When the books closed on the SBC’s 2023–24 fiscal year Sept. 30, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering totaled $74.7 million, and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering offering totaled $206.8 million — record highs for both.
The openhanded giving through both the Annie and Lottie offerings demonstrates Southern Baptists’ enduring commitment to North American and international missions, SBC missions leaders said.
“This extraordinary milestone reminds us of just how much Southern Baptists love their missionaries and how committed they are to seeing people in North America and around the world reached for Christ,” said Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board. “It also displays a willingness to look beyond their own needs and give generously and sacrificially to ministry that will reap an eternal harvest.”
International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood emphasized that the generosity of givers to the annual offerings shows an enduring commitment to the Great Commission.
“Together, Southern Baptists are taking on the world’s greatest problem — lostness — by sending and supporting missionaries to proclaim the gospel,” Chitwood said. “I praise God for these record-breaking offerings — proof that Southern Baptists are more committed than ever to pursuing the lost to the very ends of the earth.”
Each year, the national goals for both the Lottie and Annie offerings are set in partnership with Woman’s Missionary Union, which created the offerings in 1888 and 1895, respectively. WMU has long championed the necessity of each offering for Southern Baptist missions endeavors.
Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director/treasurer of national WMU, recently returned from Europe, where she was privileged to join IMB personnel in celebrating the 100th anniversary of a church planted a century ago because of sacrificial gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
‘Our heartbeat is missions’
“Our heartbeat is missions,” Wisdom-Martin said. “How grateful I am that Southern Baptists of our generation are just as committed to the Great Commission as those who went before us. A hundred years from now, others will be able to celebrate lives transformed for the sake of the gospel because of our collective investment today.”
She also noted that it has been WMU’s sacred privilege to keep faith with Southern Baptists in passionately promoting the offerings.
“With great joy, we join the denominational family in celebrating another historic milestone,” she said. “We know God will take every gift and multiply it for His glory. The proclamation of the gospel hinges at the points of our prayers and faithful stewardship. Thank you, Southern Baptists.”
Thousands supported
The Annie Armstrong offering supports more than 3,000 Southern Baptist missionaries serving throughout North America. The Annie offering helps to fuel church planting efforts through NAMB’s Send Network. Since 2010, Southern Baptists have started more than 11,000 new churches.
The Lottie Moon offering supports nearly 3,600 international missionaries and their families around the world. Total receipts include gifts to specific projects, often referred to as Lottie Moon challenges or Lottie giving projects. More than 90% of IMB missionary teams work directly with at least one unreached people group. This means they are serving among people who are less than 2% evangelical. Many of these groups are considered unengaged, with little-to-no gospel access.
Missionaries serving with Send Relief, the collaborative compassion ministry through NAMB and IMB, also are funded through the two offerings. Every dollar given to the Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon offerings goes directly to missionaries and resources on the mission field.
As spiritual needs in North America continue to grow, Southern Baptists have responded by giving record amounts to the Annie offering since 2017, except for the pandemic-impacted year of 2020. The increased giving has allowed NAMB to increase the quality of church planter assessment, coaching, training and care, resulting in a four-year survival rate that consistently hovers around 89 percent.
Free resources
As churches begin their campaigns for the 2024–25 Lottie Moon offering, often observed in the Christmas season, they can find free downloadable resources at lottiemoon.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by IMB and NAMB staffs and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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