This report has been updated since it was originally posted.
As the books closed on the latest fiscal year, receipts for the two Southern Baptist national annual missions offerings were praised for underscoring the value Southern Baptist churches continue to place on reaching the world with the gospel — though both offerings fell short of set goals.
The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering totaled $212.5 million to support International Mission Board missionaries, and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering reached $73.6 million to support the North American Mission Board’s church planting, compassion ministry and other evangelistic efforts to reach North America. The goal for the Lottie Moon offering was $215 million, and the goal for the Annie Armstrong offering was $80 million.
The Annie total marked the second highest in NAMB’s history. The record Lottie Moon offering total surpassed last year’s total by more than $5 million and is the best offering in IMB history.
National goals for both offerings are set in partnership with Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) each year.
For the last 10 years, Southern Baptists have increasingly supported the Annie offering, setting records in seven of the last 10 years. Totals in each of the last four years have surpassed $70 million.
The Annie Armstrong offering supports more than 3,000 missionaries in North America, including the ongoing work of church planting in the U.S. and Canada. In 2025, Southern Baptists planted the largest number of churches, 699, since 2016. Including church plants and replants, Southern Baptists have surpassed 700 new churches in four of the last five years. More than 12,000 churches have been planted since 2010.
Outreach
To go along with the increased giving totals to the SBC’s missions offerings, Southern Baptists have also increased their local outreach efforts, indicating that the focus is not just on giving but on sending. Baptism totals have increased in each of the last five years, recovering from the pandemic-year low in 2020 to surpass the 2017 total. The five consecutive years of increase marked the first such streak in approximately 75 years.
Rising offering totals and continued generosity are critical for the IMB as well as they have seen a 500% increase in missionary applicants since 2018, with total applicants above 1,600. IMB is also seeing growth among volunteers of all ages and global missionary partners. Southern Baptists’ faithful giving helps overcome the challenges of inflation and other rising costs of international work — an ongoing and vital effort as Southern Baptist missionary teams grow.
The new annual offering season kicks off Oct. 1 and runs through Sep. 30 of the following year. As Southern Baptist churches celebrate one year’s offering total, they prepare for the next season of giving to Lottie Moon, which is often observed during Christmastime.
Free downloadable resources to promote the 2026–27 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering are available at lottiemoon.com. For the 2026–2027 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, free resources are available at anniearmstrong.com.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and released by the International Mission Board. This article was contributed to by The Baptist Paper.
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