Southern Baptists provided resounding support through the 2015 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) for International Missions.
Finalized in early June, the 2015 LMCO totaled $165.8 million — the highest total in the 127-year history of the offering. The offering surpassed the previous all-time record of $154 million in 2013 by $11.8 million. The 2014 LMCO offering totaled just over $153 million.
“Southern Baptists have exhibited their commitment to God’s mission through these gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering,” said International Mission Board (IMB) President David Platt. “Especially after a year in which we have walked through many challenges together, the support Southern Baptists have shown through this offering will not only sustain but also encourage the thousands of missionaries sent from Southern Baptist churches who are spreading the gospel right now. As an IMB family, on behalf of unreached people around the world, we are deeply grateful for the generosity of Southern Baptists who have given for God’s glory among the nations.”
Vision for ‘limitless’ teams
Wanda Lee, executive director/treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), which promotes the offering in partnership with IMB, expressed her gratitude for the gifts.
“When Lottie Moon saw the depth of lostness in China and pled for help, churches responded with increased giving and prayer support. This year, we are grateful Southern Baptists responded once again at a critical time when increased resources are needed for our international outreach. How thankful we are for every person who gave and prayed, proving that together we can accomplish so much more than any one church or individual can alone.”
IMB’s vision for the future includes “limitless” missionary teams — healthy groups of “sent ones” who partner together with the goal of each team making disciples and multiplying churches.
Full-time missionaries are essential as leaders who continue to be the key strategic workers in some of the most difficult places on earth. More than 3,600 IMB missionaries depend on LMCO and regular missions giving by churches through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program for missionary salaries, housing, medical care, children’s education, field transportation and other expenses. Supporting one fully funded missionary overseas costs an average of $141 per day, or about $51,000 per year.
Making a difference
The 2015 offering will account for more than half of the total 2016 IMB budget of $278,755,000, said Rodney Freeman, IMB treasurer and vice president of support services.
Of the world’s 11,000 people groups, more than half — billions of people — are unreached with the gospel. More than 3,000 unreached people groups also are unengaged, which means there is no one working to share Christ or plant churches among them.
LMCO enables missionaries to make a difference.
Take Liesa Holeman for instance. She found an unlikely inroad into difficult-to-access indigenous communities in Mexico right where she lives in the city of Oaxaca by volunteering at the Casa Hogar children’s home.
Southern Baptists’ gifts enable Holeman to purchase the ministry supplies she uses at the children’s home where partnering U.S. churches send groups to share the gospel. There are still at least 10 unengaged, unreached people groups in Mexico alone, totaling more than 300,000 people. And there are more than 30 unreached people groups in the country, representing nearly 1.5 million people.
For more information about IMB and LMCO, visit IMB.org/FAQ.
(BP)
EDITOR’S NOTE — Names changed for security reasons.
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