If you are reading this, you must already be interested in seeing a better offering from your church for our 5,600 Southern Baptist missionaries. Somehow, you know your people can do better in their giving, but you need a fresh idea to motivate them.
“Give more to Jesus than to anyone else at Christmas.”
That statement is the key! You see, our congregations need to know how much they should give to Lottie Moon. If they are not calibrated, they might thoughtlessly give $5 or $10 and feel like they did their part. For many, they simply have not been given a sense of what is appropriate. Christmas is Jesus’ birthday! If our people get the vision that they could give more to Jesus than to anyone else, our offerings would skyrocket! And that is important because we are not reaching our evangelistic goals, and we are not replacing retiring missionaries because of financial reasons. This cannot happen! And it won’t happen if our churches are passionate about this offering, the source of 50% of our International Mission Board’s budget.
My pastor, Bill Billingsley (Sheridan Hills Baptist Church, Hollywood, Florida) promoted the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this way: he reminded everyone constantly and graciously that we should give more to Jesus than to anyone else on His birthday. He would say, “What if I invited you to my birthday party, and you brought presents for everyone except me? Do you think I would find that strange?” Catching the vision, the church gave radically to LMCO. That’s just the way it was…every year.
So, there it is. It’s that simple. If you, as the pastor, will get behind this offering with your passion, joy, and personal sacrifice, your church will blow the lid off its yearly amount. If you help your people with the statement, “Give more to Jesus than to anyone else at Christmas,” they will know what to give.
But some might object and say, “We have big needs here at home. Our people are out of work, and the economy is bad. We can’t ask for any more than we already have!” Yes, the needs are real. However, we have found that if we make a priority of world evangelization through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, God takes care of the rest. We have been blessed time and again, even in the middle of land purchases and a building campaign when we chose not to compromise our mission giving.
May the Lord of the Harvest bless you this year as you go for the biggest Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in your church’s history. You can do it! Just remember: “Give more to Jesus than to anyone else at Christmas.”
‘Til everyone has heard,
Mark Coleman
Pastor of New Life Baptist Church
Davie, Florida
You may download the FREE graphic resources below to help promote the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in your church.
Please let us know if your church is using these resources by emailing us at admin@NewLifeInDavie.com.
16:9 (Widescreen)
8.5 x 5.5 Bulletin Insert
4:3 (Full Screen)
Business Card Sized Flyer
11 x 6 Postcard
