Arise, Shine; for thy light is come.
Arise, Shine; for thy light is come.
"As a member of the Girls' Auxiliary, I promise to live a Christ-like life, to be true to my church, and to be a witness for Jesus."
One of the pioneers of the Girls’ Auxiliary work in WMU of Nigeria was Mrs. Carson (SBC missionary). In 1922, she gathered girls who were too old for the Sunbeam Band to form Girls’ Association which was later changed to Girls’ Auxiliary the same year. Few officers were elected among them to lead: Miss Grace Emokpae (later Mrs. Sagie) who was one of their leaders then. In Ogbomoso, Miss Young also promoted girls who were too old for the Sunbeam Band to GAs. They were meeting once in a month on Sundays and later the enrolment grew to 22. Only two or three could read and there was no literature organised by Mrs. Carson. The main programme was to act Bible stories.
In 1924, there were nine (9) Girls’ Auxiliary in Ijora, Awe, Ode-Omu, Ibadan, Iresi, Ikire, Abeokuta Girls’ School, Igbajo and Ogbomoso with enrolment of 149. Fifty-six of them could read the Bible. The Girls’ Auxiliary organisation was officially recognised as a part of WMU family in 1925. The theme for that year was Thirty-five Events in the Life of Christ, though had the same hymn and watchword with the Young Women’s Association— O Zion Haste and Daniel 12:3, respectively. The watchword “Arise, shine: for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you” (Isaiah 60:1) for that year becomes the G.A. permanent watchword.
“The root of a plant is very important. A sturdy root firmly holds the tree. During rain-storms, the tree bends and sways but it cannot be uprooted because it is rooted deep down”. – Aduke Akinola (WMU History, p.30)
Children occupy an important place in God’s plan. In the beginning of WMU Convention activities, children were not left out. Since 1919, Baptist Women’s Missionary Union of Nigeria has been providing Christian nurture to children, boys and girls. Our history will not exclude the contributions of Rev. Scott Patterson, Southern Baptist Missionary from America, and Mrs. George Green, the wife of the First Medical Missionary to Nigeria and Mrs. Mojola Agbebi, the first President of the Baptist Women’s Missionary League who gathered little children under the shade of a tree to teach them Bible verses.