Dover Woman's Missionary Union Council

You and WMU – Focus on WMU 

“The future lies all before us … shall it only be a slight advance upon what we usually do? Ought it not to be a bound, a leap forward, to altitudes of endeavor and success undreamed of before?” ~ Annie Armstrong, first corresponding secretary of WMU 

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The Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) has a very rich and impactful history.  Since 1888, women have joined together under the banner of WMU to serve Christ in whatever way they could.  They initiated programs to teach children and adults about missionaries and the importance of supporting them with prayer, action, and donations.  Led by God, they started several compassion missions that members also support through prayer, giving, and going.  

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Over the years WMU has tackled the challenges in our world.  They have focused on poverty, human trafficking, mental illness--all areas where there are hurting and lost people.  These are the people Jesus reached out to during his time on earth. These are the people who desperately need the hope of the Good News.  

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WMU offers a structured mission discipleship program to children pre-school through teens and on into adulthood.  Programs offered for children are Mission Friends, Girls in Action/Royal Ambassadors (for boys)/Children in Action, and Acteens (girls)/Challengers (boys)/Youth on Mission.  For adults there is Women on Mission/Adults on Mission (coed).  For younger women (18-34) there is the MyMISSION option.  There are resources for families to work together with their children to promote mission discipleship.  They have resources for churchwide missions. 

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All of this you can easily find in a web search on WMU.  What a web search can’t tell you is how you can be a part of this organization.  For that you have to search yourself, ask other members of WMU, and pray about it.  Your church may no longer have an active WMU organization, but you can reach out to the Dover WMU Council to find out more or get support to start a group at your church.  We are there for you. 

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Being a part of a larger organization gives you the encouragement you may need to further the vision God has given you regarding missions. It is so easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of a mission project, that we often forget why we are doing it.  Being a part of WMU helps to keep the focus on the why and not necessarily the how. 

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In Luke 8:1-3, we find the following verses.  They are sandwiched between Jesus forgiving the sinful woman and the parable of the sower.  This placement is not coincidence. (I look at these verses as the actual start of WMU.) 

Women Who Followed Jesus 

8 Soon afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. (From the New Living Translation) 

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Just like the women of 1888 who used their egg money and managed their household budgets to support missionaries, these women provided for Jesus and his disciples with their own wealth.  But they didn’t just finance them, they followed Jesus wherever He went.  Let us be like these women of the past.  Let us not just give our offerings but let us follow Him.  Let WMU help you along your journey.  Let us leap into the future together.