Stand With Her

Jane fell in love and compromised her convictions. Donna faced betrayal alone in a foreign land. Rachel returned home worn down, her marriage and ministry left in pieces. These are not uncommon stories among women on the mission field. Their names are changed, but their pain is real and it’s shared by many.

Too often, these women are sent out with prayer and celebration but then left to weather the storms of missionary life without meaningful support. While blowups like these may be rare, the slow, silent struggles emotional isolation, cultural fatigue, spiritual dryness are all too familiar.

The Apostle Paul once wrote a letter seeking support for his gospel journey. In Romans 15, he asked for help not just financially, but relationally and spiritually. He longed to be refreshed by their company, strengthened by their prayers, and helped on his journey. This model offers us a path to care deeply for the women we send overseas.

Women on the field do not need just our money. They need our hearts, our time, our prayers. They need us to hold the rope.

Refresh Them by Your Company

“By God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.” (Romans 15:32) Missionary life is not a never-ending spiritual high. It includes loneliness, cultural challenges, spiritual dryness, and longing for home. Women especially can feel cut off, navigating foreign languages, managing homes, supporting their husbands, homeschooling, or engaging in full-time ministry all while feeling isolated.

What would have happened if Jane, Donna, or Rachel had been regularly visited? If they had someone in their home church who checked in monthly? If their furloughs were marked by deep, restorative fellowship, rather than packed schedules and shallow conversations?

One church models this beautifully a group of women from the sending church connects with their missionary monthly via video. Every furlough, she stays with the same family. A pastor visits each year, and always includes a woman equipped to minister directly to her. They don’t just support her they know her.

Churches can refresh missionary women with relational consistency. Sometimes, knowing someone is invested in you truly invested can be the difference between staying and leaving the field.

Strive with Them in Prayer

“Strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.” (Romans 15:30) Paul didn’t ask for casual prayer; he asked for striving. Laboring. Fighting alongside him in spiritual warfare. Women on the field are under relentless pressures cross-cultural stress, marriage strains, parenting without extended family, or even spiritual apathy creeping in unnoticed.

Prayer is not a courtesy. It is participation.

When you pray for these sisters, you become a co-laborer in their mission. You uphold them when they are too tired to pray. You partner with them in spiritual fruit. Jesus said that even giving a cup of water to a disciple earns eternal reward (Matthew 10:42). How much more joining their ministry through earnest, consistent prayer?

So how should you pray?

For single women:

• Contentment in Christ and joyful singleness

• Deep friendships and protection from loneliness

• Purity and strength in temptation

• If desired, a godly, mission-minded husband

For married women:

• Loving, Christlike unity in marriage

• Grace to submit and support joyfully

• Clear, kind communication

• Spiritual and emotional intimacy

• Wisdom in finances and future plans

For mothers:

• Patience, gentleness, and gospel-centered parenting

• Strength to balance ministry and home

• Protection and salvation for each child

• Community for the whole family

And always ask her what to pray for child by child, or challenge by challenge. A church that prays specifically prays powerfully.

Consider this: a 2024 Lifeway study found that 68% of missionaries cite personal prayer support as the most critical need surpassing even financial support. We often underestimate the power of our intercession. God doesn’t.

Help Them on the Journey

“I hope to be helped on my journey there by you.” (Romans 15:24)

Helping is not only financial it’s practical. Tangible love in the form of tools, time, and care. It might be as simple as loaning a car for furlough or helping navigate medical appointments. It could be watching the kids so a weary mom can rest or sending needed books that aren't available overseas.

There’s no formula only the necessity of knowing her.

She may need commentaries for her Bible study group. Or a washing machine so she doesn’t spend hours doing laundry by hand. Or a kind friend to help her daughter transition into an international school.

Single women may need dating support or affirmation in their singleness. Moms may need help reentering the workforce or home-school curriculum resources. And all women on the field need reliable communication, someone who listens and understands without judgment.

Even churches with limited budgets can offer profound help through creativity and intentionality. Sometimes, the greatest act of help is simply to ask, “What would make your life easier this month?”

Paul called his supporters “partners in the gospel.” Jesus himself said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). And the “treasure” of your time, effort, and attention is just as telling as your giving.

Join Their Journey

Women serving overseas do not need to suffer silently. And they don’t need heroism they need helpers. Churches back home can play a vital, life-giving role in sustaining their sisters in the field by offering Paul’s three-fold support: refreshment, prayer, and help.

But this isn’t just about mission strategy. It’s about love. It’s about the body of Christ functioning as God intended. When one part suffers, the whole body suffers (1 Corinthians 12:26). When one flourishes, we rejoice together.

Supporting women in missions also transforms us. As we walk beside them in real relationship, our churches learn to pray, to love, to sacrifice. We deepen our own dependence on Christ. And sometimes, we may find ourselves so stirred that we too are called to go.

Hold the rope for her. Don’t just send her stay with her. In prayer, in love, in practical care. As she reaches the nations, let her know she’s never alone.

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