August 7, 2000
Women's ministries fit with WMU, leader says
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___WACO--Women's ministries and Woman's Missionary Union are like inhaling and exhaling, according to Terri Dowell Ussery of Georgetown. Both are essential to health.
___"But you can't inhale all the time, and you can't exhale all the time," said Ussery, a Texas WMU consultant for women's ministries. "There is a rhythm that has to worktogether to help us be complete."
___Women need both the spiritual nurturing many find in women's ministries and the opportunities for service provided through WMU, she told participants at the Texas Leadership Conference in Waco.
___Ussery compared WMU leaders to the New Testament character Martha and women's ministries participants to her sister, Mary.
___"Martha is a big-time doer. If you want the job done at church, WMU will do it," Ussery observed. "But Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, learning who he is and who she is in him. It's the difference between doing and being."
___Rather than seeing women's ministries as competitive with Women on Mission--the adult WMU program--she challenged missions activists to view the Bible studies and fellowships as "preparing women's hearts to be ready to 'do.'"
___Women's ministries provide effective entry points for women who are new believers or who come from another denomination, she said.
___Rather than viewing the need-based women's programs as "self-centered," WMU workers should recognize that "these ministries are meeting a need for women where they are," she said.
___"They may not be ready to begin ministry. ... Women's ministries can be base-level spiritual preparation to minister. Then WMU takes a discipled woman and gives her an outlet for ministry."
___WMU is an established, structured organization, and its participants may be older and more mature believers than those in loosely woven women's ministries, Ussery observed.
___Therefore, she challenged Women on Mission to assume the role of "the big sister" and take the initiative in "learning how to work and play well together" with those who are in women's ministries.
___Instead of treating women's ministries as unwelcome competition, Women on Mission can share helpful resources and introduce missions concepts into women's ministries.
___"Infuse every area of the church with missions awareness, missions involvement and missions education. Think outside the box. It doesn't have to be a Women on Mission group to be missions," she said.
___The goal is to involve women in missions and ministry, not to build an organization, Ussery observed. Eventually, a women's ministries group may pray for missionaries, learn about missions and involve women in missions action but never call itself WMU.
___"Try not to get so wrapped up in structure. Don't let the structure get in the way of what you are called to do," she said. "Appreciate differences and learn how to play together. What's more important than programs or organizations is people."
___Ussery encouraged Women on Mission to practice servant leadership and develop mentoring relationships with younger believers in women's ministries.
___"Younger women don't want your criticism. They don't even want suggestions," she said. "They want you to love them."
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