Annie Armstrong Offering Goal

Hillsdale Baptist: $250

Convention-wide: $70 million

Annie Armstrong was born on July 11, 1850, in Baltimore, Maryland. Her roots and the era into which she was born shaped her for the role she was later to assume. Her roots were Baptist. Her mother was strong in the Christian faith and involved actively in her church. (Her Presbyterian father died when she was only an infant.) Richard Fuller, Annie’s pastor, helped build her deep convictions about and lifestyle of missions. The stirrings of missions deep in the lives of her mother and other women important to Annie created a missions environment in her home and church.

The year 1880 marked a turning point in Armstrong’s life. In response to a speaker who told of destitute conditions and needs of Indians, she launched forth on a pilgrimage of leadership in missions and mission support. Two years later, at the age of 32, she was elected president of the Woman’s Baptist Home Mission Society of Maryland, her first prominent leadership position. The society’s objective was to involve women in support of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. She held this statewide office from 1882 until 1906.

During her years of service, Armstrong built strong relationships with the leaders of the Foreign Mission Board, Home Mission Board, and Sunday School Board. After all, her organization – Woman’s Missionary Union – was formed to promote and support missions and to assist these three boards in their work. Often she served as a unifier of denominational missions efforts. She was gifted in pulling forces together. She worked tirelessly for Southern Baptist unity at the national level.