Q: I am a single mother. Which missions agencies would consider accepting me as a missionary?

This is probably the hardest category of missionary placement. The reason is because of time. When a couple goes overseas with children, the parents both spend time as parents and in ministry. A single mother has to do both. However, we have considered single mothers for a couple of positions in WEC. These were primarily in situations such as a boarding school for missionary children where the education of the child was provided for in the same place where the mother served. Even this was difficult for the mother.

There are other details to be considered. If you have a pre-schooler, then you would be so committed to the care of the child you would have no effective time to serve. Probably no mission would consider you until your children were at least in school. These issues might well make a difference to an agency considering you for service. The more children involved, the more complicated an already difficult situation becomes.

Also, "single mother" means different things to different people. Any agency would want details, and so would people overseas. You will be asked a lot, "Where is your husband?" "Why don't you have a husband?" In some places there will be a lot of men willing to become your husband. In other words you will come under the same pressure as single lady missionaries, and more.

Finally, some missions might consider you for home staff positions at least until they observe how you really are coping.

In my experience with Youth With A Mission there are a few locations that cater for single mothers. In one of the locations we were working at we had a few single mothers come through the Discipleship Training School and the children were cared for by staff on the YWAM centre.

The age of the children can be a factor as well because of the need for schooling. A lot will be dependent on the individual school boards and the YWAM location. Your best bet is to contact the locations and ask what facilities are available for single parents.

I was involved at YWAM Reef to Outback, in Townsville Australia, www.ywamrto.com. You can find other locations on the main YWAM website, www.ywam.org.

Disclaimer: The following answer has not been reviewed or edited.

Hi,

You may be able to find a FEW missions agencies that will accept you to serve as a missionary. Please prepare yourself to answer LOTS of question. Many of these questions will cause you to relive past experiences and hurts. I am of the belief that we should not be forced to constantly explain our past in order to be accepted into service.

I personally believe that a person who has murdered someone and has come to the saving knowledge of Christ is undergoes LESS scrutiny than a divorced or single parent seeking to serve in missions.

I hope that you are able to find an organization that will not limit your ability to serve. If not, please pray and consider serving as an independent missionary with the spiritual support of church members, Christian friends and family members.

There is a new Yahoo group dedicated to provide fellowship and support for Single, Single Parent and divorced persons who serve as or desire to serve as Christian Missionaries. They understand that there are experiences, challenges and victories that are unique to those of us who are divorced and serve or desire to serve in Christian missions.

You can find us here. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SingleParentMissionary

God Bless you!

YWAM has a number of single parents. Look at the book that lists their opportunites http://www.ywam.org/gomanual.html and contact one of their bases.

The primary issue would be a practical one of who would care for the children while the mother is working. The mention of a school was also a good one. We have a woman on our staff whose husband died last year and she wanted to stay on the field, and be with her two young girls. She found a school with kindergarten and pre-school and was able to volunteer there, and they even let both girls be in the same class with her.