“Her story" in History

 

Recently when I was involved in a personal evangelistic effort with an elderly woman, I was surprised to see how she was enthusiastically promoting some herbal products for which she was a sales agent. While I finally said, “Bye”, she gave her final thrust on me to buy and try those products!  In general, women are good in promotional work. They are good in proclaiming news. They talk and communicate well. They are a lot more vocal than men! They are even pulled down by men with a remark that they cannot keep a secret. This is a primary reason behind this verse penned by poet David when he said, “The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng.” (Psalm 68:11) It referred to the women who, with music, songs, and dances, celebrated the victories of the Israelites over their enemies. The publication of good news, or of any joyful event, belonged to the women. But unfortunately many of this mighty throng of women’s stories have not been recorded. If recorded, they go unnamed. If named, they go unrecognized. The thrust of this article is therefore for us to write the “her-stories” of women, also naming and recognizing them.

The whole of Bible has a great number of named, unnamed women who proclaimed the good news. Some of these unnamed women include the little heroine who was a slave girl, but was the reason behind the healing and saving of Naaman, the unnamed Samaritan woman who proclaimed about Jesus to her village and brought them to the saving knowledge of Christ. Some named women include, Anna, the 84 year old widow who kept telling about the Saviour to people living in her time, little Rhoda, the one who shared the good news of an answered prayer to the group of believers who were praying in particular for the deliverance of Peter from the jail, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of  James and Joses, Salome and Joanna who shared the good news of his resurrection to his disciples. Taking into consideration the great hosts of women who down the lane in the history of the church have worked hard to proclaim the gospel, I have always imagined heaven to be a place filled with a mighty throng of women!

In India there have been a multitude of Bible women and Zenana missionaries (The Zenana missionaries in the past were women missionaries from other countries, who went to Indian women in their own homes and did personal evangelism) who have toiled hard to sow the gospel in our hard soil. Not many of them have found their place in the records of the Indian church history. In our present days, the number of women who proclaim God’s word has sharply increased. Therefore, it is high time that we start documenting the lives of this mighty throng of women. They could be missionaries, evangelists, pastors, preachers, Bible-teachers or women in any profession who took/take time to proclaim the Word. Come, let us start writing and telling about these unsung heroines to the world. Writing about them helps to inspire the future generation to follow the legacy of giving the gospel by all means and fighting all odds.  If we have been inspired by the lives of Pandita Ramabai, Ida Scudder, Amy Carmichael, Mother Teresa, let us take time to write about the many other women (not necessarily need to be women who have established mega-establishments like the ones I have mentioned) who worked/are working in our Indian soil. If you happen to know any/some/many of them (could be an individual working on their own or under any organization), please send details of these women to nmsofindia@gmail.com and mark a copy to graceidarajan@gmail.com. You can opt to send it by postal mail to: Women’s Auxiliary, National Missionary Society of India, 126, Peter’s Road, Royappettah, Chennai– 600 014, Tamil Nadu, India. And last but not the least, let us continue to announce the Word of God with all our might and be a part of the mighty throng of women!

“The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng.” (Psalm 68:11)