DALLAS (BP)–Among the influential Southern Baptist women during the first half of the Southern Baptist Convention’s history:
1847
Eliza Yates arrives with her husband in Shanghai where they served alone for 23 years.
1873
Lottie Moon is appointed as a missionary, a visionary who lived out her life in China, evangelizing, planting churches and discipling those she met.
1880
Anne Bagby is appointed along with her husband to serve as missionaries in Brazil to a Catholic population. Six of their nine children later served as missionaries in Brazil.
1882
Agnes Osborne of Kentucky launches The Heathen Helper, edited by Baptist women for Baptist women to support mission societies. Her sister-in-law, Christine Osborne, joined in the effort and published the Basket to emphasize tithing to promote benevolence.
1888
Annie Armstrong and Woman’s Missionary Union launch the Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions. Armstrong also modeled ministry to the poor, sick and illiterate of Baltimore.
1907
Eliza A. Broadus’ vision for helping young women study at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary results in the WMU Training School.
1917
Bertha Smith heads for China where she ministered during the Shantung Revival and founded a mentoring ministry to train young Christian leaders. In 1979 she provided encouragement to a reluctant Memphis pastor named Adrian Rogers on whether to run for SBC president that year.
1920
Mrs. W. C. James emphasizes soul-winning as a fundamental aspect of personal service by WMU members. “No plan of social service, important as it is, can claim to be Christian unless it’s evangelical.”
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Article courtesy of the Southern Baptist Texan newsjournal.
