Denise Godwin of International Media Ministries says honoring women is something Christianity has done for thousands of years. “The early Church was known in their time as being people who affirmed and took care of women. In some early church research we were doing, a source was saying they believe Christianity went from a handful of people in Rome to millions of people in Constantine’s time not because it was the official religion, but because of the principles of protecting women.”

Godwin paints a picture of what this looked like. “In the pagan community, people married their daughters off at 12 years old. The Christians had a standard that their daughters didn’t marry until they were 20 years old. The Christians also had a standard that children were born and raised, regardless of sex. Because it was okay in the Roman Empire to set the girl babies by the side of the road.”

IMM’s Women of the Bible series

IMM creates videos telling stories from the Bible and church history. A recent project highlights women in the ancestral line of Jesus.

Godwin lists four women the project has covered. “Women like Ruth, who was a refugee fleeing famine. Rahab, who was in a civil war situation. [We covered] Tamar, in danger of an honor killing. And Bathsheba was just caught in a tug of war and abuse of power. These stories are telling people all over the world that they’re valuable in the eyes of God.”

You can check out the video series and learn more about IMM’s ministry here.

The header photo comes courtesy of International Media Ministries.

Today, women are voiceless in many of the Middle East’s Muslim-dominated countries. “Life for women in the Middle East is so different than it is for us here in the West,” says JoAnn Doyle, co-founder of Uncharted Ministries.

“Often, they are not permitted to speak; or if they do speak, they have to be so careful that they don’t bring shame on anyone in their family or their community,” she continues, explaining the prevailing honor-shame culture.

“They are cloaked with this ‘veil’; they’re forced to hide their feelings so that they don’t bring harm on themselves.”

Doyle leads Not Forgotten, a division of Uncharted Ministries. They partner with believers in the Middle East who help women know God and follow Jesus. In a new book she co-authored with her husband, JoAnn describes how women find a new voice and value through Christ.

Once God sets a Muslim woman free, she becomes an unstoppable force for God. Women Who Risk takes readers into the intimacy of Muslim homes in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, and other hot spots to see the drama of Christ at work.
(Photo, caption courtesy Thomas Nelson)

“In the Middle East, I’ve seen so many women that learned quickly they don’t have value. Then they meet Jesus and, for the first time in their life, feel love and acceptance,” she says.

“They’re like a dry sponge soaking up water, wanting to embrace what God has created for them. He created us to have value.”

On International Women’s Day, gift your favorite women with inspiration. Click here to order Women Who Risk: Secret Agents for Jesus in the Muslim World for a friend or loved one.

“Right now, we are choosing to honor women, which is a beautiful thing. But when we look at Scripture, God has honored women from creation. He created men and women equal in His image,” Doyle observes.

“If we want to know how women are honored, jump into the Word of God.”

Header image depicts women in Iran. (Photo courtesy of Majid Korang beheshti/Unsplash)

More about International Women’s Day here.

(Photo courtesy of Women of Hope)

Despite progress in key areas, one-third of all women and girls worldwide suffer gender-based violence.  Peggy Banks heads up Trans World Radio’s Women of Hope program, which helps women find their place in God’s story.

“We are encouraging them to see themselves from God’s perspective, to see that they have a purpose and a plan,” Banks says.

“We have teams on the ground in 125 different countries that connect with these listeners, do Bible studies. We do events… we have prayer groups. There are many ways that we touch and connect the lives of women, ultimately having them come to know Jesus.”

More than a radio program

The Lord led Banks from working in local churches to the helm of Women of Hope’s ministry in 2016. “My passion is biblical counseling, so God opened up this door to really bring hope and Jesus to women around the world and across generations,” Banks says.

As described here, Women of Hope educates, encourages, and equips women to pray, listen, learn, grow, and give through media, small group interaction, and leadership development.

This year, Banks and her team want to help even more women find freedom and meaning in Christ.

(Photo courtesy of Women of Hope)

“We hope to enhance our content, enhance presence on social media, maybe translate more languages so that women in other countries – especially closed countries – can hear a message of hope about a God who loves them,” she explains.

Give to support Women of Hope’s work.

As an example, Banks describes the story of a young Farsi listener who wrote to Women of Hope staff. This young woman grew up in a Muslim home and “didn’t attend school because [her parents] didn’t believe that girls needed to attend school. So, she never had the opportunity to learn how to read and write,” Banks says.

This listener, and others like her, learn who God is through Women of Hope’s 30-minute radio broadcasts. The program also provides practical life lessons like “how to live with depression, how to live your identity, how to love your husband if you’re married, how to feed your children if you’re a mom, how to grow a garden.

“She says, ‘through your programs I’ve understood more about God’s love for me’.”

Listen to Women of Hope broadcasts.

Next steps

(Screenshot)

If you live in the San Diego area, you can meet Peggy in-person tomorrow.  As described on Instagram, the program begins at 5 pm. “We have an audio program called ‘Hidden Treasures’ that’s created specifically for women and men who are rescued from human trafficking,” Banks says.

Learn more about the ‘Hidden Treasures’ program.

“Right now, we have it translated into 12 different languages and we have more languages that are needed, [including] Mandarin, Chinese, Vietnamese. When you donate…that helps us translate those programs into languages in countries where anti-trafficking organizations are working.”

No matter where you live, please surround this ministry in prayer.  Use the prompts listed alongside this article as a starting point.  To pray year-round, consider joining the Women of Hope email list here.

Header image courtesy of Women of Hope.

“[Women] may be in household, not out in the marketplace, and we’re looking for unique ways that we can connect with them,” she says. However, through Global Disciples’ ministry, these women are becoming easier to reach. Global Disciples is an organization that mobilizes local churches among the least reached people groups all over the world. Their programs help churches thrive and multiply.

Reach the women, reach a community

(Photo courtesy of Global Disciples)

“We have facilitators who work for Global Disciples in their own countries, and those facilitators partner with the program directors that lead church programs throughout more than 57 countries,” Nagle explains. “Those program directors work inside their church to do trainings.”

These trainings include programs in discipleship, small business development, and leadership. This proven approach enables local churches to flourish and grow. The discipleship training in particular helps equip congregation members to effectively share the Gospel with their family, friends, and community.  “Many of those trainings will include the ladies [in the] church,” Nagle says.

She explains this is key to reaching other women in the community. “What we’re hearing more and more is women ministering to women is the perfect outreach strategy for them. Whether they’re ministering in the homes of family members, going to visit relatives, or in some cases domestic workers who are living in households, they’re being effective in reaching the people right inside their four walls.”

Creative collaboration

The collaborative aspect of the trainings encourages the women in them to think critically about how they can best reach people in their own lives. “These ladies have gotten creative,” Nagle says. “[They] are finding new ways to begin conversations with each other. Last week, we got a notification [about] a group of young women all meeting together for their training, looking at how they could engage in their neighborhood and encourage their families as well.”

(Photo courtesy of Global Disciples)

Most importantly, the women who attend these trainings learn how to articulate the transformative message of salvation and through faith in Jesus.  “As these ladies go through the training, they’re learning strategies of multiplication and discipleship, and they’re taking those strategies into the household,” Nagle explains.

“[They’re] sharing the importance of the Good News of Jesus and intimacy with the Father, the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer, and what the Word can mean. In many of these cases, they’re introducing [the Gospel] to women who never have had the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus before.”

Why the message connects

Nagle explains the Gospel message connects with many women because of the hope it offers. “Those messages of healing and forgiveness and love are powerful messages for many of these women who live in areas that are struggling to understand how they can be truly loved and accepted for who they are.”

Another important facet of Global Disciples’ ministry is an initiative called Graceful Women of Global. “We look at it as the possibility of connecting women to women, and in our case resourcing generous women to pray, share, and give to reach the world’s least reached,” Nagle says.

To support the Graceful Women of Global initiative, Nagle encourages readers to pray for their sisters in Christ around the world, visit the website to give financially, and read the stories Global Disciples features online about the amazing work God is doing through these women.

Headline photo courtesy Global Disciples https://bhphoto.pl/IS/sri_lanka_380.jpg

One way you can observe International Women’s Day is to come alongside ministries like Trans World Radio who are working to bring healing and lift up women who are hurting all over the world.

Trans World Radio (TWR) empowers women and girls through their “Women of Hope” radio programs and prayer groups. These efforts are touching the lives of hundreds of thousands of women around the world.

“We continue to hear stories from our listeners about ways our radio program, Women of Hope, is touching their lives,” TWR’s Dr. Peggy Banks says. “Not only the radio program, but we have a prayer movement that has more than 65-thousand intercessors praying through our prayer calendar in more than four thousand prayer groups globally.”

Healing through Prayer

One of these incredible stories of hope and healing took place in Zanzibar where Banks recently went.

Zanzibar is about 99 percent Muslim, but Banks met a Christian family who had started a Church in their Muslim village several years ago and was helping to strengthen others in their community.

Banks started speaking with the pastor’s wife, her daughter, Elizabeth, and several other women who were part of their TWR prayer group.

“Elizabeth started to tell us her story,” Banks shares. “Her story is one that is pretty amazing what God has done because when she was 15, she was gang-raped by a group of Muslim boys in that village, beaten very badly, and left, really, to die out there. She was filled with anger, of course, and shame, and didn’t want to tell her pastor father and her mother what had happened– until she found out that she was pregnant.”

(Photo courtesy of TWR)

Elizabeth then told her mother what had happened and her mother brought her into the TWR Women of Hope prayer group.

“The women started praying with her, started praying over her. They started praying through the prayer calendar. They were seeking God for wisdom on what to do. They were afraid too that she was pregnant with this child from these Muslim boys.”

Through this prayer and the support of these women, Elizabeth began to find healing and hope in God. She eventually gave her life to Christ, “and knew that God had a plan for her and this child was going to be a gift.”

Banks had the privilege to meet Elizabeth’s four-year-old daughter, Grace, who is being taught about Jesus so she will one day love and know Him as her Savior, too.

Seeing how Elizabeth has been influenced, Banks knows just how much prayer groups are touching the lives of women around the world.

Helping Women become Spiritual Leaders

“The impact that our prayer groups, first of all, are doing where women are seeking God together,” she says. “They’re seeking prayer warriors when situations happen in their families. They’re helping each other. They’re walking alongside each other during these difficult times.”

These prayer groups have led women, including Elizabeth, to also begin listening groups, where they tune into TWR’s Women of Hope radio programs. These programs are broadcasted more than 500 hours each week and cover physical issues, such as being pregnant, loving their husbands, and even how to grow a garden. Most importantly, the programs share about Jesus, His goodness, love, and mercy.

These programs further encourage women to reach out to their communities and share about Jesus.

“A prayer group will turn into a listening group, and now they’re listening to programs of hope, and … then a radio home group,” Banks says. “They start to look outside of their group and say, ‘How can we help our community?’… They become a group that then reaches out to their community and starts more prayer groups, which turn into listening groups, which turn into community groups.”

Act with TWR

(Photo courtesy of TWR via Facebook)

TWR is excited to embolden women around the world to act as leaders in sharing the Word of God with their communities. They invite you to help women like Elizabeth to heal through a relationship with Jesus.

You can join or start a prayer group in your Church and pray for women around the globe.

“It helps us to remember that there are others in other parts of the world that are going through things that sometimes we can’t even identify with.” Your prayer will support women and girls and help them grow in their walk with God.

You can also support TWR financially to help broadcast messages of the Lord’s hope to women who desperately need it.

International Women’s Day is about celebrating women’s achievements. Let’s celebrate the achievement of mobilizing hope and healing through Jesus in the lives of women everywhere.

If you stick to the urban areas, you’ll likely think there’s not much to complain about for women there. John Sparks of India Partners says in some of the most prestigious career fields — computer science and electrical engineering, there’s almost an equal ratio of men and women represented. Women living in the city are also much more likely to be educated. Catalyst.org says 80 percent of women in urban areas are literate.

(Photo courtesy of India Partners)

But Sparks says if you step outside the busy cities, you’re going to experience a totally different reality.

“The biggest difference is probably urban and rural, in that the women in urban and rural in the areas of education and job opportunity are very different,” he says.

In the urban setting, he explains, even the most impoverished girls usually get some sort of education. Those who are in better financial standing seek good quality education for their girls.

Sparks explains, “The rural environment is very different. The girl child is relegated to doing household chores and often times will drop out of school at a young age because she needs to care for her siblings or help around the home and doing things like gardening, caring for animals, and household chores.”

About 70 percent of India’s population finds themselves in rural areas. That means, the largest portion of women in India are missing out on education and job training. There are a few reasons this is a problem outside the obvious fact that education enriches life.

(Photo courtesy of India Partners)

First of all, when women face widowhood, which they often do in rural India, the options for livelihood are between bad and worse. As we’ve discussed on prior occasions with India Partners, many women find themselves working as day laborers, leaving their young children to fend for themselves. Other women enter the degrading work of prostitution, just to feed their families.

The second problem: the lack of opportunity for women goes hand-in-hand with (and perhaps even contributes to) the general degradation of women by society.

“Sorrowfully, one of the things that happens in almost any society is when they live in poverty, you’re having money troubles, the anger gets taken out on the woman.

“And figures show that 70-80 percent of all married women in India suffer some sort of physical abuse on a regular basis. And I read a report sometime back that said 46 percent of all Indian women believe that it’s okay for their husband to beat them if it’s for a good cause,” Sparks says.

Challenging a mindset

What this reveals is that not only do some men tend to view women as the lesser being, but women sometimes believe it also. Sparks says it’s an attitude that may have something to do with religion, but is mostly cultural.

“The religions of India — and there are many — the religions of India have a tendency towards minimizing the role and the value of women. But at the same time, sorrowfully, Christians also get indoctrinated by the predominant culture and think in some of the same ways,” he explains.

So the question is, how do we challenge this misconstrued attitude towards women? Sparks explains a process of affirmation, dedication, and intentionality.

Stepping into lives

One of the best ways to affect change in India is to participate in child sponsorship.

(Photo courtesy of India Partners)

“If you sponsor a girl-child, the goal is to raise this woman up so she can be a woman who is productive in society and who demonstrates the love of Jesus Christ. And so, those things go hand-in-hand. You really develop the value of a woman when you sponsor them, you help them realize that somebody sees them as a person of value.”

Sparks own wife is a testament to the effectiveness of child sponsorship. She grew up in India. She said her sponsor changed her life. Today, she serves in a leadership role in the Church. She has two masters degrees. But best of all, her life has been transformed by the power of the Gospel.

But what about women who have already grown up, believing the lie that they have no value?

India Partners works with widows specifically who have no family to take care of them. This sponsorship program helps provide for their basic needs when all others have abandoned them. You see, widows in India often carry a stigma. Families will often cast out these women, believing them to be cursed.

Another program India Partners runs is their tailoring schools. Here, women who have no education and no work experience can embark upon a valuable profession. At the end of each term, they receive a sewing machine to begin their new career.

(Photo courtesy of India Partners)

One of the recently opened schools is geared specifically towards women with HIV/AIDS. According to the CIA World Factbook, India is the third worst country for this disease. The fact that these women have the disease, Sparks explains, is just one more indicator of how women are valued in India. The women at the school were monogamous, loving wives. They contracted the disease from their husbands. Most only learned they had the disease when their husbands died. So, they became widows and received an early death sentence all in one day.

The school gives them a chance to earn an income for their family, claim their dignity, and even learn about how much Jesus values them.

When a woman, whether they are widowed or otherwise in dire straits, can earn an income, it takes the pressure off to just survive. They can speak to the needs of their family and provide an education for their children. In a way, Sparks says, this income can become a source of protection.

“So, it’s overcoming these things, helping women to understand they’re meant to be loved and appreciated, not to be beaten. Then also, it’s to step into lives, women that are in extreme poverty, and especially widowed women. The ability to have some sort of income helps out in the household a lot.”

So, how can you help?

Consider child sponsorship. Click here for more information.

You can also empower women by buying them a sewing machine. Click here to do that.

Sparks says you can also pray — pray for the Church in India and the pastors serving there. He says the Church is the beginning of transformation.

Pray for the ladies in the tailoring schools. They are coming from a variety of religious backgrounds. Ask God not only to transform their ability to earn an income, but to open their hearts to the Gospel.

(Photo courtesy The Jesus Film Project)

International (MNN) — Believe it or not, laundry soap can be a wonderful gift for a woman.

It’s an issue of human dignity for the millions of families on the run from the ISIS onslaught. In the months that followed, there has been little in the way of hygiene products available, or the ability for the displaced to wash their family’s clothes. Nobody likes to stink, but there might be no choice when you are essentially homeless for months on end, trapped in the No Man’s Land of refugee red tape and a new home.

(Photo courtesy The JESUS Film Project)

In fact, Women for JESUS, an arm of The JESUS Film Project, provided a free laundromat for the refugee community in one area. The hearts of these displaced women may indeed become open to the love of Christ as they do their laundry each week while interacting with local believers and watching Magdalena, a film created BY women and FOR women on the life of Jesus Christ.

In honor of women everywhere, celebrate International Women’s Day, March 8, by buying a bag and giving a bag. When you purchase a wristlet bag containing the movie Magdalena for yourself or a friend, a new laundry bag displaying the word HOPE in Arabic that contains laundry detergent and a copy of Magdalena will be sent to a women refugee on your behalf.

(Photo courtesy The Jesus Film Project)

God has not forgotten these women, and together we can help spread that good news by sharing hope, one heart to another. (Click here if you’d like to help.)

*This fair trade bamboo wristlet bag is handcrafted in Vientiane, Laos. Here at Phontong, a handicraft cooperative, craftswomen intersperse weaving with housework and childcare. Phongong provides lessons and free raw materials to artisans along with artisan help in wood carving, basket weaving, silk production, and cattle raising.

(Photo courtesy Women for JESUS)

International (MNN) — March 8 is a day set aside to recognize the achievements of women, and to be inspired by their gifts and impact in the world.

The United Nations reports International Women’s Day started in the early 1900s in North America and across Europe due to labor movements. Over more the past 100 years, it has been chiseling and working away for women’s equality rights.

International Women’s Day is not just about several countries, clearly. It’s not about the smaller paychecks, either. It’s about helping women throughout the world realize their potential of becoming more than they could ever dream, and recognizing how far they’ve come already.

The Women for Jesus ministry, a branch of The JESUS Film Project, is using the day as a way for women to start fresh and new, by giving them the Gospel.

They have partnered with Better Life Bags to create a custom handbag stuffed with JESUS Film products. Women for Jesus is inviting women across the globe to purchase bags and send them to illiterate women and children. Not only would women and children receive custom handbags, but they’d also receive the gift of life.

Every woman deserves to have a voice and a chance to hear the Word of God. This International Women’s Day, help make that happen by clicking here.

(Image courtesy Mission India)

India (MNN) — Born out of a U.S. socialist movement in 1909, International Women’s Day has become a global platform for the recognition of women and women’s rights. What began as a strike for safe working conditions and the right to vote has become an annual demand for equality in all aspects of life.

That demand is quickly stifled by India’s paternalistic culture. In the world’s largest democracy, to be male is a blessing; females are a curse to the family. Sam*, an in-country ministry leader working with Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India, is surrounded daily by this mindset.

“I was born and brought up in a village where women were treated as sub-standard human beings,” he says. “Parents really don’t want a girl child to be in their family, simply because a girl child [is] a liability.”

Sam grew up seeing women that had skills to work but were denied access to the opportunity. His mother had attended school through the 8th grade and wanted to work for the government.

“The government offered her some employment, but my dad wasn’t for [didn’t want] women to work,” he recalls.

The tide is gradually shifting in India’s urban areas and cities, Sam says. But in rural villages–the areas Mission India serves by partnering with local churches, change is much slower.

“In India today, 176 million rural women are functionally illiterate,” Sam explains. “They cannot read or write, so they feel that there is nothing they can really contribute to the home or to the village or community.

Women find new dignity and purpose when they learn how to read and write.
(Image courtesy Mission India)

“But when literacy comes into [the] picture, they’re not only able to read [and] write, but [they] also go through a kind of awareness: ‘We are not nobody, we are somebody.'”

Mission India’s Adult Literacy Program helps men and women break free from the chains of illiteracy. During year-long classes, students achieve a 5th-grade level of reading and writing.

“They’re learning [their] rights, they’re into the community, and they’re into the decision-making. They’re able to get some extra bucks by raising their economic situations. Even their own children are giving more respect to these mothers,” Sam adds.

For perhaps the first time in their lives, women learn they were created with purpose and value through Bible-based lessons. Their instructors tell them about salvation through Jesus Christ.

“They realize that there’s a vacuum, and they realize that they need a Savior in their life,” explains Sam.

“In India, a lot of people struggle to come out of sin. They find there is no single solution. But as they go through the books, they find [an] answer for their life.”

A special matching campaign called “She Counts” is helping more women enroll in Mission India’s literacy program. Through midnight tomorrow, all gifts to the program will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

Click here to bless 1,470 people in India with the gift of literacy.

Food for the Hungry is taking the opportunity to empower marginalized women around the world this International Women's Day. It is through donations from people all around the world that women like Bibi feel heard.

Bibi is a member of the Kol ethnic group. The Kol are a minority language group who are excluded from opportunities in Bangladeshi society. The fact that her community is excluded makes it hard for Bibi to find work to support her family.

This is where FH came into her life. FH began to work with the Kol community, teaching them skills such as reading, healthcare practices, and their legal rights. Bibi and her husband joined in these lessons.

While working with FH, Bibi took out a small loan from them to purchase a cow. Food for the Hungry provided Bibi with the ability to get a loan without having to work with loan-sharks in the community.

The cow she purchased provides three liters of milk every day. She uses this for her family as well as for income.

There are many similar stories about how donations from people around the world have made life better for marginalized women. To help impoverished women around the world with Food for the Hungry, click here.

Pray that more women and families will see the Lord working through FH. Ask God to provide funds for programs like the one Bibi was involved with. Pray that anyone involved with FH will see God working through them.