Updated Wednesday, May 21, 2008

New BSC women's ministry to be named 'Embrace'

By Norman Jameson

BR Editor

A new North Carolina Baptist ministry will be about "embracing women for Christ" according to Phyllis Foy, who chaired the task force to envision a Baptist State Convention women's ministry, which will be named "Embrace."

Foy works in church renewal through the Baptist State Convention as a North American Mission Board missionary and is a former BSC officer. She leads the task force and presented a progress report at the May 20-21 meetings of the BSC Executive Committee and Board of Directors.

"I want you to understand right out front this is not a competition with anybody," said Foy at the beginning of presentations to each group. Some see a new women's ministry as "competing" with Woman's Missionary Union.

She said members of the task force were "thrilled with the opportunity" to design a program to "reach our women at each season of their lives."

Embrace, whose logo will be a stylized heart around the cross of the BSC logo, will be based on Prov. 31:17-20, with evangelism as its first goal, Foy said.

She said task force members constantly heard from women who want help in learning "how to effectively make a difference in people's lives."

Embrace will focus on three areas of ministry: evangelism, discipleship and missions.

"Our heart and goal is that we will meet the needs of our women and their children and their husbands," said Foy, who outlined early action plans that include family mission events, evangelism training, networking, resources and a mother-daughter event.

Foy said the task force received input from women who want not just to study evangelism, but to learn how to be intentional about it and to have opportunities to "be out on the field doing it.""

"Of course we're going to be about missions," said Foy. "That's my heart. You know that. Let's do it as families so the entire family comes together, everyone doing it on their level, and so children can see their dads leading out."

Foy said women told the committee they want to know doctrine and learn discipleship and want ways to understand what they believe and why and be able to explain it to others.

She anticipates Embrace becoming a resource center "helping all our women, in whatever area they need, in whatever season of their lives."

Task force member Carrie Gilliam, 25, told the board she believes in Embrace because "the mission is taken straight from scripture-goals are not only achievable, but are godly in their focus and work to nurture the whole of the Christian woman-and the success of Embrace is going to build up and increase the functionality of the local church."

Foy anticipates launching Embrace at the September women's prayer evangelism conference.

She said a family mission week has been scheduled at Fort Caswell Aug. 10-14 in partnership with Baptist Men. They hope 700 families will participate with special opportunities for single mothers, including child care and training.

"Our single moms out there are truly hurting and this is our opportunity to step up and do something," Foy said. "We want to be about embracing today's women for Christ. That's our heart and goal."

"We will be a ministry of the Baptist State Convention, and will be supported by the North Carolina Missions Offering," Foy said. "We will support the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offerings and we will support the Cooperative Program."

The 2008 North Carolina Missions Offering goal of $2 million does not include funds for a women's ministry, although 19 percent is designated for "missions education and promotion." It was implied to messengers who adopted the goal in November that Woman's Missionary Union could apply for some of those funds.

Foy's presentation was a progress report given for information. Ray Davis, board member from Old Town Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, moved that the board affirm the task force's work. Beverly Butler cast the only negative vote.

"They have reinvented our wheel," Butler told the Recorder. Butler is a WMU resource team member and on the WMU nominating committee.

To Ruby Fulbright, WMU executive director, the task force's vision for Embrace sounds very similar to the work of WMU, whether "competition" is intended or avoided.

"There is enough work for all of us in reaching women, both for Christ and for missions," Fulbright said. "But I'm disappointed that consistently we've heard it would not be an organization in competition with WMU. After hearing the plans there seems to be so many things that WMU has been doing all these years that it will be a competition, particularly in some churches."

While a "family mission week" sounds new in the context of Embrace, WMU has been sponsoring them for years.

"The biggest difference," Fulbright said, "is that Embrace seems to be more self-focused and WMU is about reaching out."