My team of 11 college students was in the heart of South Asia for only three months, but the man who sat across from us had been laboring there for over 5-years. His weathered face looked more like a man of 45, not his real age of 32. This man had learned the local language and culture; led a team of two other families, along with his own wife and children; built relationships with locals; found local pastors to partner with in making Jesus known; and led a small Bible study of local people, and he still found time to sit down with a handful of college students to answer questions. We all leaned in, so interested to hear what this missionary’s answer to our questions would be…
After an hour together, he had told us all about his ministry, and I was awed at how God was using him and his team there in South Asia. So before we had to say goodbye, one of the girls asked one last question, “What is your ministry in need of most?” He thought for a moment and we all waited in respectful silence, and what he said next I will never forget.
It was not money, prayers, pastors, or care packages. He said, “What we need most right now, are single women to join us on the field. Our wives are too busy raising their own children to lead local women. We don’t need babysitters, we need women who are ready to lay down their lives to make Jesus known where He is not.”
If that doesn’t empower you, maybe you should read it again.
Someone who has been laboring on the field for years sees the value of single women on his team. He knows that unmarried women have a passion and single-mindedness that no married woman has the luxury of.
Unmarried women have the freedom to dedicate all of their effort and time to God and His mission to reach all nations.
In 1 Corinthians 7:34, Paul writes, “…And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband.”
Did you hear that ladies? That sounds a lot like freedom to me! Not needing to worry about anything but Jesus.
Paul says even earlier in 1 Corinthians 7:8, “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am.” Paul is saying that it is better to remain fully invested in the Lord, as he is, than to be divided in your efforts. Paul is saying his life is complete in Christ, even without a spouse. Paul is content in any circumstance because his eyes and heart are so solidly fixed on the goodness and sovereignty of God. (Philippians 4:11-13).
There are many women in history who have also found the secret to contentment. For example, Amy Carmichael was a young woman from Ireland who gave her life to working in India as a missionary. She spent her life saving children from temple prostitution. And though she was never a biological mother, she deeply impacted the lives of many children. So much so that when the children she cared for buried her; they engraved the Tamil word for Mother on her tomb.
Or maybe Gladys Aylward’s story will encourage you. At 26-years-old Gladys was told by the most prominent missions agency at the time that she was not intelligent enough to learn a language overseas, and that she was too old to go! But she went anyway, by faithfully saving money and going on her own. Along with many other ways God used her, she played an essential role in the ceasing the practice of foot binding in China.
These women did not wait for someone else to come along. They were the answer to God’s call. These women simply loved God first, saw a need to be filled, and took daily steps of obedience. And they were used powerfully for God’s glory. But what better place to look for an example to follow than the Bible itself.
There are many incredible women in the Bible, but three stand out to me when I think about leveraging singleness for God’s glory: Ruth, Anna, and Phoebe. These three women were incredible and incredibly single! Ruth followed her mother-in-law to a foreign place after she had been newly widowed. Instead of focusing on what she had lost, she lifted her eyes to Naomi’s God, the God of Israel. Even when Naomi herself lost sight of God’s goodness and took on the name of Mara, Ruth did not loose hope. In obedience, Ruth chose to go out each day with faith that God would provide for Naomi and her own needs. Spoiler: He does! Not only that, but God uses Ruth as a part of Jesus’s family tree.
Anna also had a role in Jesus’s story, but not as a mother. Usually overlooked, with only three verses mentioning her in the Bible (Luke 2:36-38). Anna’s seemingly small part gives us hope as we are used powerfully by God in our singleness. Anna had been married when she was young, but she only had seven years with her husband before he died. After the passing of her husband, she dedicated herself to the Lord. For over eighty years she fasted and prayed day and night at the temple. She loved God more than anything else she could have pursued, and she was able to give all of her focus and heart to God because of her singleness. She was instrumental in the identifying and proclaiming of Jesus as Lord when he was an infant. Because she was faithful each day to love God first, God positioned her to be used to make Himself known.
Even more obscure is the story of Phoebe (Romans 16:1-2). She only has two verses in the Bible, but her impact is lasting even to the men and women of today. Phoebe was a woman of integrity. We know from these two verses in Romans that she was likely a deaconess at her church and that she had served God faithfully by helping Paul and others. Likely because of this, Paul trusted Phoebe with taking his letter to the Church of Rome. Because of her faithfulness to get Paul’s letter to the Church of Rome, we are still reading the letter today in our Bible. And, being a letter runner for Paul was not like the job of a mailwoman today. Phoebe not only had to show up with the letter to the churches in Rome, but she had to read, understand, and answer questions about it. One of the most theologically dense books in the Bible. She had to read it to the Church of Rome, which was not one single congregation, but over 20 different congregations and explain and answer questions over 20 times. Christianity is different because of how God used Phoebe to impact the church in Rome.
We as single women have a role to play in making Jesus known. Practically, this will look different for every woman. But to start we all need to be loving God with our whole heart, soul, and mind and love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).
Sister, your neighbor needs the love of Jesus. Be bold in using the freedom of time, resources, energy, and passion to make Jesus known to those living in darkness. And there is a place in the world where there is only darkness. The 10/40 window has over 3-billion people who have little to no access to the gospel. God could be inviting you to make a move overseas. Will you use the freedom and single-mindedness you have been given during this season of life to make Him known like Phoebe? Or maybe He is moving you to intercede faithfully in prayer like Anna did at the temple. Or will you faithfully keep your eyes on the Lord stateside, sharing and making disciples while you financially send someone overseas? Do not sit idly by when God is inviting you into a life of abundance in Him on mission.
By Loryn Wiebe
Loryn is a traveler (2020) and member of The Traveling Team. She graduated from Kansas State University where she became established in discipleship, within her local church and student ministry. She has spent her summers both overseas and stateside invested in the great commission. She is passionate about mobilizing people to come with her to reach the nations long-term.
