By Bob Allen
Patsy Davis, executive director of the Baptist World Alliance Women’s Department for 17 years, announced retirement plans days before an annual day of prayer she helped grow into a recognized ministry connecting Baptist women together around the world.
The Baptist World Alliance announced Oct. 30 that Davis, a former Southern Baptist missionary elected in 1998 to lead the BWA program composed of seven continental unions representing 238 national Baptist women’s organizations from 138 countries, is set to retire Dec. 31.
Today (Nov. 2) marks the 65th anniversary of the Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer, organized in 1911 by Woman’s Missionary Union corresponding secretary Edith Campbell Crane but given new life with the advent of instant communication afforded by social media.
This year’s prayer focus — “Arise, Shine,” based on Isaiah 60:1 — launches a five-year emphasis on community, unity, justice and service.
“When we rise up, he shines through,” Davis said in a video welcome to the 2015 Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer this morning on Facebook. “As we come together today to pray, let us remember the many things that are happening around the world that impact our Baptist women.”
Updates urged prayer for “our sisters in Asia” affected by the natural disasters of typhoons, hurricanes and earthquakes, a ministry to women in New Guinea living with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and women in the Caribbean who “have lost their way” in the sex slave trade.
Ksenija Magda, president of the BWA Women’s Department, said under Davis’ leadership the global prayer day held the first Monday each November “grew into a recognized ministry that connected Baptist women to each other both in prayer and practical support.”
“She has been appreciated by many women on all continents and under her leadership, the Women’s Department became an example of an effective global ministry within the Baptist World Alliance,” Magda said.
Davis, a Southern Baptist International Mission Board missionary for 21 years who served as general secretary of the National Woman’s Missionary Union of Venezuela, took over the BWA Women’s Department amid uncertainty. Her predecessor, Willene Pierce, previously director of WMU for the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, held the post just two years before resigning due to “differing perspectives regarding ministry philosophy and leadership style.”
Pierce, who died in 2014, went on to found The Native American LINK, Inc. (Living in Neighborly Kindness) in Oklahoma. In March Davis was a keynote speaker at the Willene Pierce Memorial Conference, an annual gathering for Native Americans inaugurated by Pierce in 2007.
Davis, originally from Startown, N.C., was appointed as a Southern Baptist missionary in 1977 and worked in Venezuela throughout her career. Prior to her IMB work, Davis was director of the child development center at Wieuca Road Baptist Church in Atlanta.
A graduate of Mars Hill College with a master of religious education degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., Davis served early in her ministry as a youth promotional director for WMU of Maryland/Delaware, a summer missionary for the Home Mission Board (forerunner of today’s North American Mission Board) and a counselor and recreation director at a Girls in Action summer camp in North Carolina.
“God called me many years ago to work with women, and he has blessed me these 17 years to be a part of the BWA Women’s Department,” Davis stated.
Groups promoting the Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer include Woman’s Missionary Union, auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention. A BWA founder and long its leading financial supporter, the SBC pulled out of the Baptist World Alliance in 2004 citing theological concerns. Breaking ranks with the denomination’s male leaders, the WMU executive board affirmed its longstanding relationship with the BWA Women’s Department and called for unity among the world’s Baptists.
Related commentary:
Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer: Reflections, memories and prayers