The International Mission Board (IMB) is praying for a miracle, and it is praying that you and every other Southern Baptist will be a part of that miracle becoming a reality.
The IMB is praying that Southern Baptists will give $175 million through the 2009 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) for International Missions.
And if the goal is met, then it will be a miracle of biblical proportions.
To understand the importance of the offering to international missions, one must realize that this once-a-year offering makes up about 55 percent of the IMB’s annual budget. The 2010 IMB budget is $317.6 million.
The Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Cooperative Program (CP), the primary giving channel to support all SBC programs, provides 35 percent of the budget. The other 10 percent comes from various sources such as individual donations and interest income from reserves. The special offering is far and away the largest source of IMB funding.
Also keep in mind the offering received this Christmas season (2009) is included in the 2010 IMB budget.
Older Baptists may remember the day when the LMCO went exclusively for capital needs.
Funds from the offering bought homes and cars for missionaries and built classrooms for missionary schools, camp facilities and other such things.
Today almost all LMCO receipts are built into the operating budget of the IMB. For example, of 2008’s $170 million goal, more than 90 percent — $154.5 million — was built into the 2009 operating budget. Only $15.5 million was earmarked for capital needs around the world, and the operating budget must be met before any funds go to capital needs.
In the 2010 budget, the IMB has reduced the percentage of the offering goal designated for operations. The amount going to operations will be $146 million, or 83.4 percent, of the total.
Not only has the percentage of the offering going to operations been reduced but the actual dollars expected from the offering for operations also have been reduced — from $154.5 million in 2009 to $146 million in 2010.
Perhaps that is because the 2008 LMCO fell far short of the goal of $170 million. Last year, Southern Baptists gave $141,315,110 through the LMCO. That is roughly $9 million less than Southern Baptists gave in 2007.
Still IMB Treasurer David Steverson said, “When you consider the number of our constituency who have lost jobs and are directly affected by this economy, we are grateful that the offering experienced only a 6 percent decline.”
Despite the sour economy and last year’s giving record, IMB officials chose to raise the offering goal for 2009 by another $5 million. Perhaps that is because “doors are swinging open all over the world” and “our work force (missionaries) is finding great harvest in some of the most difficult places in the world,” according to Gordon Fort, IMB vice president of global strategy.
To reach the $175 million goal, Southern Baptists will have to increase their giving to the LMCO by almost 25 percent in one year, or nearly $34 million.
That is the miracle the IMB is praying for.
The reduction in funds from the offering allocated to the operating budget (2009 budget compared to 2010 budget) is offset by reducing the overall budget by $2.2 million and taking $7.5 million from the IMB’s contingency reserves.
IMB spokeswoman Wendy Norvelle said this is the first time the IMB has built a withdrawal from reserves into its budget. In the past, contingency reserves have been used to cover shortfalls but not built into the budget.
Missing the LMCO goal is not an unusual experience for the IMB. In 2005, the offering goal was $150 million. Southern Baptists gave $137,939,677. The next year, IMB officials chose to keep the offering goal the same and Southern Baptists topped the goal by $250,000.
In 2007, the IMB raised the goal 10 percent to $165 million with $153.7 million designated for operations. Giving that year increased only about $160,000 to $150,409,654.
In three out of the last four years, Southern Baptists not only have missed the LMCO goal but actual receipts also have not covered the amount budgeted for operations.
Still the offering goal goes up. Perhaps that is because of the board’s strategic goals adopted in 2005 that include working “in anticipation of adequate giving by Southern Baptists.” Other financial goals call for increasing CP giving by 5 percent annually and meeting the LMCO goal each year.
All of us know the LMCO is not about building up an organization. The offering is about providing resources for sharing the gospel. One goal adopted in 2005 illustrates that.
One of the strategic goals is to “provide access to the gospel among all people groups by the end of 2010.”
IMB President Jerry Rankin called these “God-sized goals.” He said, “God’s at work in the world, and this is what it will take to keep up with what He is doing.” That is why the IMB is praying for a miracle concerning this year’s LMCO.
We join it in that prayer. Everyone deserves the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Still it is reassuring to see the wisdom of IMB leaders as they plan their budget. There must always be a relationship between what God makes available to a ministry through tithes and offerings and what that ministry plans and budgets to accomplish. Failure to keep these two in balance can create an unnecessary crisis for any ministry and any denomination.
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