serve in South Asia for one year, living at a children’s home and working at a school. I lacked training but set out on good assumptions and hopeful optimism. My “supervisor” was a local pastor whom I saw about once a week on Sundays. I lived and worked in a context where I did not know the local language, and I had no team, no way of getting around, and no knowledge of the culture. I was left to myself to figure out anything and everything I could. I thought I was radically obeying the Great Commission simply by coming to a different country. I struggled with the mundane tasks of life at the children’s home and teaching at the school. I never heard from a pastor or any leadership at the church that “sent” me, and I came home cynical, bitter, and really at a loss for what to do next. 

A few years later, I married, joined a healthy church, and was sent to the field again. Although many things are different (being married and committed to serving long-term work through an organization), a primary difference is how I have felt supported overseas. Our sending church has a monthly women’s call. Whoever is able gathers on Zoom to be taught the word, to share our burdens, struggles, joys and challenges, and to pray for one another. This call alone has markedly impacted my growth, sanctification, and maturity. Our church has come to our city with the primary aim of encouraging us. They have seen where we live, met whom we work with, eaten the food, been on the roads, and gone to the market. They have sat and listened to us so they can return and report how we are and how to pray to the body. Our sending church prays for us regularly. Along with individuals who have kept up and cared for us from the same body, these things significantly impact our ability to live and stay overseas. 

In conclusion, many well-meaning leaders from sending churches assume that those they send are fine. They assume they’re being cared for by someone else. When resources are lacking, sending churches need to be all the more aware of  these women's issues. It is unhealthy when someone lacks diversity in their relationships, when they only have one source for all of their relational needs. 

But with intentionality, shepherding, and thoughtfulness, sending churches and women on the field can deepen, strengthen, and maintain healthy, God-glorifying relationships. Lovingly and wisely guiding sent workers overseas will bring fruit in God’s kingdom work. 

Recommended Resources

footnotes

[1] Bavinck, J.H. An Introduction to the Science of Missions, pg 95-96.

[2] Bavinck, J.H. An Introduction to the Science of Missions, pg 96.

[3] Catherine Allison provides a helpful sampling of questions. Allison, Catherine, “6 Ways to Love Missionaries When They Come Home,” accessed November 1, 2023, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/love-missionaries-come-home/.

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