[1]ATLANTA (BP)–Woman’s Missionary Union voted during its June 13-14 annual meeting to include all members of its executive board in votes on matters that come before the agency.
The national WMU executive board includes the presidents of each state or regional convention/fellowship affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Previously, WMU board members from five new-work areas that did not meet SBC membership requirements were not permitted to vote. Affected are board members from Iowa, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Dakota, Montana and the Caribbean.
Section 30 of the SBC bylaws limits initial voting representation to state or regional conventions/fellowships that have a minimum of 15,000 members; 20,000 for representation on the North American Mission Board, International Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources Board; and 25,000 for the Annuity Board, commissions, institutions and standing committees.
“We have always followed the procedures of the SBC,” WMU President Wanda Lee explained to the 1,500-plus people attending the national WMU meeting at Wieuca Road Baptist Church in Atlanta. “We just decided that wasn’t fair.”
WMU national recording secretary Janet Hoffman, of Farmerville, La., chaired the documents review committee that over the course of two years updated the auxiliary’s bylaws. The bylaws were revised to reflect changes in Alabama law, SBC restructuring and WMU management procedures. In addition to expanding the voting privileges, the revisions also established the opportunity for the executive board to have up to three at-large members to represent WMU’s ethnic diversity.
Referring to the expansion of voting rights, Hoffman said in an interview following the vote, “We have valued their input and association and yet they’ve not had the opportunity to vote on matters that affected them. It was a special joy for us to include them.”
Lee said, “We wanted to give every state or multi-state territory one vote. Missions education is important in every state. WMU is working just as hard in the state and regional conventions that have 99 churches as it is in the state conventions that have 3,000 or more churches.”
WMU could take this action because it is auxiliary to, rather than an agency of, the SBC, she said.
“Our theme this next year is ‘Transformed to take the stand,'” Lee said. “This is a good beginning. We took the stand on including our sisters.”
The decision to add the possibility of three at-large members to the executive board, meanwhile, was to ensure that the board would always represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of WMU, Lee said. While the option may not always be exercised, a member at-large can be elected annually and serve up to three consecutive terms.
“Our state organizations have done a great job of electing women as presidents who represent the ethnic and cultural diversity among Southern Baptist churches,” Lee said. “Adding the three at-large members gives us the opportunity to expand that diversity in the future if the board deems it appropriate.
“We have strong WMU work in churches representing multiple language and cultural groups,” she added, noting Korean, Hmong, Chinese, Hispanic and African American, among others. “We want to ensure that they have a voice in the work of WMU at the highest level.”