While additional gifts for missions are welcome, the “Christmas in August” special offering being promoted across the Southern Baptist Convention will not solve the long-term funding needs of the International Mission Board, that organization’s leader says.
Laurie RegisterAlso, a South Carolina WMU official has expressed concern that the name “Christmas in August” may be confused with an established annual Woman’s Missionary Union emphasis by the same name.
“We are grateful for the passionate response we are seeing on the part of so many churches when it is obvious they have other critical needs and many families in their churches are hurting,” IMB president Jerry Rankin said. “But one-time gifts are not the solution because missionary support must be maintained. It would be unfortunate to send out additional missionaries this year and then have to bring them home next year because we could not sustain this level of giving to missions. As churches take special offerings, we must have faith to believe that they will continue to give at this increased level in the future.”
“Christmas in August” is also the trademarked name of an established partnership between Woman’s Missionary Union SBC and the North American Mission Board. Since 1927, Christmas in August has mobilized WMU groups in local churches to provide supplies like school supplies, personal hygiene items, Christian music and movies, and Bibles that NAMB missionaries need for their ministries.
“Any time you have two events or promotions with the same name, there is the potential for confusion, especially when one has a long history, as does Woman’s Missionary Union’s Christmas in August,” said Laurie Register, executive director-treasurer of South Carolina WMU. “WMU groups across the country have been participating in Christmas in August – providing needed supplies to North American missionaries for 82 years.”
Register’s concerns were echoed by national WMU president Kaye Miller. “We understand and appreciate the intent of some Southern Baptist leaders to encourage giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this August,” Miller said. “However, we are greatly concerned that calling the effort ‘Christmas in August’ will confuse many in our churches, since there is no offering associated with [WMU’s] Christmas in August and it supports North American missionaries rather than international field personnel.”
The idea of taking up a special Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in August was proposed by Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Seminary, in June during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Louisville, Ky. Akin proposed the special offering to help the IMB make up a shortfall in the 2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. The $141 million collected for that offering fell $29 million short of the $170 million goal and more than $9 million short of receipts for the 2007 offering.
Other concerns have been expressed about raising money for an extra missions offering in August, among them the impact on state and associational missions offerings, some of which are conducted in September, including South Carolina’s Janie Chapman Offering for State Missions, Missions Education and Experience Kingdom Life. Register said South Carolina Baptists have traditionally been faithful to both Christmas in August and to the Janie Chapman offering that occurs the following month. “I trust that they will do so this year as well,” she said.
While the 2008 Lottie Moon offering for international missions fell short of its goal, the $141 million that was raised may represent serious sacrifice, given the state of the nation’s economy, said Wanda Lee, executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union SBC.
“Naturally, we are concerned that the goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was not met,” Lee said. “However, in a year of financial hardship for many families and churches, we are grateful for the sacrificial giving of Southern Baptists to missions. This year’s giving to these offerings may be more sacrificial for some than ever before, considering the level of unemployment and loss of income experienced by many in our churches.
“Ever since WMU began the annual offerings that support international and North American missionaries, we have underscored the importance of supporting them so missionaries can follow God’s call to service. More importantly, however, since our inception in 1888 WMU has instilled the biblical principles of stewardship in all areas of life. What is needed is an ongoing infusion of these principles through the teaching of the church through missions education. Then, and only then, will stewardship of our resources become a part of the fabric of our daily living.”
Rankin said Southern Baptists “are unique in that they have chosen to do missions cooperatively” through the Cooperative Program.
“It has enabled us to become the largest missionary-sending agency in the world because we can do more together than churches can do independently,” Rankin said. “While we greatly appreciate every special offering, the ultimate solution will not be found in additional special offerings, but in individual church members and families practicing better stewardship; it is only as churches and the denomination give a higher priority to reaching a lost world and find ways to consistently allocate more to missions on an ongoing basis will we be able to be obedient in sending the missionaries God is calling from our churches.”