When an Indiana pastor asked his small congregation to set a sacrificial goal for their Lottie Moon offering, he never expected this. A goal of $500 would have been a challenge for Iglesia Bautista Hispana El Calvario, but they set a seemingly-impossible goal of $10,000! People of every age contributed sacrificially. Some worked a second job for a month and gave those earnings. One lady gave two weeks of paychecks. Kids, retirees, even unemployed folks found creative ways to give. That awesome little church collected more than $10,000 for SBC international missions.
DavisWhat’s Lottie Moon? It’s a critical piece of our Southern Baptist plan for sharing Christ with our world.* This annual Christmas offering supports more than half of the International Mission Board’s (IMB) budget, and each church sets its own offering goal. Here’s one goal-setting idea you may like:
4,800 quarters. Southern Baptists currently send and support more than 4,800 international missionaries. Why not challenge your church to give a quarter (25 cents) for every missionary: 25 cents X 4,800 missionaries = $1,220 goal. If that’s not a sacrificial goal for your church, aim for $1 per missionary ($4,800) or $10 per missionary ($48,000 goal), or more. Set a huge, God-sized goal!
Announce the goal. Post it prominently around the church. Print it in bulletins, newsletters, website, Facebook page. Be sure every member knows the goal and the challenge to contribute sacrificially. Use excellent, free promotion materials from www.imb.org.
4,800 paper dolls. Measure progress visually. Create a chain of 4,800 paper dolls. For simple instructions to make accordion-fold paper dolls, ask any grandma or check YouTube.com. Size the dolls so that 4,800 will encircle the worship center when the goal is reached. Add dolls weekly to show progress. If your goal is $1 per missionary, you’ll add a doll for every dollar contributed.
Celebrate weekly. Distribute weekly progress reports to Bible classes. Post updates on the website. E-mail it. Do biweekly Facebook updates. Tell stories of sacrificial giving. Celebrate milestones. Example: The youth group does a missions garage sale; invite a youth leader to present the money and teens to add dolls to the wall and lead prayer for missionaries.
Take it seriously. Make it fun. Will your church joyfully, sacrificially make its 2011 Lottie Moon offering the best yet?
*Our Southern Baptist Convention is the world’s largest missions-sending organization. Each SBC church voluntarily contributes some percentage of their budget through our Cooperative Program (CP), and together we train, send and support 9,300 missionaries – 4,500 missionaries across North America (NAMB) and 4,800 international missionaries (IMB). Additionally, two SBC annual offerings are taken – Lottie Moon Christmas offering for IMB and Annie Armstrong Offering for NAMB each spring. 100 percent of those offerings are directed to the mission field.
– Diana Davis 2011, www.keeponshining.com.