CONWAY – Working together on a hands-on project is a key learning principle for children. The Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) has tapped into that principle with a craft project for teaching about the Cooperative Program.
The children in mission groups, summer camps and Vacation Bible Schools across the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) are making craft stick units to help them understand how the 47,000 churches in the SBC work together through the Cooperative Program (CP) for the sake of reaching the world for Christ.
“The WMU has always been about teaching the Cooperative Program,” Lori Bohannon, WMU Director and Children in Action leader at Morgan Baptist Church in Conway, said. “We thought this would be a fun, inexpensive, easy-to-plan activity for the kids. We were right. They loved it.”
The idea for the craft used 12 craft sticks glued together side-by-side with wood glue and another eight craft sticks glued under the 12 as braces to equal one unit. The groups were asked to use markers to put the name of the church on the unit and then ship all of the units to the WMU offices in Birmingham, Alabama. Many of the children took the added step of decorating the units.
After the units are collected in Birmingham, they will become a part of a larger model houseboat. The completed houseboat model will be unveiled in November 2024 to coincide with the Missions Journey: Kids unit on church planters in South America who receive US partners at their floating house to help them engage an unreached people group with the gospel.
“Our kids got the message,” Bohannon said. “We had eight kids, and they did twelve units to contribute. They understood that they were supporting something bigger.”
Audra Schumpert, WMU secretary at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Calhoun, agreed with Bohannon.
“It is important for our kids to realize the bigger picture,” she said, “The impact of working together as Christians can overcome challenges and make a real difference. I knew when I saw it in Missions Mosaic, the WMU magazine, that the kids would enjoy it. My husband is the youth leader, so we joined forces.”
“We wanted our kids to see that they can make a difference,” Schumpert continued. “We thought it was a great example of how we might feel like a small part of God’s plan but when we work together, we can make a great impact for His glory.”
Schumpert also reported that the group of eight children made a total of 13 units. The number of units outpacing the number of children in a group seemed to be a pattern.
Bohannon initially saw the houseboat idea on Facebook. “I knew it would be a winner when I saw the idea,” she said. “I also shared the idea with another WMU director at Independence Baptist Church in Richland, Mo. We were excited about the project and sent her our extra craft sticks and wood glue. We truly are better when we work together.”
Bohannon was also able to catch the WMU officers unboxing her group’s units on Facebook from Birmingham.