As baby boomers grow older, and women continue to outlive their husbands, the Christian church will soon be faced with the needs of the largest widowed population since Social Security’s inception. Andy Mendonsa, the founder of Widows Harvest Ministries, addresses this abject neglect of widows by the church in “Spiritual Widowhood.”
The book’s chief aim is to present what Mendonsa believes to be a Scripturally-based litmus test for determining the condition of the church based on truly worshiping God in “spirit and in truth,” the way Scripture prescribes and Jesus modeled.
“At this point in my life/walk, I have a deep concern for the future leadership of the church, Christ’s bride,” said Mendonsa. “Current church leadership has done almost nothing to prepare future leaders to care for widows in general, much less their own widowed wives when they are left behind.”
The book is not solely based on his 25 years of research and study of James 1:27, which directly calls us to better serve widows. Serving with Widows Harvest Ministries—which Mendonsa helped found in 1987 to assist low-income Chattanooga widows with home repairs—also helped him gain an understanding of their care in the context of worship.
“I realized God was telling me to start a ministry for widows, and that he was showing me the need for all churches to specifically serve widows,” said Mendonsa. “Widows need a place to both serve and receive help from church members.”
Since its founding in 1987, the ministry has seen 30 years of promoting and providing prayer group opportunities for widows, helping them with home repair and lawn care needs, and helping widows realize their new identity in God’s eyes, in terms of their own value, worth, and purpose in the church.
“The goal is that the widows will no longer be invisible,” Mendonsa remarked. “This will only happen when the church begins to comply with the mandate in James 1:27 for ‘visiting the widow and the fatherless in their distress.’ When widows truly know they are not forgotten, the church will begin to resemble the bride that God desires her to be.”
“Spiritual Widowhood”
By Andy Mendonsa
ISBN: 978-1-51276-844-2 (softcover); 978-1-51276-845-9 (hardcover); 978-1-51276-843-5 (e-book)
Available at the Westbow Press website and Amazon
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