by Bethany Warren Hunter

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“You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been.” -Maya Angelou

Since I took office in July 2025, I have had the opportunity to visit dozens of churches and women’s groups across the Commonwealth. Many Baptist churches have well-established women’s mission groups, often still called WMU, sometimes referred to as Women on Mission, occasionally named after a special missionary, but rarely dubbed HerMission.

Woman’s Missionary Union (yes, that is supposed to be woman, not women) is still a national organization and an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention and has been so since 1888. But 15 years before then, the ladies of some prominent Richmond churches formed the Woman’s Missionary Society of Richmond to support the Misses Moon as they served as missionaries of the Foreign Mission Board in North China. This society later became the template for the Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia and the Woman’s Missionary Union (SBC).

A year after the rebranding of WMUV to HerMission, I continue to receive questions, concerns, and confusion about the name change of such a well-known organization. Over the next few months, I plan to share some of the rich history of HerMission (formerly WMUV) as well as the reasons the Board of Trustees and membership approved the rebranding and some of our organizational goals for the future. My hope is that, whether you are a long-time member of WMU or someone who has never heard of WMU or HerMission, you will come away with a better understanding of our organization and its goals for impacting God’s Kingdom.

In 1813, the Richmond Female Missionary Society and nearly a hundred other female societies across Virginia were deep into supporting the missions movement. Over the next 60 years, these groups would continue to learn about missionaries and support them with prayer and funding.

In 1872, Edmonia Moon was one of two unmarried women appointment by the Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board). Miss Moon was from Albemarle, Virginia, and, while she was able to provide her funds for transportation, she would have no salary or living expenses while in North China. The female mission societies wanted to support her, but they needed to get organized.

The ladies did organize; the Woman’s Missionary Society of Richmond was founded, and their first goal was to raise money for Miss Moon’s salary and living expenses. The Foreign Mission Board supplied mite boxes for women to collect their loose change with a goal of raising $400 for the year. At the end of the fourth quarter, the women had collected $1,200!

In 1873, Edmonia’s sister Charlotte (that’s right, “Lottie” Moon) received her appointment from the Foreign Mission Board to join her sister in North China, supported by the Georgia Baptist women. To better equip the pair to work with the women and children of China, a dual-purpose home and school building was needed. Georgia ladies committed to raise $1,500, half the expected cost of the building, while the Woman’s Missionary Society of Richmond and other ladies across Virginia pledged to provide the balance of the needed funds. Early advocate, Mary Catherine “Kate” Jeter, appealed to missionary societies across the Commonwealth via the Religious Herald in September 1874…the date now considered the birthdate of Woman’s Missionary Union of Virginia. For more history, check out Roots & Wings: Rejoicing in the Days the Lord Has Made by Fred Anderson.

To learn more about HerMission and find ways to get involved, visit us at onhermission.org. You can also connect with HerMission on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Dr. Bethany Warren Hunter is executive director/treasurer of HerMission, a ministry partner of BGAV.

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