Empower Women’s Livelihood

Across the globe, our supporters have given MTW missionaries the chance to work through local churches to help abused, poor, or disenfranchised women find a means of livelihood. But the work is not yet finished.

On the remote island village of Nosy Be, Madagascar, Soa* and her family were desperate. During the slow season, she couldn’t make ends meet through farming alone, and was considering the more lucrative practice of prostitution.

In La Ceiba, Honduras, 15-year-old Claudia, abused by her boyfriend and needing to provide for her new baby, was hopelessly poor and couldn’t find a decent job with just a 6th grade education.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, Ana* was one of dozens of women who lined the highway every night, trapped in the sex trade and forced by her oppressors to sell her body.

Why do we want to help provide jobs for women? Women who are served by MTW churches in poorer parts of the world have economic challenges: less education than men, lack of childcare, and lack of power leading to exploitation, to name a few.

These are challenges in any economy, but in poorer communities they trap a whole family in poverty. In many countries where MTW missionaries work, women especially need a leg up on the economic ladder. In the worst cases they’re oppressed by the wicked and powerful and need rescue and recovery before they can even consider job training.

Thanks to our generous donors, the global churches that MTW works with have been able to give special emphasis to empowering the livelihood of women, which has a trickle-down effect of blessing their communities.

This is the concern that Jesus had for women: think of His tender care for Mary, for widows, prostitutes, and the poor. We, as Christ-followers, are called to do the same. And this kind of outreach leads to open doors, which, by the work of the Spirit, leads to lives changed by the work of Christ.

We have good news: Soa, Claudia, and Ana each encountered a ministry or church connected with MTW and are on paths to better jobs. Even more, they are learning about the hope of the gospel.

Ana was able to find a long-term recovery and reintegration program through MTW’s Daughters of Bulgaria. She’s now learning business skills and aims to start a jewelry business.

Soa makes tea towels, handbags, and artwork in an MTW-sponsored sewing business called Mama Vao Vao (Mother of Something New).

Claudia found refuge at Puerta de Esperanza (Door of Hope), an MTW ministry, then went to beauty school and is working at a salon. Her son was just baptized in a Bible-believing church.

These stories come from just three of many MTW ministries where churches are working to lift women from poverty and oppression by guiding them to better economic opportunity. With the help of past and current donors, women who benefit from these ministries come with tears and leave with hope—hope for the present, and the eternal hope of Christ.

Would you join us and be a part of these church-driven efforts to empower women economically and reach them with the hope of the gospel?

*Names changed for privacy