The RP International Conference last summer provided me with a veritable banquet of food to nourish my faith and spiritual life. One of the many blessings for me was the women’s luncheon organized by the Synodical board of the Women’s Missionary Fellowship (WMF). Listening to the beautifully told, deeply challenging story of Rosaria Butterfield’s journey to faith in Jesus Christ left me profoundly moved. I was grateful to the Synodical officers for planning such a special event.

I did not make it to a later meeting for anyone who wanted to talk about the WMF as an organization, but I appreciated the leadership’s seeing a need for such a discussion. I came home thinking about who we are as the WMF, knowing that these questions are being considered by our presbyterial and Synodical officers.

I am a member of my home congregation’s WMF. I truly look forward to the meetings, as I have in the past when I was a part of other Reformed Presbyterian congregations. For me, the fellowship that is centered on the devotional time of Bible study and prayer is very meaningful. I appreciate the way the other women seem to find the business side of the meeting meaningful as well. I love being with the godly women in the groups I have participated in. I find the W and F of WMF very clear.

The part I am not as clear about is the M in WMF. Is it to enable us to be missionaries in our own neighborhoods and nation? Is that “missionary” aspect of WMF to make us aware of social and moral issues in our communities so we can become activists in prayer and deed? Is it to make us knowledgeable and fervent prayer supporters of missionaries in the field? Is it to inspire us to go as missionaries to different places or to encourage our children to become missionaries? How do we put all these different emphases together in a meaningful way? Is there not more we can do or be?

I learned something at RP International that I had not known about the origin of the Women’s Missionary Society, as WMF was originally called. The WMS was formed to help raise financial support for single women missionaries.

In the past, there were quite a few single women missionaries sent out by the RPCNA to China, Syria, and Cyprus. In 1949 when the Communist revolution forced the missionaries to leave South China, there were seven single women missionaries in that field. For the societies scattered about North America in RP congregations, the thought that they could help in providing salaries for these women who had answered God’s call must have had a great impact on the way the WMS members saw their role.

How does our participation in the WMF today help us to fulfill our vision of missions?

As I pondered some of these questions, I decided to interview a person who was one of the single women missionaries who used to receive support from the donations of the WMS—Mrs. Orlena Lynn Boyle. Retiring from active service under the Foreign Mission Board in 1991, Mrs. Boyle was the last of the career single women missionaries remaining from the period when the WMS supported them. It also marked the end of her single life, as she married Sam Boyle, a widower living in Kansas, in 1992. Part of their common bond was their years of shared work on the mission field.

Over lunch at a restaurant, I began by asking Mrs. Boyle about her background of faith that led to her going out as a missionary. She told me she couldn’t remember ever not believing in Jesus and the Bible, growing up in the home of an elder in the Chicago RP Church. Her parents often hosted missionaries on furlough, so she developed an interest in missions from childhood. Her full commitment to the Lord came later, however.

After graduating in mathematics from Indiana University, Orlena worked at the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago and was in a serious relationship with a young man in the military. Therefore, when a letter came from the Home Missions Board asking her to join some China missionaries who were using their extended furlough due to World War II to do missionary work in Kentucky, Orlena declined. But shortly afterwards, as she waited in her piano teacher’s studio for her lesson, God convicted her that He had made her and Christ had redeemed her, so how could she say no to Him? The verse came into her mind, “You are not your own. You were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

Quitting her job, Orlena joined Miss Mary Adams, Miss Rose Huston, and Miss Lillian McCracken in the Kentucky Mission. They taught 92 one-hour Bible lessons each week in about 80 schools, living a simple life with an outhouse and no running water. As the youngest, Orlena carried the water from the neighbors’ well and drove the Model A Ford through the dirt roads and sticky mud. It was a big change from life in downtown Chicago, but Orlena learned useful lessons for later experiences. She struggled with her decision about her planned marriage.

By 1946, Orlena had made her decision: She agreed to go to China. Since language schools in China were not yet functioning, Orlena was sent to New York City to study Chinese and train at Biblical Seminary. In two years, she earned an M.A. in religious education, taking courses on teaching the Bible and leading Bible studies.

In 1949, Orlena Lynn finally went to China. While continuing language study, she served as the mission treasurer. This included keeping the books for the mission-run orphanage, hospital, and schools, made more difficult by hyperinflation.

By August 1949, the RP missionaries moved from Canton and went to Hong Kong because of the Communist Revolution. Miss Adams, Miss Huston, and the Boyle family left for Japan in 1950. Six months later, Miss Lynn and Miss Ella Margaret Stewart were the last to leave, after closing out the RP mission affairs. They sailed from Hong Kong for the USA.

The ship stopped in Japan and Orlena got a three-day shore pass. Having prepared to work with the Chinese and already having learned three thousand Chinese characters, Orlena did not think it was practical to change her focus to Japan; so she had chosen not to join the new work team. Before the ship pulled into Kobe port, though, Orlena got on her knees, telling the Lord she would do His will. On her first day, her sense that the Lord wanted her to stay in Japan was confirmed by the fact that she managed to get a personal interview with General Douglas MacArthur, who authorized an official permit allowing her to stay. It took 15 minutes. Her three-day shore pass turned into 40 years.

My next questions were about what Mrs. Boyle (at that time known to everyone as Lynn-sensei) actually did during her 40 years as a missionary in Japan. Her main assignment in Japan was as the director of the Covenanter Bookroom in downtown Kobe. She saw her job as more than running a business, though it was a business, and running it by biblical standards was one way to witness to the Lord. It was also a means of making Christian literature available for pastors and laypeople and served as an outreach to non-Christians who dropped in either out of curiosity or in search of answers. Orlena and her staff had many chances to witness to people who read Bible verses displayed in the window and came in with heartaches or problems. The bookstore also served as a meeting place for prayer meetings and English Bible classes.

One of the main outreach tools used by missionaries in Japan was teaching English. Orlena taught English Bible classes throughout her 40 years in Japan, at the bookstore, at Higashisuma Church, and occasionally for companies, including a group of shipping engineers and a trading company.

In the first years in Kobe, officials from the department of education for the city approached Orlena, asking her to teach English at a school in exchange for pay. She made a counterproposal: She would teach English without pay, one hour each per week, if they would allow her to teach an additional hour of English Bible. The officials agreed and sent her to Tobimatsu Junior High School, just across from present-day Higashisuma Church. Lynn-sensei taught three groups of 50 students every week: one hour of regular English and one hour of English Bible classes.

Mrs. Boyle’s story includes much more than can fit into one article. Even though I have known her since my childhood, I learned many things during our conversation. Beyond the fascinating story of how God used the life of someone who gave herself to Him, I think there is much food for thought for all of us who believe that the Great Commission applies to all of us, and there is much food for thought as we think about the goals and purpose of the WMF. I’ve summarized some of it below and will let this summary serve as both a conclusion and perhaps food for your own thought:

—The role of Orlena’s parents in providing a positive view of missions.

—The role of Scripture in bringing Orlena to a place of commitment.

—Orlena’s willingness to submit to the Lord at crucial junctures.

—The careful preparation through training in language and Bible teaching.

—The Lord’s use of Orlena’s natural ability with numbers, and other gifts He had given her.

—The missionaries’ creative ways of getting out the message, such as passing out tracts in Japanese before they themselves knew the language.

—The ability of Orlena and the other missionaries to find ways to make opportunities to present the gospel: the work in Kentucky when they could not get into China; teaching English classes in order to be able to teach Bible.

—The overarching sense of purpose that shaped everything else: to bring the gospel message to those who had not heard it.