Becoming Women on Mission with God: Lessons Learned

Authors

  • Lesley Hildreth

Abstract

In 1999 my husband Scott and I were appointed with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention to serve as career missionaries in Western Europe among unengaged peoples. At the time our two children were five and three years old respectively. Our family was confident of the call God had placed on our lives, however we had no idea how this calling would unfold in a cross-cultural setting. Before surrendering to the call to missions Scott was serving as pastor of a rural church in Alabama and I was a stay at home mom. We had no idea what a "people group" was but we knew we had to obey and that God would equip us for the work to which He had called us. Once we arrived in Germany, God used a relationship I established with another mom to force me to examine my heart and subsequently shape the way I would look at other women who needed Christ. A changed heart and a renewed love for others shaped the way I lived out the gospel in that cross-cultural setting and continues today as I work to equip other women to live on Mission with God.             When we first arrived overseas our children attended kindergarten in our multicultural neighborhood. I was only beginning my language studies so I couldn't understand anything when the kindergarten met with the parents at the beginning of the school year. Thankfully, a German mom spoke English and offered to translate for me. Her daughter was in the same classroom as my daughter and so Tanya and I became friends. Our girls became playmates as well. Before we had ever left America, I had asked God for a friend because I knew I would need friends as much as my children would. It didn't take long before I realized just how different my worldview was compared with that of Tanya. Not only was she an unbeliever, but there were so many other things personality-wise as well. I found myself complaining to the Lord about how he chose to answer my prayer for a friend. I found myself concentrating on her bad habits, foul language, etc. and how they would affect my children and home. This is when the Lord spoke clearly to me about a problem much deeper than my new "friend" and what I considered to be her bad habits. I realized that I was more concerned about my being made to feel uncomfortable and my children hearing curse words than I was for this woman and her household's salvation! God then graciously reminded me not only of the specific call that he had placed on our family to leave America and be a part of bringing the nations to Himself, but that if I had remained in America I would still be responsible for being a part of seeing the nations come to Christ. This realization started me on a personal and missiological journey that continues to the present. This experience served as the springboard that led me to recognize and learn many things about God and my part, as a woman and as a mom, in His mission.             This article is intended to provide a glimpse into some of the lessons I learned and also to help missionary trainers assist women to live more effective missionary lives. By living an intentionally gospel-centered lifestyle in our home and community, women have a unique opportunity to participate in the advance of God's mission by making disciples of target audiences, many of which are inaccessible to men.

Issue

Section

Contemporary Practice