0.4 1.1 introduction to "hidden work: baptist women in texas 1880  (Page 8/10)

Baptist women's activities fit within this structure—they moved from scattered, awkward individual and group efforts to a sophisticated, well-run army of women and children missionary workers. But the path was not unbroken by resistance, nor was their accomplishment unmarked by discrimination, inequality, and compromise. In the early period of frontier settlement, women rarely had time and means, much less freedom and social approval, to fill leadership roles in religious circles, but their influence was substantial. They were charter members of all the early Texas Baptist churches, prominent financial contributors, organizers of benevolent "circles," and students at Baylor University from its founding in 1846. The impetus to play a more significant role, particularly in the denomination's growing mission effort, came from both a distant and a local source: the farther call was from the Southern Baptist Convention report in 1878 on Women's Work, enjoining churches to "help these women who labor with us in the gospel. '" Proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention , 1878, p. 31. Quoting Philippians 4:3. The more specific and urgent call came from Anne Luther, who wanted to serve as a missionary, and her neighbor in Independence, Fannie Breedlove Davis, who invited Baptist women in Texas to meet with them in October, 1880, during the annual state convention in Austin. From this meeting the state Woman's Missionary Union (hereafter, abbreviated "WMU") was formed. Anne Luther went to Brazil on appointment from the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention; Fannie Davis served as president of the Texas WMU from 1880 to 1895 and was present in Richmond, Virginia, for the founding of the south-wide WMU in 1888.

Fannie Davis was one of three presidents who served Texas WMU between 1880 and 1920, each offering a different style of leadership to guide the "union" through its formative stage and consolidation phase to its successful achievement of organization at four levels, from congregation to state, including women and children of all ages. Under each president methods of expanding the organization and generating collections were developed, different projects were undertaken, and significant personalities emerged. The presidential administrations, therefore, provide a convenient means of dividing the narrative of Chapter III.

Although missionary organizations provided an exceptional opportunity for conservative religious women to unite their efforts and gain access to denominational power through the expansion of their skills and the generation of large amounts of money, the direct exercise of that power was problematic. Their organization was only accorded auxiliary status and their collections were forwarded to mission boards, composed entirely of males, for distribution. Women's skills in management and public speaking were valuable tools to aid in the denomination's evangelistic task, but incorporating them into the programs of local churches challenged the existing male leadership and the biblical injunction for women to be submissive to males.