In 1902, Janie Chapman became the first South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union president, and she served for 22 years. She was said to be disciplined with inner strength and a gentle spirit. She glorified the Lord in her work.
Jess Archer
The Janie Chapman Offering for State Missions was started and continues to be the driving force for missions happening throughout our state. Over 2,000 churches affiliate with the South Carolina Baptist Convention and cooperate in missions giving, missions discipleship, and missions support through the Start, Strong, Share, Send and Serve teams.
Every year, the Janie Chapman State Missions Offering helps South Carolina Baptists reach their lost neighbors, plant churches, send missionaries, serve communities in crisis, and much more.
How does the Janie Chapman Offering for State Missions make a difference?
- Strong Team — They help churches develop a strong disciple-making culture inside the church walls.
- Serve Team — They help churches find ways to serve their communities.
- Share Team — They encourage South Carolina Baptists to share with the more than 3.6 million people who remain unengaged in a local church.
- Send Team — Every church employs an Acts 1:8 mission strategy, sending workers and making disciples in our state, country, and worldwide.
- Start Team — They start churches. Church planting is essential to the mission of God in South Carolina.
(Screenshot from WMU website)
Two statistics recently shared by the Start team are that just over 80 percent of South Carolina residents are not connected to any gospel-centered church. That means 4 out of 5 people are not hearing the gospel. Also, the population of South Carolina has increased by 1 million since 2005, and the population is currently 5.3 million.
Our South Carolina WMU leads in missions discipleship and enrichment throughout the state by continually equipping our churches to send workers out and to serve alongside our state, national, and international missionaries as they take the gospel of Christ to people of all nations, tribes, and languages.
“And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation’ ” (Mark 16:15).
This year, we have set a goal of $2.1 million, and it will take our entire family of churches working together to reach this goal.
For more resources, visit https://www.scwmu.org/jcofocus.
— Jess Archer is executive director of the South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union.