Missionary, Mom or What?

by Rhoda Longenecker

Are you a missionary, a mom, a wife, a teacher, or what?” This was a fairly routine question as we traveled widely to minister in churches around the U.S.

Are you a missionary, a mom, a wife, a teacher, or what?” This was a fairly routine question as we traveled widely to minister in churches around the U.S.

During many of these trips, our five kids joined us on the platform to sing as a family. Their happy appearance undoubtedly sparked this poignant question.

My answer to the many inquirers was, “You have either asked the wrong person or the wrong question. I am first of all a woman who is required to walk with her God. He then enables me to carry out my responsibilities.” Over the years that answer has become more and more the very center of my being.

One of the definitions of a “minister” is a servant. I believe that the core of any ministry for a family must be the husband and wife, rightly related to Jesus Christ, serving him, and ministering to each other. As children join this family, they too learn to relate rightly to their parents, to one another, and to Jesus. This circle of love and ministry within the family reaches out and touches their world, making each family member a “minister” in his own right.

We taught our five that we were not two missionaries with five children. We were not living overseas to support Dad in “his” ministry. We viewed ourselves as a ministering family. Whether we were in the context of the local church, teaching the word to individuals, opening our home to numerous overnight guests, in our home school classroom, serving tea and cakes to our neighbors, or visiting in the homes of our national friends, we were seven ministers moving around in our world.

At one point in our lives, God gave us the privilege of living and working in a hospital in an area where no foreigners had ever lived. How challenging it was to realize that whatever we did became “Christian” to them. My husband was a “Christian” man. Many conversations revolved around the subject of how he treated me. Our sons played a very important role in the neighborhood. Ourdaughters, though more hidden in the society, were watched very carefully. We were known as people of “honor” in the community and felt the love and the protection of our national friends.

Twenty years later when we returned for a visit, I went to see our former neighbors. They were not home and sadly, I headed back to the hospital.

Suddenly, I heard my name. Coming behind me was a veiled woman. She excitedly asked about our five children, calling each of them by name. I was stunned to think that she had carried us in her heart and memory for 20 years. She invited me to her home where I had a special time of prayer for her family.

Ministering from this perspective has spared me from segmenting myself, my role, and my responsibilities. I have truly enjoyed the freedom of living and loving wherever God has placed us.

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Rhoda Longenecker and her husband Will have been members of WEC International since 1963. They have served in six different Middle Eastern countries for 26 years.

EMQ, Vol. 33, No. 1. Copyright © 2006 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

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