We are better together.
Growing up a Southern Baptist, I learned about cooperative missions often. I didn’t necessarily understand what that meant as a young child, but I did know who Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong were, and I’ve always been a member of churches that gave to the Cooperative Program and missions offerings.
I was a Mission Friend, GA (Girls in Action), and an Acteen. I served at the Florida WMU GA/Acteens Camp for 8 summers, I graduated from a Baptist university that received Cooperative Program funds, I was a Journeyman through the International Mission Board, and I completed a master’s degree at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I am a product of the Cooperative Program, and I can look back at my life and see how God has used Southern Baptists and the way we work together to lead me down the path He has for me. We are better together.
It wasn’t until my husband was called to pastor a church in a small town in Northeast Texas in 2010 that I began to fully understand the beauty of cooperative missions, though. This was our first church to serve together as a married couple, and we had a strong desire to lead the people to be on mission in our town and around the world. Through the IMB, we heard about a small church in a town in South Carolina that was sending mission teams to Africa every six weeks. Daniel and I looked at each other and said, “We can do that!” Why in the world would we think that our church in a town of about 1,700 people could do that? Because we were both taught about the Cooperative Program and the truth that we are better together.
We contacted the IMB, they connected us with a church in Little Rock, and we began sending teams to Peru alongside them. Daniel worked with our local Baptist association to bring other churches on board. From 2011 to 2016, our church partnered with 7 other churches to send around 30 teams to villages in the mountains of southern Peru. We moved away 10 years ago, but I’m thankful to say that the association is still sending teams multiple times a year to the mountains of Peru. We are better together.
At the end of March, I had the privilege of leading a team of 9 other women from 6 different churches in Arkansas to Clarkston, GA to serve among refugees. This was Arkansas WMU’s third trip since 2019 to the most diverse square mile, and while there we served with the Refugee Sewing Society, prayer walked multiple apartment complexes, assisted the local Baptist church in cleaning and organizing, and learned from incredible local ministry leaders how to share the hope of Christ with refugees. The goal of our WMU-sponsored mission trips is to expose Arkansas churches to ministries and opportunities outside of our state with the hope that churches will catch the vision and decide to partner with those ministries by sending teams back.
Steve Lasiter, also part of the Missions Team and our National/International Partnership Strategist, just returned yesterday with a team he led to the Dominican Republic. On this team were members from 8 different AR Baptist churches. They were serving together for a week with the hopes of forming partnerships with churches in the Dominican Republic. Many churches in our state and national convention do not have the resources to take mission trips by themselves, but through our cooperative efforts, it becomes possible. We are better together!
So how is your church involved in local, state, national and international missions? Are you wondering how to even get started? Missions University, April 27 (North Little Rock) & 28 (Rogers), would be a great place to start! Anyone on the Missions Team would love to talk with you. We are here to support and encourage you as you seek to make disciples of all nations. In case you haven’t noticed, I believe we are truly better together.