Homework - Annie W. Armstrong

1850–1938

When you think of missions, what comes to mind? Missionaries who dedicate years in other countries to help people and share their faith? Teams of adults or teens who take a week’s vacation and fly off to where the latest natural disaster has occurred to help rebuild homes and lives?

Many people assume missionaries serve only in foreign countries. This adds to the exotic image of their work. But what about those who serve closer to home?

Annie W. Armstrong was a champion for “home missions.” Born in the mid-1850s, she grew up in Baltimore and saw the needs of immigrants, children, the sick, and the poor. There were people right in her city who needed help, and she felt compelled to do what she could for them. Her missions field was right in her backyard.

Along with other Southern Baptist women, Annie helped to form the Woman’s Missionary Union. Still in existence today, it has become a very powerful force in the church, raising what has amounted to more than $800 million for missions work in the United States.

The principle behind home missions is a valuable one: find your missions field, no matter how close or far away it might be. Not everyone will go on an overseas missions trip, but everyone has the opportunity to do something nearby. There are missionaries serving the Lord in your state, perhaps in your town. You can rather easily provide resources, encouragement, or even volunteer efforts. See if your church can make such a connection for you.

Annie once challenged people in this way: “The future lies all before us . . . shall it only be a slight advance upon what we usually do? Ought it not to be a bound, a leap forward, to altitudes of endeavor and success undreamed of before?”

Surely that quote belongs on your refrigerator or in your daily planner. You can cautiously tiptoe forward into the future, she says, or you can leap forward. With all that God has given us—resources, talents, compassion, etc.—why not leap?

Don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

Hebrews 13:16