African American Baptist women: a study of missions in African American churches in Atlanta, Georgia: the missionary service of African American women has long mirrored their role in the family. Over the years, they have played a major role in keeping the family unit together in spite of great challenges, including slavery and subsequent prejudices.

African American women have been the mainstay of their churches, especially Baptist churches. The purpose of this paper is to provide historical insights into the roles of Baptist women in missions in the growth of the African American churches in Atlanta, Georgia.

Evolution of Missions in African American Baptist Churches

In the early nineteenth century, many African Americans deeply felt that it was the "will of God" for them to return home to Africa and evangelize that continent. African American Christians often operated under the conviction that "God was acting in history to effect spiritual and material salvation of all peoples of African descent and that the divine One would use them to present true Christianity and civilization to a world of injustice." (1)

As a result of this deep-rooted belief in their God-given directive, African American Baptists established mission work in West Africa, specifically Liberia and Nigeria. The missionaries sent to those countries endured many obstacles, including the fact they often were given less support than the white missionaries serving in Africa. In spite of this and other obstacles, African American Baptist churches continued to pursue missionary service in Africa.

In addition to support for missions from the limited funds of African American Baptist churches, the American Colonization Society (ACS) and white Baptist churches provided funds for this mission endeavor. (2) Yet, the African American churches did not totally trust the ACS or its leaders because the central goal of the society was send freed slaves back to Africa. Many African Americans believed that the ACS linked missionary work with their goal to get support from the churches. Another cause for concern was that the ACS had the support of white supremacists, slaveholders, and abolitionists, who believed they were improving the plight of the African Americans.

White Baptist churches intentionally chose not to focus their presence in Africa. They instead chose missionary fields in Burma, China, and other Asian fields. White missionaries were afraid of the negative stereotypes they had heard about Africa and the African people. Many missionaries died while serving in West Africa, causing whites to fear going there. They believed that the deaths were due to the climate, which was best suited for African Americans. Later, researchers discovered that these deaths were due to malaria. (3)

The Baptist Foreign Mission Convention

In 1880, William W. Colley led in founding an African American national organization, Baptist Foreign Mission Convention (BFMC). The leadership of the convention was dominated by male ministers, and yet African American Baptist women played a major role in the growth of those conventions. In 1889, only 9 of the 149 delegates to the BFMC were women, and of that nine, three were from Georgia. (4) These three women played active, public roles in the business of the convention by serving on various committees and delivering public addresses on the work of African missions. Records show that women contributed substantial sums to the mission work of the BFMC by making pledges, paying for membership in the convention, and being involved in foreign mission service.

The women who traveled to Africa as missionaries were involved in efforts to transform the lives of African women and children. These women missionaries taught in the day schools, Sunday Schools, and industrial schools; maintained orphanages and boarding schools; did evangelistic work and home visitations; led Bible classes; and provided medical care.

Unfortunately, the convention's minutes were generally androcentric, (5) which means that the participation of the woman is reported in relation to her husband. For example, many couples served as missionary teams, but it is often difficult or impossible to locate in historical records the first names of wives. They are generally listed under their husbands' names, such as John A. Smith and wife.

A Twentieth-Century African American Baptist Missions Model

Nannie Helen Burroughs, an African American educator from Virginia, was a trailblazer in leading the way for the involvement of African American Baptist churches in numerous types of mission activities, both foreign and domestic. (6) As a young woman, Burroughs dreamed of opening a school for African American girls, hoping to prepare them for a productive adult life. This dream became a reality as a result of her original desire to be a school teacher. Although she was highly qualified, Burroughs was denied teaching jobs because of the color of her skin. Yet, she did not give up. If the powers to be would not let her teach, she decided to open her own school where all girls would be given the chance to better themselves.

With the support of her Baptist church, Burroughs organized the Women's Industrial Club, which offered short-term lodging and conducted evening classes in useful skills such as typing, bookkeeping, cooking, and sewing. To make a little money and to provide skills practice, the club sold lunches to downtown office workers. Burroughs later organized additional classes at a cost of ten cents per week for club members who were business majors.

Burroughs continued to stress the need for personal growth, development, and hard work. She established and managed a self-help business called Cooperative Industrial, Inc., which provided free facilities for a medical clinic, a hairdressing salon, and a variety store. She had no problem sharing any skill she had mastered with other women so that they too could better themselves. These superior leadership skills led to Burroughs becoming the secretary of the Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention (NBC). The NBC supported missionary work and educational societies in Baptist churches throughout the nation.

In 1900, Burroughs gave a speech to the National Baptist Convention entitled "How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping." This speech gave her national recognition and led her to form the Women's Convention (WC), which became the largest African American women's organization in the United States. The main focus of this convention was on raising money for missions and thus providing food, clothing, housing, and educational opportunities for poor people all over the world.

In 1909, Burroughs founded the National Training School for Women and Girls, which in 1964 was renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School. Burroughs's goal was to instill women with moral values, such as hard work, and to prepare them to become self-sufficient wage earners and expert homemakers. The Nannie Helen Burroughs School continues in 2005 as a private educational institution dedicated to Christian principles and to the enhancement of the African world experience and culture. The school's motto is "We specialize in the wholly impossible." Burroughs called her school the school of the three B's: the Bible, the bath and the broom, symbolizing a clean life, a clean body, and a clean house. (7)

Even after founding a school, Burroughs continued with her own self-training. She found mentors who worked with her and taught her additional skills and Baptist theology. She became an outspoken advocate of eliminating lynchings, segregation, and racial and gender prejudices. Burroughs boldly addressed issues that she considered vital to black interests. She became an accomplished writer and editor, contributing articles to African American newspapers and magazines. Bold and always to the point, Burroughs encouraged other women not to be silent--and to preach anywhere and in any way they could.

Twenty-First Century Atlanta's African American Baptists' Missions Model

Burroughs played a major role in determining how mission work is done today in African American Baptist churches. All of the participants surveyed in this research were aware of her contributions, and many of them shared how something said or done during the Burroughs era was instrumental in current mission activities.

Several women mission leaders have come from African American Baptist churches in the Atlanta area. (8) Just a few of these women and their mission activities will be highlighted. Penny Ellis, the African American coordinator for Georgia Woman's Missionary Union, has been instrumental in the establishment of "Sisters Who Care." This organization influences African American women by providing ministries and mission education resources to Christian women, girls, and youth. (9) The "Sisters Who Care" organization provides magazines and other resources and allows churches to customize a missions group in order to meet that group's needs.

A second WMU African American leader, Debra Berry, serves as a ministry consultant and works with the African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Congress of Christian Education of the National Baptist Convention. Her book, Be Restored! God's Power for African American Women, was written to assist African American Christian women in uncovering the spiritual might to change their community and world for Christ. (10)

Esther M. Smith, member of Ebenezer Baptist Church, served as mission consultant for the Southeast Region of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (PNBC). Now deceased, Smith accepted the call to become a missionary at the age of eight, after she heard about a lady in her church who had extensive nursing training and a strong desire to volunteer her services in Africa. Smith was immediately convinced that she had to do something to help this woman get to Africa, and she convinced her aunt to make some salmon patties and to provide her with white cloverine salve. Smith sold these two items for approximately ten cents, placing all the money she earned in a sock. Later, she took the money to the pastor and asked him to present it to the nurse. The money Smith collected was enough to get the nurse from Georgia to New York, and another sponsor provided the funds for the nurse's travel from New York to Africa. Personally mentored by Burroughs, Smith was known as the largest fund-raiser for missions in the PNBC, and eventually that convention's Christmas Drive was renamed the Esther M. Smith PNBC Christmas Drive in her honor.

Two notable missionaries from Wheat Street Baptist Church are F. Meta Mungo and Cora Hodges. Mungo serves as president of the Action Mission Ministry, an organization that conducts Bible studies and provides food and clothing for the homeless. Hodges was the former president of this organization and her focus was on caring for the elderly in their homes, in hospitals, or in nursing homes. Her activities included running errands, explaining medical benefits, and taking care of financial arrangements.

West Hunter Street Baptist Church's Elinora T. Hammonds, Tempy C. Walker, and Juanita Stone organized mission activities in their church. These women felt it necessary to give special encouragement to the senior adults. Their church celebrates Senior Citizens Day, and on that day, the women provide a meal and transportation by way of limousine service for senior adults living in nursing or personal care homes. Another organization at this church, the Path Finders Circle, distributes books and school supplies to Atlanta schools. In addition, the women have helped established college scholarships.

Kitty Anderson and Lillie McGowan are two of the missionaries at Greenforest Community Baptist Church. Anderson served as assistant to the mission director of the South Korean Baptist Mission Office. She also worked in the Women and Children Abuse Center in Atlanta, where she taught English to the women at the Center. Additionally, she taught a Bible Study at a local college to students during their lunch hour. According to Anderson, "teaching the South Korean women was a great experience for me, as well as a challenge because of the language and culture differences." McGowan was commissioned to serve in Lusaka, Zambia. Her many duties included leading Bible studies and working with AIDS children in the hospital. In July 2004, she founded the "Lillie Bell's Children Home and Orphanages" to provide a Christian home environment for orphans with special needs.

Mary Lee Woodward Lockett, a member of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in College Park, was affectionately called "Mother Lockett." Active in the mission ministry, she organized various missions groups, including Missions Friends, Acteens, and Girls in Action. She served as president of the Women's Department of the New Era Baptist Convention, a convention that she and her husband helped to found. Active in the Georgia State Association of Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows, she served as the missionary instructor and parliamentarian. She also served as instructor for thirty-five years at Camp John Hope, a Southern Baptist Convention school.

Freddie Mae Bason, a member of Zion Hill Baptist Church, served with the Baptist Home Mission Board in community ministry for forty-five years. She described missions as "fulfilling the unexpired term of Christ Jesus, being relevant at all times." She noted that many Baptist women are locked into a small world view, only seeing missions as the stereotypical ministries working with nursing homes, shelters, and black/white relationships. Instead, missionaries need to go beyond their own conventions and become aware of the immediate needs of the community, addressing problems of HIV/AIDS, child abuse, uneducated teachers, and family relationships.

Julia Hicks of Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta leads their mission ministries and plans activities in nursing homes and shelters, organizes school mentoring and the mentoring of young mothers, and works to provide senior citizens with assistance. Friendship was the first Baptist church founded in the city of Atlanta, and from this church, eight other Baptist churches and many more missionaries were birthed.

Overview of Study Sources/Methodology

This paper has attempted to provide insight into the historical and evolving role of Baptist women in missions and their influence on the growth of African American Baptist churches. The study has focused on African American churches in Atlanta, including the five counties of DeKalb, Fulton, Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett. Atlanta was selected because of its representative historical and cultural background. A melting pot for both northerners and southerners, it represents the population in the study, is part of the Bible belt, and has a strong Baptist heritage.

This study has examined the general roles of women in African American Baptist churches, including their specific roles as missionaries. The following sources and methodologies were used: archives, historical papers, literature search, biographies, diaries, autobiographies, written surveys, and interviews with current, former and prospective missionaries, pastors, WMU directors, and other leaders in African American churches.

In the targeted Atlanta area, research has depicted a total of 132 African American Baptist churches. Pastors and women missionary leaders from the targeted churches were asked to participate in a combination of written surveys and telephone or personal interviews. From those 132 churches, 98 pastors responded, giving a 74.2 percent response rate among pastors. Additionally, from those same 132 churches, 109 women missionary leaders responded, giving an 82.6 percent response rate among women missionary leaders.

Records show that African Americans have always thought that church attendance was important. My findings show this is still the case. Atlanta pastors describe their church as 80.6 percent growing, 15.3 percent maintaining, and 4.1 percent declining. The same pastors describe Sunday School attendance as 76.5 percent growing, 18.4 percent maintaining, and 5.1 percent declining. Additionally, the statistics demonstrate that the more training a church offers on missions, the more involvement in missions the church becomes, which leads to increased stewardship and baptisms.

Convention participation is strong in the Atlanta's African American Baptist churches. Eighty percent of these churches belong to the National Baptist Convention, 35 percent are aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention, and 25 percent are Progressive Baptists. Of the 35 percent Southern Baptists, 87 percent have dual affiliations as National Baptists. Ninety-three percent of all the churches had at least one woman's group. Women comprise over 76 percent of the church membership, and make up less than 26 percent of the main church leadership. The average number of licensed women ministers is twelve in the larger churches and five in the smaller churches; whereas the average number of ordained women ministers (in the few churches that ordain women) is one.

Summary

In spite of their noticeable lack of attention within African American Baptist church history, women have always played a vital role in the existence of these churches. From the church mother, deaconess, missionary, evangelist, Sunday School teacher, matron, usher, choir member, to the ordained woman minister, women have had a powerful and influential ministry.

In 2005, a majority of African Americans who affiliate with a Christian church are Baptists. This fact is true in Atlanta. Of the many African American Baptist churches in Atlanta, most have been involved in missions. Yet, there are many who are not involved. There is still work to be done in the field of missions in order to fulfill the Great Commission and evangelize the world. The time is now for African American Baptist churches to become intentionally mission-minded in all that they do so that every person, male and female, young and old, can make a difference.

(1.) Leroy Fitts, A History of Black Baptists (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1985), 12.

(2.) Ibid.

(3.) Sandy Dwayne Martin. Black Baptists and African Missions: The Origins of a Movement. (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1989), 20.

(4.) Ibid., 129.

(5.) Ibid., 130.

(6.) Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Black Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993).

(7.) Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, If It Wasn't for the Women (Maryknolh Orbis Books, 2003), 147.

(8.) Individual interviews by author with women missionaries from various churches, March--May 2005.

(9.) Penny Ellis, "Sisters Who Care Really Care," Missions Mosaic (August 2004): 10-13.

(10.) Debra Berry, Be Restored: God's Power for African-American Women (Birmingham: New Hope, 2002), 3.

Jaquelyn S. Henderson is an M.Div. student at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta Georgia.