Why Are Women More Eager Missionaries?
00:00:00.000 | Well, we love Global Missions at DesiringGod.org, and missions is a huge priority for you, Pastor
00:00:06.440 | John.
00:00:07.440 | In fact, I think as this episode will go live online at about the same time that you will
00:00:11.600 | be traveling to Indianapolis to speak at the 2016 Cross Conference.
00:00:17.960 | So it's no surprise we get a lot of questions from missionaries in the field, a number of
00:00:21.520 | questions from missionaries in training, and a fair number of questions from college students
00:00:26.400 | who are interested in giving their lives to missions in the future.
00:00:30.560 | Today's question comes from a podcast listener named Amy, who writes this, "Pastor John,
00:00:35.440 | I've recently noticed that the number of women going to the nations far outweighs men.
00:00:41.080 | I looked for more statistics on this and struggled even to find information.
00:00:44.880 | If this is the case, what are your thoughts on this trend, and what do you think are the
00:00:48.240 | most probable causes for it?"
00:00:52.080 | Well, whatever the case among Roman Catholics who have peculiar views about celibacy, whatever
00:01:01.200 | the case about Roman Catholics or liberal Protestants who by and large don't do missions
00:01:05.760 | in order to convert people to Christ, the case among evangelicals and faith missions
00:01:10.800 | in particular is, as Amy hints, contained in this joke.
00:01:18.180 | Two-thirds of active missionaries are married couples.
00:01:22.440 | Another third are single women.
00:01:24.960 | The rest are single men.
00:01:26.760 | Well, if that went by too fast, two-thirds plus one-third don't leave any room for single
00:01:32.200 | men.
00:01:33.840 | And it's only a joke in part because it's almost that way.
00:01:41.500 | To be more accurate, the actual situation among most evangelical faith missions is that
00:01:48.500 | between 80 and 85 percent of all single missionaries are women.
00:01:53.500 | It's a rare thing, like two out of every ten, for a single man to make missions his life
00:01:59.400 | vocation, which results in the overall statistics being that one-third of those in the evangelical
00:02:08.160 | world missions are married men, one-third are married women, and 80 percent of the last
00:02:15.680 | third are single women, which means that something just less than two-thirds of the total missionary
00:02:24.780 | force are women.
00:02:27.540 | Now why is that?
00:02:30.920 | And I think the most honest answer would be, "I don't know."
00:02:35.240 | And if the research has been done to get the answers, I'm not aware of it.
00:02:42.840 | So let me just give two opinions, okay?
00:02:46.640 | So everybody should know these two things are flying under the banner "opinion," not
00:02:52.680 | strong conviction.
00:02:55.480 | And then I'll end with a challenge to men.
00:02:59.520 | Opinion number one, let's start with the observation that many single women in missions
00:03:06.100 | would like to be married.
00:03:08.740 | Not all.
00:03:10.220 | Some regard it as a divine calling to serve as a single woman and has no intention of
00:03:17.040 | even hoping or praying toward marriage.
00:03:19.940 | And I thank God for that and for them.
00:03:23.520 | But many would like to serve in missions side by side with a similarly called and devoted
00:03:31.220 | husband.
00:03:32.220 | But by and large, it's men who propose marriage.
00:03:40.280 | Women have less control over being married than men do.
00:03:46.720 | Therefore the—meaning they can always say no, but I mean taking the initiative in a
00:03:52.520 | positive way—therefore the single missionary woman who would like to be married is not
00:04:01.520 | exactly in the same position as a single missionary man who would like to be married.
00:04:06.960 | Here's a little anecdote.
00:04:08.800 | Elizabeth Elliott—I went down and got this from my wife because I knew she'd said this
00:04:14.640 | once.
00:04:15.760 | Elizabeth Elliott told of an interview she had with Gladys Aylward, single missionary
00:04:23.600 | to China who died in 1970.
00:04:25.720 | Gladys Aylward, small woman is the name of the biography.
00:04:30.160 | Here's what Elizabeth Elliott said.
00:04:32.720 | I think she was talking at Urbana when she said this.
00:04:36.320 | Miss Aylward talked to the Lord about her singleness.
00:04:40.520 | She was a no-nonsense woman in very direct and straightforward ways, and she asked God
00:04:47.600 | to call a man from England, send him straight out to China, straight to where she was, and
00:04:53.400 | have him propose to me.
00:04:56.240 | I can't forget the next line, she said, Elizabeth Elliott said.
00:05:01.440 | With a look of even deeper intensity, she shook her little bony finger in my face and
00:05:08.080 | said, Elizabeth, I believe God answers prayer.
00:05:13.520 | And he called him.
00:05:16.160 | And here there was a brief pause of intense whisper.
00:05:21.640 | She said, He called him, and he never came.
00:05:27.400 | Now that experience, I would guess, is not unique to Gladys Aylward.
00:05:34.640 | So that's my first opinion, that the disproportion of single missionary women to missionary men
00:05:46.400 | is that the initiative of proposing marriage among those two groups, singles, lies with
00:05:55.200 | men and not the women.
00:05:58.360 | Here's opinion number two.
00:06:00.760 | Many, it seems to me, of those single men probably avoid missions out of the same personal
00:06:12.280 | dynamics that keep them single.
00:06:17.480 | Among Christian men who do not get married, say, in their 20s and 30s, they are probably
00:06:25.440 | held back from that relationship of marriage by, here are my opinions, a sense of inadequacy,
00:06:34.920 | that they could be a spiritual leader, or a fear that they might be rejected as they
00:06:41.360 | pursue a relationship, or a lack of purpose in life that would give support and meaning
00:06:48.000 | in a marriage relationship.
00:06:51.760 | Many of those hindrances to forming a long-term commitment of marriage would also explain
00:06:58.760 | why he may have a sense of inadequacy about missions, or fear about missions, or a lack
00:07:05.520 | of purpose about missions.
00:07:08.440 | In other words, the very things that keep a man single in his late 20s and 30s are probably
00:07:18.240 | the same kind of things that would keep him from pursuing a life in missions.
00:07:25.240 | On the other hand, single women may not feel any of those hindrances.
00:07:31.160 | They would happily marry a godly, mature, purposeful, mission-directed man if he came
00:07:38.080 | along, but they can't make that happen without men doing their part.
00:07:43.480 | Now, I'm sure the matter is way more complex than those two opinions have hinted at, but
00:07:50.400 | those are possible explanations for the disproportion in the single missionary force, like 80 percent
00:07:58.440 | women and 20 percent men.
00:08:01.400 | So the way I'd like to end is by taking the words of Mike DiLorenzo, who works for
00:08:07.880 | AIM, and close by reading his challenge.
00:08:13.920 | "Yes," he said, thinking of single men as opposed to single women in missions, "Yes,
00:08:19.360 | it may be harder for men, harder to cut through the lies and the apathy, harder to raise money
00:08:25.480 | in a self-reliant society, harder to enter into relationally driven cross-cultural missions,
00:08:32.680 | harder to find your ministry in your vocation.
00:08:36.480 | But the gospel needs men.
00:08:39.920 | The Christian life is a battle, so much so that the Bible calls us to put on armor, and
00:08:46.440 | the mission field is a battlefield where a man's strengths and passions are called upon
00:08:51.640 | to be spent for the greatest cause creation has ever known, the cause of Christ and his
00:09:00.120 | redemptive work to save this world.
00:09:02.760 | And I mean save this world.
00:09:06.300 | It takes courage, courage to step out of your slumber and into the fray.
00:09:11.320 | It takes humility to be willing to fail or at least be deemed a failure by your peers.
00:09:17.960 | And it takes strength more than you know, but not more than God is willing to give you."
00:09:25.880 | Yeah, gospel mission needs men.
00:09:28.680 | Amen.
00:09:29.680 | That's very good, Pastor John.
00:09:30.680 | Thank you.
00:09:31.680 | And Amy, thank you for sending in this valuable question to us.
00:09:34.520 | And thank you for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:09:37.140 | For more information about what we do here, find us online.
00:09:39.680 | This is eringod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:09:40.680 | Well, the new year is almost upon us, 2017.
00:09:47.120 | It's hard to believe.
00:09:49.160 | And with the new year comes new resolve about life patterns and how we want to change things
00:09:53.720 | for the new year.
00:09:55.080 | It also brings with it discussions about our online platforms and how we want to influence
00:09:59.120 | others through them.
00:10:00.920 | And that brings up the question of Christians who are seeking online fame.
00:10:04.200 | It's an important conversation all digital creators need to have at least once a year.
00:10:09.440 | And it's on the docket for Friday.
00:10:11.240 | I'm your host, Tony Reike.
00:10:12.720 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast with longtime author and pastor, John
00:10:18.120 | Piper.
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