The Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society was not officially organized as a national organization until 1880, but there were local and regional women’s organizations in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church that antedated the present organization. According to A Bicentennial Commemorative History, 1972-1996 by Bishop J. Clinton Hoggard, the women of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church shared the vision of spreading the Gospel of Christianity. They used their energies and resources to support the church in this effort.

The purpose of the Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is to:

• Promote growth in the knowledge and understanding of God and His plan of redemption for the world, as revealed through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit;
• Teach the concepts of Christian missions and provide experiences for participation in mission work and its ministries;
• Exemplify the principles of Christian living and to win others to Christ;
• Promote the cause of World Evangelism; and
• Serve as a financial support system to under gird the world mission outreach of the A.M.E. Zion Church at home and overseas, to the end that, through the power of the Holy Spirit; Christ is exalted and God is glorified.