I Teach Men
By a Foreign Missionary

I am a woman in the SBC, I teach men, and have done so for the last sixteen years. God has affirmed and reaffirmed me in this work. My husband supports my efforts and works along with me, sometimes substituting for me.

These men have been from Venezuela, Mexico, Guatemala, China, Taiwan, India, Nepal, and Korea. God has blessed me in this ministry or it could not have survived or continued. These men do not care that I am a woman, because they are not concerned with the politics and control of the SBC. As a matter of fact, they know nothing of it. They want to know about the Bible. They want to learn more about Jesus.

Even after they leave our city, they send me Mother’s Day cards. The young man from Nepal is the son of a Brahman priest. He says that no Brahman from Nepal has ever become a Christian. Well, he is still a long way from making a decision for Christ, but will claim that he is now one-half Christian and one-half Hindu. He also had a vision of Jesus in his room. But he has left our area now and has not found a teacher in his new state. So is it more important that he find a teacher, even a woman? Or does he look only for what the SBC would give him, a male teacher. It does not make sense, does it?

There used to be a saying, “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.” It seems the SBC leaders have forgotten the main thing. Our society is secular; our world is lost. They worry about political correctness on their terms. They limit the teaching and witnessing opportunities for women. They cut their labor force in order to boost themselves or protect their jobs.

One young Chinese man asked me if I was a priest. I wanted to laugh, but I did not. I assured him I was not a priest. He said, “Well, you’re a pre-priest, and someday you’ll be a priest.” I thought to myself, not in this world.

The lost want to know the truth. Only church leaders suppress truth in order to follow their own agenda.

A very conservative friend of mine heard me talking about teaching my Chinese S.S. class. She very dutifully told me that I should not be teaching Chinese men. Face after face of young men becoming dedicated Christians flashed through my mind. I asked her, “Don’t you think God knows that I’m a woman?” As we left our meeting she walked back up to me and said, “If God has told you to do this, you keep doing it.”

You know I am in good company. The Chinese men used to gather outside under windows to hear Lottie Moon teach. Sometimes they listened from behind suspended sheets. Lottie was sensitive to those who would criticize her teaching men. I thought civilization had progressed.

I am a woman and I teach young men about the Bible and they are glad. Nothing else is relevant or matters.

Editor’s note: author’s name withheld by request.

October 2003