Missions
Children In Action | Thursday’s Child Quilters | Woman’s Missionary Union | Eternal Impact Missions Giving
Children in Action
Children in Action is an exciting and fun-filled coed missions education organization for boys and girls in grades 1–5. Through Children in Action, boys and girls gain a greater understanding of God's work in the world and how they can join Him in His work.
Children in Action learn about the world, pray for the world, and learn how they can be used to tell others about God's Son, Jesus.
In Children in Action, children learn
a biblical worldview
ways to demonstrate Christ's love to others
how God is working around the world
their part of God's plan
Children in Action is designed with both girls and boys in mind. Children in Action helps children grow spiritually, recognizing the varying developmental stages of children in each grade. Children in Action materials are designed to help both younger and older children have mission experiences that lay a foundation for coming to faith in Christ as Savior and make missions an important part of their daily lives.
Motto
"Send Me!"
Pledge
"As a member of Children in Action, I will pray for missions, give to missions, learn about missions, and do missions through the power of Christ."
Scripture Verse
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13 KJV)
Lifestyle Verse
"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8 KJV)
Thursday’s Child Quilters
The significance of blankets as a sign of comfort, warmth, love, and protection is timeless, and it is synonymous with these symbols, worldwide. Blankets are given as special gifts at the birth of a child, as wedding presents, as artwork for display in people’s homes. They are inherited as heirloom pieces from generation to generation and guarded in cedar chests as valuables. In Native American traditions, blankets were used to signify friendships and bonds with others. The actual pressure of a blanket draped around our bodies triggers our nervous systems to release serotonin, a natural chemical in our bodies that helps us feel calm. During tragedies, First Responders often provide blankets to those on-site not only for direct warmth and protection but as a form of comfort during their time of need.
SMBC’s Thursday’s Child Quilters Outreach Group meets weekly, on Thursday mornings, at 11:00. There is an open invitation for anyone to join. Quilters bring their own supplies and equipment, and they have a wonderful time fellowshipping together as they create these beautiful blankets. Quilters are given opportunities to send their quilts to local hospitals for long-term patients who truly appreciate that gesture of something handmade and comforting; to the Palmetto Women’s Center for precious, little newborns coming into the world; as Christmas gifts to local children in need; even half-way around the world to help orphaned children in the Xhosa Gospel Mission in East London, South Africa where a dear gentleman named Hoppy Pohlmann helps rescue children of the Xhosa people, in South Africa. And quilters can always give their quilts to their own families and friends. Whatever the desire for the end result, this is a lovely group of people working to reach out with their creations in home missions and foreign missions to anyone who can use a blanket.
Jesus’ sacrifice of His life for ours serves as a blanket of atonement, covering our sins, allowing us to be presentable as pure before God. That is our strength as Christians that we are covered by the saving grace of His blood sacrifice for us. The righteousness of Christ draped over us pictures Christians as wearing perfectly clean, new garments of white; the opposite of the filthy garments we have made by our own works. These quilts are not only made with love to keep people warm and bring them physical comfort, but they are also a symbol of God’s grace.
Woman’s Missionary Union
What Is WMU?
In 1888, a handful of women dedicated to the cause of missions founded Woman’s Missionary Union®. Since that time, WMU® has become the largest Protestant missions organization for women in the world, with a membership of approximately 1 million.
From the beginning, WMU’s main purpose has been to educate and involve women, girls, and preschoolers in the cause of Christian missions. Throughout its history, WMU has been an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, which means that it acts as a "helper" to the SBC. The auxiliary status also means that WMU is self-governing and self-supporting.
National WMU receives no funds from the Cooperative Program allocation budget, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering®, or Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®. National WMU is supported through the sale of magazines and products, and from investments.
Vision Statement
WMU challenges Christian believers to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God.
Core Values
We uphold the foundational principles of the priesthood of every believer and the autonomy and uniqueness of each local church in carrying out the Great Commission.
We embrace the strategic role of prayer and giving for missionaries and missions needs. We recognize the role of the family in discipleship and mission development.
We recognize the giftedness of women and girls and accept the responsibility to help them use their gifts in serving Christ.
We accept the responsibility for nurturing preschoolers, children, youth, and adults in missions.
We accept the responsibility for developing and equipping mission leaders.
We accept the biblical mandate to respond to human needs with actions modeled by Jesus Christ and with the message of God’s redemptive plan.
We partner with other Great Commission Christians to lead a lost world to Christ.
We believe that Jesus Christ, Son of God, gave His life a sacrifice for the salvation of all the people of the world, fulfilling God’s plan for the ages as revealed in the Bible, God’s holy word.
WMU supports the following organizations through age-appropriate magazines and/or products:
Women on Mission, for women 18 and up
Adults on Mission, for men and women 18 and up
Acteens, for girls grades 7-12
Youth on Mission, for boys and girls grades 7-12
Girls in Action, for girls grades 1-6
Children in Action, for boys and girls grades 1-6
Mission Friends, for preschool girls and boys, birth through pre-first.
WMU offers ministry opportunities through:
Baptist Nursing Fellowship
Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men's Job Corps
Project: HELP
Pure Water Pure Love
Volunteer Connection
WorldCrafts
WMU offers short-term volunteer missions opportunities through:
Volunteer Connection
Acteens Activators/Acteens Activators Abroad
Acteens Interns
Women on Mission Enterprisers
The Missions Focus of Woman’s Missionary Union:
Pray for and give to missions.
Do missions.
Learn about missions.
Develop spiritually toward a mission’s lifestyle.
Participate in the work of the church and denomination.
Eternal Impact Missions Giving
Today, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering goes to train, resource, and send more than 5,000 missionaries across the United States and Canada. One hundred percent of gifts given to this offering goes directly to the missionaries for their use in the field. None goes to administration.
The Baptist Collegiate Network's purpose statement is: To LEAD college students and others in the academic community to faith in Jesus Christ, to develop them as disciples and leaders, and to connect them to the life and mission of the church.
SMBC is one of three local churches that offers their facilities as venues for the Community Cafe. Almost all workers are volunteers, so nearly 100 percent of donations go to creating freshly-made, nourishing meals that are free to the community. Community Cafe also supports local adult day care centers and church ministries that help the elderly, shelters, disabled, and other homebound neighbors. Every Wednesday, 11:30am - 2:00pm, meals are provided in SMBC’s Family Life Center.
The Gideons International is an Association of Christian business and professional men and their wives dedicated to telling people about Jesus through associating together for service, sharing personal testimony, and providing Bibles and New Testaments.
Established in 1978 as the World Hunger Fund, Global Hunger Relief is an initiative of the Southern Baptist Convention dedicated to combating hunger and sharing the Bread of Life.
Grounds of Grace provides assistance for women in Rock Hill and the surrounding area of York County, SC, helping them and their families to grow and thrive. We are about rebuilding lives as women trapped in hopelessness find hope for a brighter future as they step into their God-given plan and purpose.
In 1908 Janie Chapman became the first president of South Carolina WMU (SC WMU) and served for 22 years. “Spiritual power is the greatest power…The object of our work is soul-saving at home and abroad.” The Janie Chapman offering is still about ‘soul-saving,’ sharing Christ here and around the world.
Because of Lottie’s hard work and determination on foreign soil in the early 20th century, WMU collected a Christmas Offering to give to the Foreign Mission Board. Today, we still give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in honor of her work and sacrifice to keep our missionaries on the field.
One hundred percent of the offering goes to the missionaries, none to the administration.
The Powleys are missionaries from York County, South Carolina who focus on evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development among a network of churches in northeastern Mexico. They serve in children ministries and youth ministries alongside missionaries who have been in the mission field for over 30 years.
The York Baptist Association is a network of neighborhood or community churches and a fellowship of pastors. Each of our 80 plus churches has a unique culture, style of worship, and congregational composition.
Palmetto Women's Center offers hope, health, and healing to eliminate abortion by offering excellence in medical services, consultation, personal counseling, and relationship education.
Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet the needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.