Missionary Wives of Early Twentieth Century Pentecost: Called, Competent, Challenged, and Complement (Rosemarie Daher Kowalski)

Many women felt called to missions after they were baptized in the Holy Spirit in the early 1900s. Many challenges lay ahead on the mission fields for these Pentecostal women. They left the comforts of home to spend a lifetime abroad. Wives joined their husbands to serve as a missionary couple. Single women who entered missionary work sometimes married missionary bachelors or widowers. Outstanding missionary partnerships emerged as couples increased their effectiveness by serving together. Some women died on foreign soil, leaving their husbands and children behind. Others struggled to carry on after their husbands died. This paper examines the call, competency, challenges, and the complementary ministry of six such married missionary women.