Work of the Associational WMU

The purpose of the associational WMU is to assist the churches within the association and to lead the association itself to be committed to and involved in missions, locally and globally. The associational WMU has four ways to do this:

• assist the churches and the association in nurturing a missions environment;
• involve the churches and the association in missions
• strengthen WMU work in the churches
• begin WMU work in churches without WMU

• Assist the Churches and the Association in Nurturing a Missions Environment

A missions environment involves an understanding of the biblical concepts of missions, an awareness of the large number of people who are without faith in Christ, and an acceptance of the responsibility that Christians have for ministering to the needs of people and sharing the gospel. Nurturing a missions environment means helping the churches and the association understand their responsibility for sharing the gospel locally and globally.
     Jesus says in Luke 19:10 (NRSV), “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” That was His mission statement; it is the mission statement for all followers of Christ. In Matthew 28:18–20 (NRSV), Jesus gives us our specific mission statement: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” He asks us to go next door, to the next town, to the next county, across the state, and around the world.
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• Involve the Churches and the Association in Missions

Involving the churches and the association in missions means to engage believers in sharing the gospel with unbelievers and in meeting the needs of hurting people, locally, within the state, nationally, and around the world. Missions involvement includes ministry, witnessing, partnership missions projects, volunteer mission service, prayer and financial support of missionaries and their work, and ministering to missionaries and their families.
     Again, Jesus is our example: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people” (Matt. 4:23 NRSV). Churches and associations need to be involved in teaching, preaching, and healing the “diseases” of our world.
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• Strengthen WMU Work in the Churches

Strengthening WMU work in churches means improving the quality of WMU work being done, increasing the number of WMU age-level classes and/or groups or churchwide opportunities for missions awareness and involvement, and increasing the number of people involved in WMU.
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• Begin WMU work in churches without WMU

Each church has the responsibility of equipping its members to be on mission. The best way to do this, of course, is by providing consistent missions awareness and involvement through Woman’s Missionary Union. WMU in the association can assist churches without WMU to provide missions awareness and involvement opportunities for their members through age-level organizations and/or churchwide approaches. WMU can expect the associational Missions Development council to assist in this effort.
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