By Grace Thornton
Correspondent, The Alabama Baptist
The gospel is good and there are scores of people in the world who haven’t heard it yet. That’s “the whole reason the International Mission Board (IMB) exists,” said David Platt, IMB president. “It’s the whole reason this coalition of churches is working together to send and support missionaries around the world.”
And that’s why the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is banding together this year to aim for a national goal of giving $155 million to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO).
Alabama Baptists are looking to make up $12 million of that goal.
Continued growth
The offering, which was started in 1888, continues to grow each year with 100 percent of LMCO receipts going straight to fund missionaries serving on the field.
Giving totaled $165.8 million in 2015, the highest in the history of the offering.
The offering and the work it benefits are highlighted each year through a week of prayer for international missions, held this year Dec. 4–11 with the theme “The Gospel Resounds.”
Need for gospel
According to IMB, in China alone nearly 1 million people each month are dying without a personal relationship with Christ. In other parts of the world, millions of Syrian refugees are more open to the gospel message than they ever have been. Throughout the world there are people groups that have lived and died without ever being contacted by someone with the gospel.
That makes the work of Southern Baptists through LMCO vital, Platt said.
“Right now, because of your giving, there are missionaries going up and down the Amazon and proclaiming the gospel to remote tribes,” he said.
“Right now, people in European cities who are being attacked continually by terror are also hearing the hope of the gospel because of your giving. Right now, as a result of your giving, there are brothers and sisters spreading the gospel across West African villages, sub-Saharan countries, Middle Eastern cities, South Asian fields, Central Asian mountains and Southeast Asian islands. Your faith is literally resounding around the world for the glory of God.”
Funding missionaries
The average cost of keeping an IMB missionary on the field is:
$58,200 a year
$4,850 a month
$1,119 a week
$159 a day
LMCO gifts go directly to offset the expenses incurred by life on the missions field, from transportation to rent to medical needs.
To help promote the offering, IMB has made resources available on its website, including videos, posters, sermon information and materials for children and students.
For more information, visit www.imb.org/lottie-moon-christmas-offering.
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