Despite not having the rich history of the national WMU, in 2019 a dozen enthusiastic women at Liberty Community Church<\/a>, a member of Peace River Baptist Association<\/a> in southwest<\/a> Florida, decided they wanted to carry the baton of missions and missions education by creating their own WMU group.<\/p>\n \u201cGod just laid it on my heart that the church I\u2019d been at for years needed a WMU group,\u201d said Owens-Sharrett, founder of Liberty\u2019s WMU group. \u201cI had a burden to support missions and began educating our women on what it means to be Southern Baptist.\u201d<\/p>\n The 12 active members of Liberty\u2019s WMU group have raised awareness for the annual North American Mission Board\u2019s Annie Armstrong Easter Offering<\/a> and the International Mission Board\u2019s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering<\/a>. By utilizing prayer prompts, videos and other resources, the faithful church of about 40 members has always exceeded its financial goal for the missions offerings.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been at least doubling or exceeding our financial goals,\u201d she said. \u201cOur church is so missions-minded.\u201d<\/p>\n The group also adopts a missions project once a quarter. With numerous local options for serving people in the community, the group is \u201camazed\u201d at the number of compassion ministries sponsored by WMU, such as Christian Job Corps, WorldCrafts, Project HELP, Baptist Nursing Fellowship, and Pure Water, Pure Love.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are amazed at everything under the umbrella of WMU,\u201d said Owens-Sharrett. \u201cThese projects are a great way to expose women to the various things Southern Baptist women can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the past several years, the group has hosted a WMU Tea to educate women about missions, make missions-conscious purchases from WorldCrafts<\/a> and support Pregnancy Solutions<\/a> by volunteering weekly and hosting a baby shower.<\/p>\n By focusing on one mission project a quarter, the group has been able to serve and reach far beyond what the women could ever imagine\u2014right from their homes.<\/p>\n In 2022 the WMU group led the entire church to participate in a Christmas in August project to serve a NAMB missionary who leads a small group of children and youth in Waterloo, Wisconsin. Church members, including children, collected, packed up and shipped art supplies, Bibles, crayons, towels, balloons, soccer balls and spiral notebooks to the missionary as an answer to his prayer.<\/p>\n “\u2018Women are realizing that you don\u2019t have to be a paid missionary serving around the world in order to be on mission and making a difference.\u2019”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/flbaptist.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/WMU_01-copy-1.jpeg\")
<\/a>With support and encouragement from church leaders, the group has been serving those outside its four walls for four years. Desiring to carry out the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, the group also has promoted Southern Baptists\u2019 two annual missions offerings. Even with the COVID shutdown soon after the WMU group\u2019s launch, the women have persevered.<\/p>\n\n