More on Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

Lottie Moon past and present
This year marks 125 years of annual giving to support international missions. The 2013 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® goal is $175 million, the same as in 2012 and 2011. In 2012, Southern Baptists gave $149.3 million to the offering. It surpassed the previous year’s offering of $146.8 million by more than $2.4 million and marked the third-highest amount given in the offering’s history. Despite the difficult economy, we can rejoice in how God has blessed Southern Baptists’ sacrificial giving. However, to make disciples of all peoples in fulfillment of the Great Commission, Southern Baptists must submit to being totally His, individually, as a church and as a convention.

Small gifts; big impact!
Helping to reach a $175 million goal can be daunting if you’re struggling to make ends meet. But God smiles upon every gift given from a joyful heart, no matter the amount. Every penny given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® is used to help support nearly 5,000 Southern Baptist missionaries and their ministries as they share the Gospel overseas. The offering makes up 54 percent of the IMB’s income. Last year, your missionaries reported baptizing 266,451 new believers and starting 24,073 new churches. Thus, your gifts had an eternal impact on the lives of these new believers by helping to bring them to Christ.

What is the average cost to support an individual missionary?

• $51,000 a year (average)
• $4,250 a month
• $981 a week
• $140 a day

Your church can use these figures to set goals for giving. Could your church, by faith, commit to supporting one missionary for a week, month or even a year?
(Reported May 2013. Support includes housing, salary, children’s education, medical expenses, retirement and more.)