WMU: The Issues
by T. C. Pinckney Vol. VI, No. 3, April 1993
BACKGROUND
The Woman's Missionary Union was organized in 1888 and is the only "auxiliary" of the Southern Baptist Convention. The WMU has served Southern Baptists well by praying for missions, encouraging missionary involvement, studying missions, and fostering giving to Southern Baptist missions. Though the WMU does not collect the funds, its sponsors the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for foreign missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for home missions.
As an auxiliary, the WMU differs structurally from all other SBC entities (such as the Foreign Mission Board, the Home Mission Board, the Sunday School board, the six seminaries, the Brotherhood Commission, and the Christian Life Commission) in that its board is not elected at the annual June convention of the SBC. Instead, its board is selected separately according to its own governing documents. Thus the WMU is not accountable to Southern Baptist Convention messengers, as are all other SBC entities, but only to its own independent board.
Financial support for the WMU comes from a variety of sources. For example, in 1991 WMU received $703,094 from the Foreign and Home Mission Boards of the SBC; $12,869,579 from periodical subscriptions, sale of literature and supplies, and investment income; $174,442 from "other income," cafeteria & catering, conferences, and royalties; and lastly $56,191 from restricted contributions. (Of course all this income was not "profit," for the periodicals and other literature, supplies, food services, and conferences all entailed sizable production costs.) In addition, WMU receives funding from state Cooperative Program funds; the 1993 Baptist General Association of Virginia budget includes $455,000 for the WMU.
WMU is perhaps best known for its sponsorship of the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong mission offerings and for its missions education efforts via local WMU chapters being active in Acteens, Baptist Women, and similar organizations. It should be noted that collections for Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong do not flow through WMU but rather are sent from the local church to the state association which aggregates them and sends them on to the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville which in turn forwards the funds to the Foreign and Home Mission Boards.
CURRENT SITUATION
In early 1992 the WMU had revised its program statement and submitted it to the SBC Executive Committee (EC) for the EC's recommendation to the Convention in June 1992. It was pointed out by EC members that there was little or no reference in the proposed version to the SBC. Thus the PURPOSE statement read, "Woman's Missionary Union's purpose is to assist churches in developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy of missions in order that a church can fulfill its total mission in the world." EC members took exception to having no reference to the Southern Baptist Convention in WMU's PURPOSE statement and very few references elsewhere in the document. The WMU leaders present protested that no change of relationship was intended and agreed to the insertion of "Southern Baptist" preceding the word "churches" in the purpose statement and one other place in the document. As so supplemented, the new program statement was approved by the EC and recommended favorably to the Convention in June 1992, where it was approved.
On 10 January 1993 the Executive board of WMU adopted the following plan for the future consisting of a vision statement, eight core values, and six recommendations:
VISION STATEMENT
The Woman's Missionary Union exists to enable churches and believers to participate in introducing all persons in the world to Christ. In fulfilling this mandate:
CORE VALUES
• We affirm and uphold the "priesthood of the believer," while accepting the responsibilities and privileges inherent therein.
• We acknowledge God's call to every believer to carry the good news of Jesus Christ to all the world.
• We embrace the privilege and responsibility of prayer for missionaries and mission needs.
• We recognize, emphasize, and affirm the giftedness of women and girls in Christian endeavors.
• We acknowledge the biblical mandate to respond to social and moral issues with actions as modeled by Jesus Christ and with a message of His redemptive plan.
• We acknowledge and accept the responsibility for developing missions leaders.
• We covenant to partner with Christians around the world, as individually and corporately we multiply each other's efforts to lead a lost world to Christ.
• We pledge to provide diverse, flexible organizational models through which persons may participate in the global missions effort.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Honoring the perspective of history, recognizing the practicality of the present, and committing to the expansion of missions into the future, Woman's Missionary Union affirms the support of Southern Baptist global missions through prayer, the Cooperative Program, the Lottie Moon Offering for foreign missions, and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for home missions.
We also affirm the right of individuals, churches, and state conventions to choose other plans for cooperative missions giving. Further, we affirm the missionaries and pledge to strengthen our support of them.
In response to change in our world and our desire to be a visionary force in global missions, we recommend that Woman's Missionary Union:
– Recommit ourselves to missions, the reason we exist, and relate to others who share our commitment.
– Support Southern Baptist groups involved in missions through prayer and the production of resources, at their request.
– Provide prayer support and produce resources for Southern Baptist groups involved in missions, at their request.
– Produce and market generic missions education resources for other evangelical groups.
– Promote and facilitate effective volunteerism in response to missions needs.
– Identify one social issue each year for specific intervention through national projects.
– Accept contributions to be used for WMU and related missions needs.
QUESTIONS
It is this WMU-adopted plan which has provoked many questions from many Southern Baptists, including trustees of the Foreign Mission Board and Executive Committee. Before looking at some comments about the plan, let's review it to see the kinds of questions it raises.
In the Vision Statement, note that there is no mention of the Southern Baptist Convention. Instead, it says WMU "exists to enable churches..." The omission raised eyebrows and questions. A very few words inserted could have avoided all the discussion. For example, the WMU leadership could have written, "Woman's Missionary Union exists to enable the Southern Baptist Convention through its churches and believers ...", an addition of only six words.
Throughout the eight core values the words "Southern Baptist" do not appear. The eighth core value is particularly pregnant with possible problems: "We pledge to provide diverse, flexible organizational models through which persons may participate in the global missions effort." Just what does that mean?
On 13 January 1993 the WMU sent "An Open Letter to Southern Baptists." To this letter were attached the plan we have been reviewing as well as explanatory paragraphs after each core value and recommendation. Unfortunately the four brief supplementary paragraphs following core value eight do not really answer the obvious question. They refer to "changing complexities and diverse dynamics" that call for "organizational models for women," but that seems only to raise more questions. These paragraphs also mention "implement(ing) creative channels for involving persons," which again stimulates questions, not answers. Also included are the phrases "custom-designed" missions education, "increased participation in missions opportunities," and "strategies designed to involve individuals in meeting global missions needs." Do these words suggest the WMU national leadership intends to create its own missions endeavors independent and duplicative of the Foreign Mission Board? One really cannot tell from the document, but if that is not what is implied, what does the WMU mean?
Now let's turn to the six "approved recommendations." The first introductory paragraph of this section seems reassuring, for it states, "Woman's Missionary Union affirms the support of Southern Baptist global missions through prayer, the Cooperative Program, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions, and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for Home Missions." Support for Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong is reassuring. But though the rest of the sentence sounds good, one cannot be certain what WMU leaders have in mind. Even affirming missions support through the Cooperative Program is open to interpretation. At least it is here in Virginia, where the state has adopted the "World Missions 3 "budget track, under which no money at all goes to the Southern Baptist Convention from any church contributing through that track. Yet the state still considers that church as participating in the Cooperative Program. Strange things can be done when one begins to redefine words!
Or take "Southern Baptist global missions." Unobjectionable at first blush. But when one stops to think that the "stealth denomination," the CBF, consistently refers to its missions program as "global missions," and that CBF maintains it is Southern Baptist, one has to wonder. It would have been easy for WMU to have precluded such speculation by a slight change in wording. They could simply have affirmed "the support of SBC Foreign and Home Mission Board worldwide missions..."
The following one-sentence paragraph strongly tends to confirm suspicions earlier WMU wording has aroused, for it reads, "We also affirm the right of individuals, churches, and state conventions to choose other plans for cooperative giving." From the Southern Baptist Convention perspective there is only one format of cooperative missions giving, and that is the SBC Cooperative Program. One is forced to ask, why would WMU endorse the choice of "other plans for cooperative missions giving"? And what other plans are there except the CBF budget?
The second WMU recommendation reads, "Provide prayer support and produce resources for Southern Baptist groups involved in missions, at their request." The phrase "Southern Baptist groups" appears to be code for the CBF. And it ties in with affirming the right "to choose other plans for cooperative missions giving" just discussed.
The fourth recommendation is, "Promote and facilitate effective volunteerism in response to missions needs." The last sentence in the explanatory paragraph reads, "We will continue to work with the Home Mission Board, Foreign Mission Board, and Brotherhood Commission while exploring additional avenues of ministry and missions." This is a case of the right hand giving while the left hand takes away. The first part of the sentence is fine, but "while exploring additional avenues" clearly states (clarity at last!) that WMU no longer plans to relate only to Southern Baptist Convention mission agencies but rather will be seeking other, additional avenues.
The fifth recommendation regarding having an annual WMU social project would seem to thrust WMU into the responsibilities assigned by the Southern Baptist Convention to the Christian Life Commission.
The sixth recommendation is disingenuous at best. Here WMU leaders say, in effect, "Now we are not soliciting funds. BUT if you contribute funds we are going to accept ‘greater responsibility for the visionary use of these contributions.'” Really!
CHAPMAN STATEMENT
Dr. Morris Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the SBC Executive Committee, released the following statement:
"Historically, the WMU's whole purpose for existence has been to serve as an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention. By definition, an auxiliary has no program of its own. The WMU has existed to support SBC programs.
"When an organization gets a program of its own, it ceases to be an auxiliary. It becomes its own entity and has its own programs.
"When the leadership of the WMU says that they will ‘promote and facilitate volunteerism,' does this mean they will support volunteers of the SBC Home and Foreign Mission Boards? Or will they have their own mission program?
"When they adopt a social project each year, will it be an SBC project or their own project?
"When they accept contributions, will these funds be channeled for SBC missions programs or for their own programs and for programs of other organizations?
"If the WMU is, in fact, saying they no longer exist exclusively to support SBC programs, that is a choice made by them, not by the SBC. We have no choice but to relate to their choice. Apparently, they have chosen a course apart from the traditional auxiliary relationship which has served well for 104 years.
"I had expressed hope to the WMU leadership that nothing would change in the organizational relationship between the SBC and the WMU. I am saddened by this turn of events, and I am hoping to get a clarification from the WMU that we might begin to look at the decisions which we are now facing as a convention."
OTHER VIEWS
[Associated Baptist Press (ABP) is the press agency set up by moderates to compete with the SBC's Baptist Press. The following quotations are from an ABP release on this subject. Considering the source, readers will know that these views are not skewed by conservative bias. They are how moderates and liberals view the WMU action.]
"The plan represents one of the most dramatic changes in the history of the WMU, which until now has related almost exclusively to the Southern Baptist Convention's two official mission-sending agencies. Under the new directives, WMU will support the missions programs of other Southern Baptist groups such as the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, forge relationships with evangelical missions organizations outside the SBC, become more involved in direct missions, and become active in social issues.... WMU's new openness may offer little immediate help to the Fellowship, however. O'Brien said the Fellowship is still too small to warrant production of tailored resource materials, so WMU's proposed generic resources will have to do for now. 'We have to be realistic about where they are,' O'Brien told reporters. ‘And the six recommendations would not allow the WMU to raise money for the Fellowship or promote its new missions offering,’ she said. Although that could be reconsidered later, she said, too many WMU members object to the idea now to make it wise. 'The offering is a very volatile issue.' Despite these limitations, Fellowship moderator Pat Ayres of Austin, Texas, called the WMU decision good news. 'With their spirit of being open to finding ways to cooperate, we now can begin to talk specifically,' she said. Ayres confirmed that the Fellowship has not asked the WMU to promote its offering. 'We felt like they needed to open the door to work with us (first). And who knows how that will work?'... ‘We are interpreting the (term) ‘SBC' as Southern Baptist churches, not the agencies,' O'Brien told reporters. ‘From that perspective, it is our responsibility to be auxiliary to Southern Baptist churches, and that's what we are going to do.' "
[The following statements are from a variety of sources as indicated.]
Tennessee WMU executive director, Katherine Bryan: "We have always worked with every group that asked us. If the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship wants us to assist them by providing materials to help them with promotions, we will do so – we are all Southern Baptists." Nashville Banner, 11 February 1993.
Virginia Caughman, South Carolina WMU president: "I would not be in favor of raising funds for any missions organization other than those supported by the Southern Baptist Convention." Baptist Courier, 21 January 1993.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. editorialized that "Alma Hunt, the respected former WMU executive director, wrote just a few years ago that "WMU has never been promoted as auxiliary to the local church. I know that some have had that idea, but it has never been in the official plans." She cited James L. Sullivan, a noted student of Baptist polity, who commented, "It is understandable how they (WMU) could be in an auxiliary relationship to district associations, state conventions, and the Southern Baptist Convention. But can anything be auxiliary to the local church?" The Christian Index, 11 February 1993.
CONCLUSION
There you have it, gentle reader. From their own statement. From quotes of the WMU national leaders. From the judgments of Associated Baptist Press. From the words of the moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. WMU is clearly leaving the SBC as fast as its leaders deem advisable, and they have set their cap for a new relationship, a new course. They won't sponsor the CBF mission offering "now," since too many faithful WMU ladies in local churches would not stand for it; it would not be "wise." But that "could be reconsidered later." And WMU also seems to be moving to conduct its own programs. Clearly WMU can no longer be considered an SBC auxiliary in fact, though for the time being it remains one in the documents.
One last thing everyone should keep in mind. These changes were not desired or initiated by Southern Baptist Convention leaders. The changes are entirely the work of WMU national leadership. It is sad to see a working relationship that has served all concerned so well for so long, and which has made so many positive contributions to Foreign and Home Mission Board work begin to crumble, but that is where WMU leadership has brought us.