I want to say thank you to Kentucky Baptists for your faithful giving to missions. In WMU we are advocates for all of the missions giving channels: Cooperative Program, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, Eliza Broadus Offering, Global Hunger Relief, Disaster Relief, Sunrise Children’s Services, Oneida Baptist Institute, and more.

Luke 8:1-3 tells about a group of women who were in the larger band of disciples that followed Jesus during his earthly ministry. Of them it says, “These women were helping to support them out of their own means.” I like to think of these women as the first WMU group because they supported the work of Jesus financially. That is how WMU got started and it is still a core strength of our work. Raising money for missions is a vital service to the Kingdom that WMU provides.

In another passage about women, Paul wrote about the care of widows. In what he said about widows who were deserving of the care of the church, there is a list that we must not miss. “No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds” (1 Timothy 5:9-10 NIV).

The women were to be well known for good works. Such a reputation is still needed today and is my prayer for WMU. In WMU we all need to be part of bringing up the children of the church, sharing the plan of salvation and teaching missions. Showing hospitality should be a natural expression of our faith. Washing feet today may look more like caring for missionaries and church planters, providing whatever is needed. Helping the afflicted happens through our ministries to people in need. And devoting ourselves to good works is basically doing whatever needs to be done. In WMU we do not have to have a lot of recognition, position or titles—we just serve.

Can you do missions without WMU? Sure you can. But by encouraging the work of an organization with a track record of over 125 years of raising money and doing whatever needs to be done, the results will be amazing.

EBO is at work as Kentucky WMU helps churches learn, pray, give, go and send.

Joy Bolton is executive director-treasurer of Kentucky Woman�s Missionary Union, P.O. Box 436569, Louisville, KY 40253; (502) 489-3534; kywmu.org