How will Muslim women hear the Gospel? I think they will primarily hear from other women. We need to re- think (or think for first time) about the viability (and sendability among our churches) of single women missionaries.

If we were all honest (candid), we like to support church planters. But we know that women don't do that. What can they do? If you say, "Marry a church planter," you would get lots of laughs; but there is an undercurrent of limitation assigned to women in the minds of many church leaders.

Many of us acknowledge biblically that God does, in fact, desire that some remain unmarried. If this is true, is it possible that He would call some of these same single ladies to be missionaries? When He does, what will they hear from pastors and churches?

We all brag about Amy Carmichael, Mary Slessor, Gladys Aylward, and others - all of these, single women missionaries who did exploits for God. How about Sarah Boardman, who when her husband died in Burma, put her young child on her back and walked back into the jungle. If you don't intend to support single women in viable roles, quit telling these stories and getting the hopes up of our young ladies. Take their biographies out of your church libraries (most of us don't have missionary biographies in our church libraries).

Right now, we are fairly comfortable with single women working in orphanages and doing medical missions. Even the role teaching English as a second language on the mission field is growing in acceptance for single women missionaries; but how about those Muslim women. Of course, this will produce many questions and concerns; but it's time for the church to quit playing at missions.