State Missions Offering

How can you participate?

Oklahoma Baptists have a long history of stepping into areas of brokenness and meeting needs, all to advance the Gospel. In fact, that is the very heart of this offering. The Missions Offering is a very tangible expression of the common bond we have in Christ and the common mission we have to advance the Gospel in our state.

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Dear Oklahoma Baptists,

The challenges we have faced in 2020 remind us that we live in a broken world. This should come as no surprise. Jesus teaches us to embrace brokenness as opportunity for the Gospel.

This year’s Edna McMillan Oklahoma State Missions Offering is especially important. This offering impacts key areas of brokenness in society— hunger, foster care, imprisonment, addiction—with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People who are distressed and downcast like shepherdless sheep are people ripe unto harvest for Jesus.

Consider two realities connected to this 2020 State Missions Offering. First, God is glorified when people give in unity; giving together to advance the Gospel together. This act of putting our money together to advance the Gospel in our state will glorify God. This offering is an undeniable display of our fellowship in the Gospel.

Second, God is glorified when people give out of scarcity. I know that this year finds many of our people, and many of our churches, with real financial challenges. If we merely give our surplus, we might not give much. However, we are called to sacrificial giving, and God is glorified through sacrificial giving. Remember Paul’s description of this kind of giving from Philippi and the other churches of northern Greece.

Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord.

(2 Corinthians 8:1-3 NASB)

Through this year’s offering, both of these realities can come together: a unified commitment in a time of scarcity that glorified our Lord.

Thank you for your sharing in the Gospel through this offering. I am praying that Oklahoma Baptists will give more in the year of scarcity than we have ever given in years of abundance.

Please pray about how you and your church can participate in this year’s Edna McMillan State Missions Offering.

Sincerely in Christ,

D. Hance Dilbeck, Jr.
Executive Director-Treasurer | Oklahoma Baptists

“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ.”

The Apostle Paul
(Philippians 1:12-13)

Pray

Brokenness is an opportunity for Gospel advance. Pray for the brokenness in your community. Ask the Lord what role you can have in reaching others for Jesus.

Plan

While every church cannot meet every need, every church can meet a need. Through the offering, God has an open door for us to enter, shoulder to shoulder, to advance the Gospel. Set a goal to give as we embrace brokenness in our state.

Share

Together, we can increase awareness of opportunities to advance the Gospel. A powerful way to communicate the work Oklahoma Baptists are doing around our state is by sharing mission videos during church gatherings and on social media.

Support

100% of your gift advances the Gospel in Oklahoma. Give to the Edna McMillan State Missions Offering through your church.

Give to the State Missions Offering through your local church and support the effort to advance the Gospel in Oklahoma.

About the Edna McMillan State Missions Offering

The State Missions Offering is named for one of its earliest advocates and mission pioneers, Edna McMillan. After graduating with honors from the Huntsville Female College in Alabama in 1890, Edna married a young Baptist man, George McMillan. She respected his quest for Godly character and was inspired when she first met him during a church service where he pledged a generous amount to a special missions offering.

Both of the McMillans became faithful stewards of their time and their resources. George served in church and worked in the oil business. They settled in Muskogee in 1902 and later spent most of their lives in Bristow. Edna held numerous roles in the church and worked diligently and tirelessly for Oklahoma Woman’s Missionary Union. She held many positions in WMU and served as state WMU president for 11 years from 1927 to 1938.

Edna was an effective communicator and consistently challenged Oklahoma Baptists to give generously to state missions. In 1932, she said, “A rich man is one who has enough for himself and enough left over to help others. Though he be possessed of millions, a man is poor, who has only enough for himself.”

The state WMU Board in 1939 met in Muskogee where Edna was surprised to hear the recommendation and later unanimous vote to name the State Mission Offering in her honor. Through her many travels and days away from home to champion mission cause, Edna never accepted a penny for her expenses.

Week of Prayer: September 6-13

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Prison Ministry

Oklahoma Baptists are impacting prisoners with the Gospel. Through a new ministry initiative in partnership with OBU, long term inmates have the opportunity to earn a theological education. Your giving will provide inmates ministry training as they serve the Lord by sharing the hope of Jesus with their fellow inmates in the prison system.

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Pastoral Care

The health and strength of a church depend on the health and strength of a pastor. As Oklahoma Baptists, we encourage one another to advance the Gospel. Shepherding the flock of God is challenging work. Every pastor needs relational support. The offering will provide resources to strengthen our pastors, so they can shepherd the flock of God in a way that advances the Gospel.

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Partnership Missions

Oklahoma Baptists have a great heritage of sending missionaries overseas with the International Mission Board. In an effort to reach the nations, every church has the opportunity to connect with missionaries overseas through the State Missions Offering. From any town in our state, we can touch the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through praying, giving, and going.

Children have great opportunities in their own neighborhoods and schools to love others and share the Good News of Jesus. The Missions Education Activity Sheets provide engaging activities to open young eyes to missions in their own backyards!
– Edna McMillan

Download Activity Sheets Here

Video

The following videos feature some of the ministries funded by the Oklahoma State Missions Offering. Please feel free to share these videos on your church website and social media accounts.

Download links are provided below for use in worship services, Sunday School classes and any other way your church promotes the offering.