What gift that you will give this Christmas will bring the greatest joy to
the recipient? If you have given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign
Missions, you might be surprised.
What gift that you will give this Christmas will bring the greatest joy to
the recipient? If you have given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign
Missions, you might be surprised.
Presently, hundreds of Southern Baptists feel called to serve as missionaries
under appointment of the International Mission Board. These folks are adequately
trained and meet the strict requirements for IMB appointment, but the International
Mission Board does not have the financial resources to send them.
The qualified would-be international missionaries stand willing and ready to
go tell the lost around the world about the saving power of Jesus Christ. People
across international boundaries need Christ and many of them ask for IMB missionaries.
The spiritual need of the world is not now, nor has ever been, questioned.
The problem is there is not an adequate support to get the missionaries with
the message to the people in need. And the only shortcoming is that Southern
Baptists are not giving enough to send the willing.
The major glue that has held Southern Baptists together for all these decades
is their commitment to international missions. Other Christian enterprises are
intertwined with our commitment to international missions, but without this
basic missions commitment, one doubts the Southern Baptist Convention would
have survived anywhere near its present strength.
Southern Baptists prayer and financial support of international missions has
been adequate to fuel the largest non-Catholic international missions-sending
agency on earth. Through the Great Depression and other difficult national financial
times, Southern Baptists continued their strong support of international missions.
While our support of the IMB is strong today, it is not strong enough.
How can we in good conscience tell people who have been called of God to be
international missionaries, and who have prepared for this ministry, “We
do not care enough about international missions to give enough to send you.
We do not care enough about the lost people that you would lead to know Christ
as Lord and Savior to give sacrificially to be your bridge to that place.”
Can you imagine the joy that would occur if an IMB official called a hopeful
missionary couple and said, “We have great news! The Lottie Moon Christmas
Offering for Foreign Missions has been strong enough that we will be able to
send you to that lost tribe who has never heard the name of Jesus Christ.”
What gift could you give that would bring more lasting joy?
Remember, there is enough money to send every qualified international missionary
candidate to the place God has called them. The only problem at this time is
that the money is still in Southern Baptists pockets. There must be a
major transfer of funds.
If you have already given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign
Missions, is it possible that you should give again? If you have not given yet,
is it possible that you should give with the assurance that you cannot give
a gift that would have more lasting impact on the world? Regardless of how meaningful
our other gifts are this year, we need to give more to enable people to give
the most important gift in the universe – the saving presence of Jesus
Christ.