One of Christianity’s iconic pioneer missionaries demonstrated the power of women to propel the gospel, CBF Texas Coordinator Rick McClatchy stressed during First Baptist Church of San Antonio’s Judson Day Celebration this summer.

The church launched its annual celebration in 2013 to mark the bicentennial of Baptist missionaries Adoniram and Ann Judson’s arrival in Burma. In 1813, the Judsons became the first Baptist missionaries sent from America. Among the Burmese, the Karen people received the gospel with enthusiasm.

Two centuries later, Burma—now known as Myanmar—has endured ongoing political upheaval. The Karen, among others, have suffered political persecution, and thousands have found asylum in the United States.

In 2007, the first wave of Karen asylum seekers arrived in San Antonio after living for two decades or longer in refugee camps in Thailand, where they learned to speak Thai. 

First Baptist Church already had established a Thai/Lao congregation under the leadership of Pastor Boun Phommachanh. Since some First Baptist ministers could communicate with the Karen refugees, Catholic Charities, the U.S. resettlement agency in Texas, asked the church to assist in assimilation of about half a dozen families who were the first arrivals. 

The church agreed and formed ministry groups, including mentors, for the early-arriving families. This first cluster of 35 to 40 Karen refugees soon grew to more than 600 individuals from four major language groups. San Antonio congregations that partner with First Baptist in the ministry include Gospel Myanmar Church (Burmese language), San Antonio Karen Baptist Church (Karen language), Cornerstone Karenni Baptist Church (Karenni language) and Zomi First Baptist Church (Zomi language).

Missions provided a link to McClatchy’s Judson Day presentation at First Baptist Church. He has taught church history courses—which cover missions and the Judsons—at Baptist University of the Americás and Logsdon Seminary, both in San Antonio. Through that connection, he has taught two key Burmese Christian leaders in San Antonio—Pastor Timothy Ling Shaw and Tera Kouba, assistant to Pastor Wayne Williams, minister to the international/Asian community for First Baptist Church.

Williams invited McClatchy to speak on Ann Judson’s contributions at this year’s Judson Day Celebration. She made six major contributions, he said. They include:

1. She was willing to sacrificially follow what God was calling her to do.

2. She proved women were more than qualified to serve as missionaries. She helped open the door for single women to serve as missionaries.

3. She demonstrated mission work was not confined only preaching and teaching scriptures but could include education, too, reinforcing the use of other serving ministries on the mission field.

4. She discovered language acquisition occurs more quickly through immersion in the culture rather than the classroom.

5. She discovered the value of reporting on mission work to Baptists in America.

6. She modeled the love of Christ by sacrificially giving herself to the welfare of her husband when he was imprisoned by Burmese authorities.