With the two Southern Baptist Convention mission boards cutting back support for Woman’s Missionary Union, I thought it would be helpful to highlight some history that many of us are not old enough to remember – but ought to appreciate.
Tony CartledgeIf it were not for WMU, we might have no mission boards.
The boards would certainly not be as strong as they are today.
Neither would the SBC.
All of this is ironic, given that WMU has experienced opposition from the beginning. Late 19th century male leaders of the SBC and several state conventions sought to keep women in their place by actively opposing the formation of WMU. They didn’t want the competition, and feared that women might be emboldened to approach the pulpit or speak in public.
A heated debate erupted when two Arkansas women showed up as authorized delegates to the SBC’s 1885 meeting in Augusta and the convention refused to seat them.
State Baptist papers quoted J.B. Hawthorne, one of the SBC’s most prominent pastors and orators, as saying the convention “loves the women but dreads them more.” Hawthorne predicted that if women were allowed to serve as messengers, they’d want to run for office, and “the women would get all the offices.
“It is all wrong,” he said. “We are not prepared for such a revolution.”
But the revolution came. Despite antagonism from men, Christ-loving women who were passionate about missions firmed up their organization in 1888. They eventually won the right to be seated as SBC messengers, though Hawthorne’s fear that they would get (or even desire) all the offices never materialized.
What did materialize was an unprecedented force for promoting and supporting missions, and just in the nick of time.
In 1895, the Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board) was in debt and on the cusp of recalling its missionaries. Before doing so, secretary Isaac Taylor Tichenor asked WMU if the women could raise $5,000 above their usual gifts. The women agreed to take a special offering in January, while practicing self-denial and prayer. They surpassed the $5,000 goal, and the “Week of Prayer and Self-Denial” became an annual event. It was later called a “thank offering,” and in 1934 was renamed for Annie Armstrong, WMU’s first corresponding secretary and pioneer crusader for mission efforts in North America.
WMU came to the HMB’s rescue again in 1928, when long-term embezzlements by the board’s treasurer were uncovered and the HMB was crushed by a $2 million debt to go with its sullied reputation.
Once again, the women stepped forward. WMU executive director Kathleen Mallory led an effort to raise additional funds, with all of it being expressly designated for the support of missionaries. The ingenious decision to restrict the gifts enabled the HMB to continue doing missions work while fending off its creditors. That alone, perhaps, enabled the HMB to survive the Great Depression years, when WMU contributions provided sole support for the missions enterprise while Cooperative Program and other SBC funds serviced the crippling debt, which was not retired until 1944.
During those years, WMU provided the lioness’ share of funds received by the HMB, as much as 91 percent in 1931, 86 percent in 1932, and 79 percent in 1933.
While saving the HMB from drowning in debt, WMU also kept the FMB afloat. In 1927, the SBC’s Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) was deeply in debt, partly because the treasurer had embezzled $103,772 – equivalent to more than a million of today’s dollars.
The FMB announced that it would have to start calling missionaries home. WMU responded by designating $48,000 of its next Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for the return of 40 missionaries to the field. From that point and through the dark years of the depression, WMU provided the majority of funds received by the FMB. In 1931, WMU provided 70 percent of all FMB revenue, and in 1933, 76 percent.
Something to remember: In those days, WMU giving emphases were not church-wide events; the idea of the entire church participating in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering did not gain traction until the late 1950s. WMU issued a statement in 1956 inviting broader participation in the week of prayer and the offerings, and in 1964 a program of whole-church involvement was formalized.
Prior to that, money for the mission offerings came almost entirely from the women. During those early years, WMU not only provided most of the funds, but had major input into deciding how the money would be spent. Over time, WMU phased out of any decision-making role with the mission boards, but has continued to raise funds with heartfelt commitment and amazing success: more than $2.5 billion for international missions, and more than $1 billion for North American missions.
Both mission boards continue to receive appreciably more income from the WMU-sponsored offerings than from the Cooperative Program.
WMU has proven itself indispensable to the missions enterprise.