March 27, 2000
Scholar traces influence of
WMU on Baptists' social ministries
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--Over the last century, Woman's Missionary Union has played a primary role in engaging Southern Baptists in evangelistic social ministry, according to an analysis by a Texas Baptist university professor.
___From the early days of the 20th century, WMU leaders mixed ideas from the social gospel movement with their evangelistic zeal to create a unique emphasis on social ministry, said Carol Crawford Holcomb, religion professor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
CAROL CRAWFORD HOLCOMB
___She recently addressed a regional meeting of the American Academy of Religion, where she presented a paper titled "The Kingdom at Hand: The Social Gospel and the Personal Service Department of Woman's Missionary Union."
___Holcomb defines the social gospel as "an ethical/theological movement of the late 19th century that emerged in response to the challenges of industrialization, urbanization and immigration. It emphasized the social teachings of Jesus, social and individual salvation, the immanence of God and the perfectibility of humanity."
___In its purest form, the social gospel was scorned by many conservative Christian theologians, who feared it would water down the call to Christian conversion or promote a theology of salvation by works rather than by faith alone in Christ.
___"Although the women did not appropriate a formal social gospel theology, they were influenced by the social gospel," Holcomb said, drawing upon research published in her doctoral dissertation from Baylor University.
___She traced the beginnings of this emphasis in WMU to Fannie Heck, a North Carolina native who served as national WMU president at the turn of the century and beyond. Heck is "singularly responsible for establishing a department within WMU that focused attention on social service," she explained.
___Heck "found the impetus for social work within the mandate for missions," Holcomb said. "At no time did she consider social ministry to be separate from mission work or in competition with the goal of individual salvation."
___While many other Southern Baptists insisted social work was a secondary task to evangelism, Heck preached social service as "an intrinsic part of the missionary enterprise."
___The personal service department established by WMU under Heck's leadership became a major force in shaping Southern Baptist women's involvement in social ministry, Holcomb said. "In 1912, personal service was added to the Standard of Excellence for WMU, requiring societies to participate in personal service in order to meet a rating of 'excellence' in WMU work."
___This movement fed the birth and growth of the WMU Missionary Training School in Louisville, Ky., which later became the Carver School of Missions and Social Work.
___Lulie Wharton, first director of WMU's personal service department, defined personal service as an effort to apply the religion of Jesus Christ to the social problems of the day, Holcomb noted.
___From this point, Southern Baptists' interest in social work was heavily influenced by the work of other Christian denominations, particularly the Methodists, she said. The Baptist women also were influenced by social reformers from both the North and South, she added.
___WMU led Southern Baptists to focus on salvation as not only bringing hope for life after death but reason for a better life on earth as well, Holcomb reported.
___She quoted WMU literature from early in the century that advocated this position. "The effort to bring people to 'salvation' meant more than a personal confession," she said. "Full salvation ... included both a changed spiritual condition and a changed physical condition."
___Despite criticism, Southern Baptist women successfully shaped missions and ministry in the 20th century with their unique blend of evangelism and social ministry, Holcomb concluded. "The lasting influence of social gospel ethics on Baptist women is revealed in their commitment to social work."
___This theology of service has again come under criticism from some quarters today, Holcomb said, noting the closing of the Carver School of Social Work at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1995 and the recent transfer of nearly $1 million in Carver School endowment funds back to control of WMU.
___"History has come full circle," she said. "After 90 years, WMU is still invested in the vision of social service initiated by Fannie Heck in 1909."
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