WMU speakers say abiding in Christ brings abundant hope
NEW ORLEANS (BP)—Abiding in Christ brings abundant hope, Woman’s Missionary Union leaders said at the 2023 WMU Missions Celebration and annual meeting.
Held June 11-12 at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary campus, this year’s theme was “Hope in Christ,” based on Romans 12:12.
Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer of national WMU, presented examples of what happens when God’s faithful abide in Christ.
“June saw something in a young woman who was fearful in speaking with others. June taught her to lean in and depend on the Lord. And for the past 35 years, Beth has taught WMU workshops and written articles and mentored others,” said Wisdom-Martin, former executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas.
She also described 91-year-old Barbara, who lives in an assisted living facility. Barbara’s husband has dementia, and every afternoon while he naps, she makes bookmarks and sends them to missionaries she reads about in WMU materials.
Wisdom-Martin also described Lydia, who shared her Christian witness with others and called young people in Uganda to sexual purity, even as she died of AIDS.
As a result, Wisdom-Martin said, “Uganda’s president witnessed the impact on the youth and credited the program for the nation’s 66 percent reduction in HIV. … The course of an entire nation changed because a Christ-follower abided in Christ.
“When people abide in Christ, other lives are transformed. If you want others to experience abundant hope, then you need to abide in Christ.”
During a business session at the annual meeting, WMU reelected Connie Dixon of First Baptist Church in Elida, N.M. as president, and Shirley McDonald of Greens Creek Baptist Church in Dublin as recording secretary.
Hope isn’t found in “finances, degrees, abilities or things that don’t really count,” Dixon said. “We must put our hope in Christ and in Christ alone.”
The WMU had hope 135 years ago when the organization formed, Dixon said. Since its beginnings, the missions-supporting organization has raised more than $7.2 billion to reach the world for Christ, she noted.
“Be as bold as our foremothers,” she said. “We need to study their experiences and methods … and apply Christ to the needs of the world.”
Take time to listen to God
Kay Bennett, recently retired North American Mission Board Send Relief missionary, told the assembly, “Abiding in Christ will make you look good.”
Bennett told about her 35 years of ministry service to trafficked, unhoused and addicted individuals at the Baptist Friendship House and the Brantley Center in New Orleans.
Admitting she could do nothing without God, Bennett stressed the importance of having a “sanctuary” where people can hear from God.
Those listening times have informed her entire ministry and have had ripple effects, she said, pointing to when a church group came to the Friendship House in 2021 and were trained how to recognize human trafficking.
The team returned on another trip to New Orleans and were doing ministry at a local laundromat when a girl ran to the bathroom. The team feared she was being trafficked and called the Friendship House.
Bennett later learned another trafficker had shot and killed her trafficker the night before. As Bennett and the young teenager exited the building, the team lined up for her like a sports team, putting on full display their abundant hope in Christ.
“That church was abiding in Christ, or they wouldn’t have recognized or helped the trafficked victim,” Bennett said.
New identity in Christ
Natalie Nation, who has served the past two years as an International Mission Board journeyman and is transitioning into a career appointment, described how God gave her abundant hope as a young woman and competitive swimmer in college in Hawaii.
Nation injured her back and had to stop swimming, which caused her to feel a loss of identity, she said. She took notice of the peace and joy her Christian friends experienced and soon connected with them and with Jesus.
After three years of ministering in Hawaii, Nation accepted a call to Tokyo, Japan, home to 39 million people, less than 1 percent of whom are Christians. Nation described the overwhelming hopelessness and darkness and trains crammed with people who do not know God. She related how she started praying for the people on the crowded trains, picturing each of them worshipping around God’s throne in their Japanese language.
“God has brought many people into my life that I can share my story of hope. … [It’s been] a journey with a lot of tears and laughter and really good Japanese food,” Nation said.
Stories of hope shared
This year’s celebration featured testimonies about hope from former WMU officers paired on stage with this year’s teen Acteens panelists.
Liz Encinia, executive director-treasurer of Kentucky WMU, talked about the hope she has found in Christ, despite the depression she is prone to face.
“Having an abundance,” which she defined as “more than you need,” seems too good to be true, she said. “Brokenness causes a chasm in this understanding … but we know Jesus, and he is our living hope, and his hope is eternal.”
Linda Cooper, national WMU president emerita and current Kentucky WMU president, shared how God provided hope through her education and career as a dental hygienist and how she uses her practice to share hope with her patients. She felt a call to missions, ultimately becoming involved in WMU leadership on the state and national levels.
Dorothy Sample, national WMU president emerita from Flint, Mich., said she “has been on the road for a long time” and has seen God’s faithfulness over and over. Abundant hope, she says, is having a mindset of focusing on the positive …even when things seem impossible. It means “relaxing in God and trusting in him to make things happen.”
A recent tornado in Little Rock, Ark., showed Kaye Miller the abundant hope of Christ. The tornado left massive damage in the neighborhoods surrounding her church, but the church was untouched, said Miller, national WMU president emerita from Little Rock.
Miller had the opportunity to minister to a young woman who handed over to her a wet, 2-week-old baby. Devastated by the loss of everything in her life, the new mother fell to the ground crying.
Later, after being ministered to, the mom said, “You have shown me what hope looks like.”
Miller urged, “Be that difference-maker that shows others what abundant hope looks like.”
The 2023 National Acteens Panel included Isavela Montanez Ojeda of Freeman Heights Baptist Church in Garland and Hannah Rickman of Retama Park Baptist Church in Kingsville, along with Leslie Almonte of New Jersey, Destiny MacCarthy of Alabama, and Alyssa McMillon of North Carolina.
The young women talked about how their hope in Christ sustained them in the face of health issues, identity crises and family dynamics. Each shared Bible passages that encouraged them in their faith.