Remembering the Needy

DateLine (12/20/06 – Green Pond, SC)

Christmas is a time to remember the needy. From bell ringers outside Wal-Mart to increased editorial coverage in the news, we’re reminded of the plight of the disadvantaged. To the credit of our country, the US responds and sets the standard for charitable contributions. According to the archives of the Washington Post, Americans gave ~$248.5 billion in 2004. Churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious entities received the largest share -- more than $88 billion.

For Southern Baptists, the Christmas season has been connected with missions as long as I can remember. For several generations an annual appeal has been made to the benefit of our International Missions work. In September of 1887 a woman with a funny sounding name, Lottie Moon, wrote a letter from her mission post in China suggesting a need for improvement in how Southern Baptist was funding missionaries. In December of that same year, the letter was printed in the Foreign Mission Journal. That single letter is credited with providing the impetus for the creation of a Southern Baptist offering to support international missions, which later became the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® for International Missions.

Unfortunately the Lottie Moon Christmas offering is becoming a generational thing. Many younger persons in the church are not as familiar with the offering or in fact Lottie Moon herself because we have been remiss in recent times of emphasizing this great cause. In the words of Lottie herself from the “letter that started it all,” “we shall continue to go on in our present ‘hand to mouth; system. We shall continue to see mission stations so poorly manned that missionaries break down from overwork, loneliness, and isolation; we shall continue to see promising mission fields unentered and old stations languishing; and we shall continue to see other denominations no richer and no better educated than ours, outstripping us in the race. I wonder how many of us really believe that ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’?

Need it be said, why the week before Christmas is chosen? Is not the festive season when families and friends exchange gifts in memory of The Gift laid on the altar of the world for the redemption of the human race, the most appropriate time to consecrate a portion from abounding riches and scant poverty to send forth the good tidings of great joy into all the earth?”

In 2005 we collected almost $140 millions dollars. Our collective goal for 2006 is $150 million. 100 percent of the offering is used in the overseas budget to support missionaries and their ministries. The offering is spent in support of over 5000 missionaries and special projects designed to share the gospel of Jesus Christ worldwide. I had a pastor years ago who challenged me to spend more on my gift to Jesus at Christmas than any other single gift to others. I can think of no better way to make that gift than to direct it toward the annual Christmas offering which bears the name of Lottie Moon. The greatest need is the need for Jesus.

For more information see http://www.Imb.org/lottiemoon.