Who is Lottie Moon? Good
question…some reading this may not know who she was and why we are always
raising money for her during Christmas.
Is Lottie Moon a creditor, like
Sallie Mae or Freddie Mac? Absolutely not!
Lottie Moon was an early
missionary to China in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. She spent 40 years in
her beloved country with a burden to get the gospel out. She was a deeply
burdened, hard-working, Southern Baptist who faithfully labored so her people could know the Jesus who
changed her life.
So why is the annual Christmas
offering named in her honor?
While she was in China she
constantly wrote letters home encouraging a greater awareness of missions, a
greater personal involvement in missions, and a greater sacrificial support for
missions. These letters caused the Southern Baptist in 1888 to take up a
Christmas offering for international missions. That offering was enough to send
three missionaries to China.
That was 125 years ago and her
letters still speak to us today. As off today the offering named in honor of
Lottie Moon has generated more than 3.5 billion dollars.
Where does the money go?
Every penny goes to support
4,800 missionaries. If we reach our corporate goal this year of $175 million
then we would be able to send 576 new missionaries to the field. Calvary’s goal
is $2,000 and it thrills me to think that the money we give is going to take
care of ordinary people sharing God’s extraordinary grace.
Lottie Moon, missionary to
China, died on December 24, 1912. She lived an ordinary life of extraordinary
grace, sacrificing everything to get the gospel story of redemption out to the
lost people of China. But that is not the end of Lottie Moon’s story. Her story
is God’s story of redemption that lives on through the ages, and we can be a part
of that story as we give sacrificially to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.
Grace & Peace,
Scott