How?

Years ago I took a journalism class and learned that all good news stories or publicity pieces answer the questions of who, what, when, where, why and how.

We could look at who, what, when, where, why and how from the perspective of reaching a lost person.  Who - all have sinned.  What - God’s offers forgiveness of sin and eternal life.  Where - the price for our salvation was paid at Calvary.  Why - because God so loved.  How do we receive this gift of salvation - by accepting Christ as Savior.

We can also look at who, what, when, where, why and how from the perspective of God’s call to us to be on mission with Him.  Who - every believer.  What - the Great Commission.  When - every day until Jesus comes again.  Where - all the world, starting at my house.  Why - because God so loved the world and Jesus commanded us to go.  How - that’s what missions is all about, how we carry out this command.

The permanent WMU watchword is “Laborers together with God,” taken from 1 Cor. 3:9. God is on mission and He has not just invited, but commanded us to join Him. You are a part of the how of missions when you pray for lost people by name (do you have a lost list?), when you pray for missionaries and unreached people of the world.

You are a part of missions when you give.  Thank you for giving to our Southern Baptist missions offerings - Lottie, Annie, and Eliza. I want to thank Kentucky Baptists for giving in the 2007-08 offering year because in each offering, Kentucky Baptists gave the largest amounts ever given from our state to these offerings:  
     LMCO: $4,435,031.69
     AAEO: $1,970,430.21
     EBO: $1,105,721.92

Thank you especially for your gifts to the Eliza Broadus Offering.  Through EBO you are a part of so many different ministries across our state, from Baptist Centers, to campgrounds, from college campuses, to crisis pregnancy centers, from English as a Second language classes, to Bible study in sign language.  You are there as you pray and give. Let me encourage you to use our state missions material each year in your church because over time you will learn about many of our state missions ministries.

When we think of the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions, Paul answered the who, what, when, where and why questions in his letter to church at Rome, but then posed a challenging how question that we must still answer today.

In Romans 10:5-15, you will find:
     Who - you, if you confess with your mouth.
     What - you will be saved.
     When - immediately, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
     Where - in your heart your believe and are justified and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
     Why - because there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord blesses all who call on Him

But how, Paul asks, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?

You have probably heard it said that you may be the only Bible some people ever read, the only sermon they ever hear.  So this passage is not just for pastors.  It is for all of us.  And the Lord himself asks the question to all of us, as He did to Isaiah, “Who will go for us?”  

If you want to have beautiful feet, then we must answer as Isaiah did - “Here am I, send me.”   For Paul writes after his series of how questions, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

I want to add another series of how questions to Paul’s list in regard to the children and youth in our churches and communities: How can our children and youth learn to care about a lost world unless someone teaches them? And how can our children and youth develop lifelong habits of missions praying and giving without someone showing them. And how can our children and youth learn ministry skills without someone guiding them? And how will our children and youth begin to go out into a lost world with the good news unless someone leads them?

Much of what WMU does is behind the scenes, may take years to come to fruition, and is often difficult to measure. But we have found one concrete measurement - Cooperative Program and missions offering giving.  This past spring, Steve Heartsill, who serves as the national WMU liaison with the IMB and NAMB wrote about WMU and missions giving in one of his monthly letters to the IMB trustees. In his April 2008 letter, he broke down CP, AAEO, and LMCO giving of churches with WMU and without WMU by size category.  In every size church, from small to large, churches with WMU out gave those without WMU. Depending on the size category, the difference was as much as two to one.  So, the influence of WMU can be measured in dollars.  And those dollar measurements point to that which cannot be measured: the impact of missions education on children and youth, people who respond to the call to pray for missions, and those who do missions because they were challenged by WMU to understand the mission of God and get radically involved.

WMU has great missions education resources for preschoolers, children, youth and adults.  Our staff can help you with training for missions leaders.  We can help you with resources to share the missions challenge in your church. The great thing about these resources is that a leader does not have to dream it up - good, age-appropriate teaching plans are right here in WMU materials.  

Kentucky WMU also has events such as GA JAM; Exalt, our state Acteens conference; summer camps; and our state annual meeting which encourage and inspire people in missions. In 2009 we will have two annual meetings in Kentucky. Our own in March at FBC Richmond, and then in June we are hosting the national WMU meeting at St. Matthews Baptist Church, just prior to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting.  Both sessions are wonderful opportunities to hear missionaries and get new ideas for ministry.  We are proud of our state Baptist Nursing Fellowship chapter that has developed a ministry to pregnant teens called Baby Boot Camp.  The nurses have done such a great job with this, that they will be featured in the January issue of Missons Mosaicand people from around the country are contacting us for information on how to do this ministry.  So there will be a Baby Boot Camp conference during the national WMU meeting.

If your church is small and you wonder how you can do all of this, please know that a church can have churchwide WMU simply by electing a director and doing things like the seasons of prayer, offerings, and ministry projects on a churchwide basis. Whether you have a WMU with all the age-level groups, or simply a churchwide structure,  through WMU, you can present missions to your church in such as way that people begin to hear the Lord saying “Who will go for us?”  And you will be thrilled when people from your church say, “Here am I, send me.”

 0 Comments posted by: Joy Bolton on October 21st, 2008