WMU Organizations History

One of WMU's purposes is to educate about missions. This objective is met through age-level organizations formed in churches and through WMU publications. Historically, as needs arose, WMU formed organizations according to age groups. Magazines published by WMU provided a curriculum for the organizations to follow.

A timeline of WMU missions organizations and publications:

1888	A booklet, "Chips from Many Workshops" instructed women on how to form and organize a women's missionary society.
1896	WMU adopted the Sunbeams, the children's missions organization begun in 1886 by the Foreign Mission Board.
1906	WMU first published Our Mission Fields to provide programs for the women's missionary societies.
1907	Young Woman's Auxiliary (YWA) was begun for young women's missionary societies.
1908	Order of Royal Ambassadors (RAs) was established for boys.
1914	Girls' organization was officially named Girls' Auxiliary (GAs). Royal Service replaced Our Mission Fields.
1922	World Comrades, magazine for RAs, GAs, and Sunbeams, was first published.
1929	Monthly magazine for YWAs, The Window of YWA, began publication.
1946	Ambassador Life was first published for RAs.
1953	Tell, a monthly magazine for GAs was started and Sunbeam Activities, a quarterly for Sunbeam leaders, replaced World Comrades.
1957	RA work was assumed by the Brotherhood Commission.
1955	Nuestra Tarea was first published for Spanish-speaking audience.
1970	Women's Missionary Societies became Baptist Women (BW). Young Woman's Auxiliary became Baptist Young Women (BYW). Girls' Auxiliary was renamed Girls in Action (GA). Sunbeams was renamed Mission Friends. New publications were also produced for these organizations: Contempo for BYW, Accent for Acteens, Discovery for GAs, Aware for GA leaders, Start for Mission Friends leaders, and Dimension was published for WMU officers. Royal Service continued to be the magazine for BW.
1981	Our Missions World, written in Basic English, was first published for the deaf and those whose second language is English.
1995	Missions Mosaic replaced Royal Service and Contempo as Women on Mission replaced Baptist Women. GA World was first published for GAs in grades 5 & 6. (Discovery became the magazine for GAs in grades 1-4.) New coed missions education options introduced: Adults on Mission, Youth on Mission, and Children in Action.
2002	Our Mission World magazine ceased publication.
2003	The Mag replaced Accent as the publication for Acteens, while Acteens Leader was first published for the leaders of Acteens.
2004	Age-level groupings for Girls in Action were changed: Discovery became the magazine for GAs in grades 1-3; GA World became the magazine for GAs in grades 4-6.   Missions Leader replaced Dimension magazine as the magazine for missions leadership in the church.
2007	Children's curriculum materials were redesigned: Discovery was discontinued and GA World became the magazine for both younger and older GAs. GA Leader replaced Aware as the magazine for GA leaders. The Aware Resource Kit and Aware Picture Set were combined into the GA Leader Kit. GA World, GA Leader, and GA Leader Kit are bimonthly publications.   For Children in Action, Children in Action Leader, published bimonthly, replaced Missions Matchfile.