FROM THE VOICE OF THE MARTYRS PRESIDENT:
COLE RICHARDS

Women are largely disregarded by the governments and major religions of nations where The Voice of the Martyrs serves. It is understandable, therefore, that some assume the advancement of God’s kingdom in such places is focused on men, with women relegated to supporting roles. But nothing could be further from the truth — either now or throughout church history. While women face particular challenges in frontier missions contexts, God often uses the marginalized or “less likely” to accomplish his purposes.

Each of us is tempted by the enemy, through our own attributes, to conclude that we are unfit for God’s use. Our sisters in Christ, whose stories are often featured in our free magazine, are perfect case studies. For example, by human reasoning, what chance does a widow have of leading Muslims to Christ in an Islamist context where women are treated as possessions of their male family members? Faced with thoughts like this, I remind myself of Gladys Aylward’s work in China and Amy Carmichael’s in India. Like all of us, they had no chance on their own but every chance with God.

As secularists continually pit men against women in arguments involving money and power, we can celebrate the fact that God uses the courageous faith of both men and women to advance his eternal kingdom. A recurring feature of ministry on the world’s most difficult and dangerous mission fields throughout history and continuing today is that women continue the Lord’s work after their husbands or coworkers are imprisoned or slain by persecutors. People are sometimes surprised when I, as a male missionary leader, tell them that it is often the women in those stories who inspire me the most.

“It is often the women in those stories who inspire me the most.”

COLE RICHARDS – VOM PRESIDENT

When American missionary Jim Elliot was speared to death on a jungle beach in Ecuador while making first contact with an unreached tribe, his widow, Elisabeth, had every reason to return to the United States. Yet she chose to journey with her young daughter to the very tribe that had killed her husband, to live among them for years in intense privation, and to lead them to Christ. Jim’s bold faith is inspiring, but Elisabeth’s long walk of courage and suffering makes her one of history’s most exemplary frontier missionaries.

When the Communists imprisoned Richard Wurmbrand in Romania, his wife, Sabina, continued to facilitate the work of the underground churches there. She was penniless, persecuted, and raising a child on her own under Communist oppression. With every reason to focus solely on her own problems, she persevered in the Lord’s service to others and suffered years of imprisonment in a labor camp as a consequence. No examples of faith have meant more to me than those of Sabina Wurmbrand and Elisabeth Elliot. The stories of bold and courageous faith by our sisters in Christ are not just for the women’s ministry at your church — they are for everyone.