WMU

Southwestern Association WMU

What do you think of when the word "missions" is mentioned? Africa?China? Homeless? Starving people? Missionaries? Offerings? Prayer?

Ralph Winter of the US Center for World Missions said, "The future of the world hinges on what we make of the word missions".

Missions began in the heart of God. Jesus fulfilled God's purposes by becoming Servant, Priest, King and Redeemer. He called people to fulfill God's purposes and authorized them to go and proclaim. Read Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus is our supreme authority in missions. But God did not stop in giving His own Son. He sent the Holy Spirit to inspire, motivate, and empower His believers to go to the uttermost parts of the earth with the good news of salvation. Missions is the work of the triune God. Even in all of the greatness of God, the authority and empowerment rests upon the shoulders of Christians today through the indwelling of the Holy Spirt.

If you ar not a part of WMU, you can be. You say, "I don't have time for another meeting, or I can't come for this reason or that." You can pray, can't you? Prayer is the most important thing we can do. A missionary told this story: She said, "My 4 year old grandson asked, "What do you do if you are a missionary?" The missionary replied, "I tell people about Jesus." The grandson said, "Well I know how to do that, too". Would this not be a different world if everyone who knows how to "do that too" would do it?

Perhaps you think of Woman's Missionary Union as only attending a metting. WMU is so much than that! The bottom line of WMU is missions involvement. Whether you choose to participate in a study group and pray for missions individually, the purpose of WMU is to help women, girls, and preschoolers find a way to learn about missions, pray for missionaries and their work and to give to mission causes. We do this in our association by being involved in Snacks and Tracts for the Colleges, providing items requested by the Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM), by preparing personal hygiene kits for the Seaman's Center at Burns Harbor, giving person hygiene items and other necessities to the Children's orphangage and more. When we hear a need, we do all we can to supply what ever is requested or needed. The Association WMU meets quarterly to hear mission speakers, and get updates about our missionaries and pray for missionaries who have birthdays that day and encourage each other to use the Prayer Patterns. (Prayer patterns list the names of missionaries, career and retired, on their birthdays, and the areas they are serving. Prayer patters is in the Missions Mosaic, the magazine for Women on Mission.)

Missions should be the activity of God's people, the church, to proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom of God to the world.

There is a WMU organization for you!

WMU supports the following organizations through age-appropriate magazines and/or products:

. Women on Mission—for women 18 and up

. Adults on Mission—for men and women 18 and up

. Acteens—for girls grades 7-12

. Youth on Mission—for boys and girls grades 7-12

. Girls in Action-for girls grades 1-6

. Children in Action—for boys and girls grades 1-6

. Mission Friends—for preschool girls and boys birth

through kindergarten

Southwestern WMU Leadership Team is available to help you begin any of these organizations.