This March, we celebrate Women’s History Month. It’s a time to recognize and honor the contributions, achievements, and influence of women throughout history and today. For International Ministries and our partnering churches, it is the perfect time to highlight the numerous women who have answered the call to global service.

Women in mission serve a vital role, and the backgrounds and situations from which they come are diverse and unique. At IM, we have global servants who are mothers raising their own families while serving, wife and husband teams, and individual women serving across the globe. This year, we share the stories of three women who answered God’s call in vastly different ways, but who are making an impact in God’s kingdom.

Jeni Pedzinski felt the stirring of God’s call when she was just 11 years old. Jeni and her family were very active in an American Baptist church. Her mother was on the mission board, and in 1996, they attended the week-long World Mission Conference as part of their family vacation. Jeni shared how impactful it was to meet the global servants in person.

 “I remember meeting one in particular, Peter Beckwith, who was serving in Japan for IM. Being the precocious 11-year-old that I was, I decided I would interview him. At the end of the week, that same global servant met me at the back of Pillsbury Hall and pressed a Japanese coin into my hand. He asked me to hold on to it and encouraged me to be attentive to if God would call me to the mission field.”

Jeni still has that coin and is grateful that one man had the patience to talk with her, a child, for ten minutes. “It changed my life and pointed me toward missions, my career and my life’s passion.”

A bit of time passed before she was able to go on her first mission trip. But Jeni took Peter’s advice to be attentive to God’s voice and was ready when the time came to step into that calling.

Ruthie Márquez Castro serves with IM as a mission resident and is in the early stages of answering her call during this two-year program. Growing up, she heard the testimonies of many global servants. God used that in a mighty way to place a desire in her heart for missions from a young age. 

“It wasn’t until my youth that I began to understand more clearly the calling God was placing on my life. I had a deep passion to serve Him, and I knew He was calling me, even though I did not yet fully understand how or where. Jeremiah 29:11 was a passage that, for many years, God used to affirm and encourage me to keep walking in trust and obedience as I responded to the calling He had placed on my life.”

Carmella Jones’ call to mission is quite a bit different. She felt her call while happily working in her career as a nurse—a call to service in its own way! Carmella became the director of the Holy Cross Faith Community Nurse Program in Washington, D.C., working with churches to develop health ministries. While on a mission trip in 2003 to Guyana, South America, she sensed her call to mission. However, Carmella wrestled with God about it for quite a while.

“When I came home from South America, I went to seminary. But it was almost a way to avoid the mission field. I thought if I was going to seminary, doing ministry with the hospital, and going out to churches, that would cover it. But no, that wasn’t what God was asking.”

While she was in South America, Carmella saw such great need for basic healthcare. She was there with a medical/dental team and saw people walking for miles to be seen. “People would ask me, ‘Can you pray with me? Will you pray with me?’ They didn’t know what was wrong with them, but believed God could help them. Their willingness to ask for prayer, and the freedom I had to pray for them, spoke to my heart. I felt God saying, short-term isn’t what I’m calling you to. I’m calling you to make a long-term impact. And that happens with long-term investment.”

Carmella laughs a little as she shares and looks back now—she didn’t like that answer at the time! It would be 10 years before she would step fully into that call, and it came through the encouragement of a pastor. He recognized the sense of call to mission Carmella had and also acknowledged her fears. He suggested she attend IM’s Hear the Call weekend, and Carmella did, for two years in a row. The second time, she went in with a heart open and surrendered to whatever God asked of her. 

Although every global servant has a unique call, some challenges are unique to being a woman in global service. Both Jeni and Carmella shared that at times throughout their lives and in ministry, they have been told they could not do what God had gifted them to do because they are women. 

While serving in Thailand, Jeni was part of a church that did not support women in leadership. As a single female, she felt unnecessarily uncomfortable being shepherded by only male elders and saw that other women might feel this way too. Jeni decided to share her experience mentoring young women with the pastor. After meeting with the elders, the church allowed her to use her gifts to shepherd the younger single women in the congregation. She wasn’t given a title, nor did she feel the need to be recognized in that way, but she shared, “Shepherding those women was one of the most fulfilling experiences I had overseas.” 

Carmella had a similar experience when she was called to serve in Hungary and Liberia. She had looked forward to bringing together her nursing experience and her theological education from seminary. Using her medical skills, she worked in a pediatric hospice unit, caring for children who had a life-limiting diagnosis. “I really saw the Scriptures come alive. God takes care of the most vulnerable, the abandoned, and I saw God make every provision for children.”

However, when it came to teaching and ministering, not every church in Hungary or Liberia supports women clergy. Carmella shared that the community and people were wonderful, but navigating that cultural difference was difficult. Yet, through the challenge, she grew. “I learned things about the culture, and things about myself, that I wouldn’t have otherwise. As a nurse and in my other leadership roles, I was used to being someone who would jump in and direct others. In this cultural context, I couldn’t do that. I learned to be at peace with not being in control.”

For Ruthie, one of the greatest challenges so far has been discerning if her call truly came from God. Even though she didn’t have many answers about her future in mission, she learned to hold firmly to God. People questioned the call along the way, but “I chose to allow Him alone to direct my steps,” she shared, “trusting that His ways were better than mine.” This has helped her develop deep trust and dependence on God, learning to discern what He wanted compared to the other “attractive” options that came along.

Each of the women shared the importance of mentors who walked with them as they discerned their call or as they grew as leaders. Carmella’s spiritual grandmother was a constant rock and example of mission from the time that Carmella came to the Lord as a teenager. Abilene Hinton was an ordained clergywoman and would take Carmella with her as she visited those who were sick. At 81, Abilene went to the mission field, serving as the house mother for an orphanage in Haiti. When Carmella went to visit her before she left, Abilene prayed a blessing over her. “She had made many spiritual investments in me since I was 13. It was a very special moment.”

Ruthie draws wisdom and encouragement from reading about women in the Bible who left remarkable legacies and played a key role in the advancement of the gospel. She knows God still calls women to do this today. Just as others have helped Ruthie walk in the purpose God has given her, she has also had the opportunity to disciple other women. “It has been a true joy and part of the process God uses to shape me into His image and remind me that, just as He transformed my life, He can and desires to do the same in theirs.”

At the end of 2022, Jeni accepted the role of IM’s Mission Engagement Director. From serving as a global servant in Thailand to where God has her now, she shared that she has learned much from the women around her: “Women like former global servant Karen Smith, IM’s CEO, Rev. Dr. Sharon Koh, and the director of New Life Center, where I worked in Thailand, Tiemchan Kamonklapachon, each of them, and many others, show me every day what humble confidence in Christ looks like.”

In her role, Jeni offers pastoral care and counseling to people who are discerning their call to global service. From the application process to preparation and fundraising, she can use her experiences and skills to help others follow the call of God on their lives, just as she did many years ago. To any women feeling God’s move in their life, she says this: “Beloved sisters, there is no greater fulfillment than walking closely with God. Don’t be afraid to follow wherever God takes you!”

Echoing that same sentiment, Carmella agrees: “Hold your heart open to where the assignment would take you. And always remember that the people group you are going to serve will get the messenger with the ministry. So it’s important that you tend to your soul.”

Whether you are young, in your second career, or even retired, God could be calling you to global service. “At almost 32 years old, I can testify that there is nothing better than putting God first,” Ruthie encouraged. “Allow your story to serve as a testimony so that others may come to know Him.”

This month, we encourage you to share these stories, and the many others, of women who have answered God’s call to global mission. Not only does it honor the women and their legacies, but it may encourage others who have felt that stirring from the Lord. Just like Peter did with Jeni, take time to share because we never know when God is going to use us to influence the direction of a person’s life.

Would you like to learn more about discerning your call or IM’s new mission residency program? There are a few ways to do that! Visit https://internationalministries.org/long-term-mission-service/ or email Jeni at missionmobilization@internationalministries.org.  

You can also attend this year’s World Mission Conference in July and choose the ‘Discernment Track.’ It gives you extra opportunities to meet with global servants, ask questions, and spend intentional time exploring where God might be leading you.