Every Christmas, tens of thousands of Southern Baptist churches come together to support the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, a vital initiative that fuels the work of thousands of missionaries serving around the globe. I would argue it is the most important reason that the Southern Baptist Convention exists. Named after Lottie Moon, a dedicated Southern Baptist missionary to China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this offering is more than just an annual tradition; it is the lifeline for our missionaries and a visible expression of the Great Commission in action.
The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering does more than fund global missions; it also serves as a reminder of the sacrifice and heroism of our International Mission Board missionaries—the real heroes of the Southern Baptist Convention. These men and women have answered the call to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, often at great personal, financial, and professional cost. Supporting them through the LMCO is not only our responsibility, but it is also a privilege.
The offering is named after Charlotte “Lottie” Moon, an early pioneer in Southern Baptist mission work. Born in 1840 in Virginia, Lottie served for nearly 40 years in China, dedicating her life to sharing the gospel with a people who had never heard of Jesus. Her unwavering commitment, even in the face of loneliness, illness, and cultural barriers, is an example to us all, and she has left behind a legacy that still stands today.
Lottie famously urged Southern Baptists to prioritize international missions, writing letters to different leaders back home that were both convicting and inspiring. She wrote of the dire need for workers in the mission field and the resources required to support them. Her words challenged churches to give sacrificially and to see missions as central to their calling.
That calling and burden for mission work persists among Southern Baptists today through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Since its inception in 1888, it has raised nearly six billion dollars(!) to fund missionaries. This legacy continues to inspire and sustain the work of the IMB as it seeks to make disciples of all nations.
Why It Matters
The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is critical for three key reasons: it provides financial support for missionaries, enables sustainable ministry efforts, and fulfills the Great Commission mandate.
1. Providing Financial Support for Missionaries
The LMCO enables our missionaries to be full-time while overseas. Many missionaries of other organizations have to spend their furlough travelling and raising money instead of resting and respite. Not so with the IMB, and it’s because of the LMCO. This support allows over 3,500 IMB missionaries to serve full-time without the distraction of raising their own financial support. These missionaries are able to focus entirely on their calling: making disciples and planting churches in some of the most spiritually dark and physically challenging places on earth.
2. Enabling Sustainable Ministry Efforts
The LMCO doesn’t just pay the salaries and living expenses of our missionaries—it also supports the work they do. Whether it’s providing medical care in remote villages, translating the Bible into new languages, or training local believers to lead churches, the offering enables long-term, sustainable ministry. These efforts create lasting impact, often in places where the gospel has never been preached. It’s about moving people groups from unreached and unengaged into disciple-making people groups.
The LMCO ensures that missionaries have the tools and resources they need to share the gospel effectively. It helps fund community development projects, disaster relief, and evangelism efforts that open doors for gospel conversations. Every dollar given is an investment in eternal fruit.
3. Fulfilling the Great Commission
Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) is the heartbeat of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Through this offering, Southern Baptists participate in the Great Commission by sending and supporting those who go. While not every believer is called to serve overseas, every believer is called to be part of the mission. By giving to the LMCO, churches and individuals have the opportunity to play a direct role in advancing God’s kingdom around the world.
Missionaries: The Real Heroes of the SBC
Many of us have men and women we admire in the SBC. We find them in our seminaries, behind pulpits across the nation, or serving in countless other ways. But the real heroes of the convention are the missionaries who leave behind comfort and security of home to serve Christ in foreign lands. These men and women embody the essence of sacrificial obedience, answering God’s call to take the gospel where it is desperately needed, and we need to be ready to support them. I recently heard IMB President Paul Chitwood speak of the many potential missionaries in the pipeline ready to go. Why haven’t they been sent? Because the money is needed to send them. Consider the ways these men and women are heroes and let that motivate you to give.
1. Sacrifice and Courage
IMB missionaries face challenges that most of us can only imagine. Many serve in restricted-access countries where Christianity is illegal, putting their safety (and that of their families) at risk every day. Others endure extreme poverty, isolation, and cultural barriers as they seek to build relationships and share the hope of Christ.
Missionaries often leave behind family and friends, trading the familiar for the unknown. They forgo stable jobs, comfortable homes, and the conveniences of modern life to follow God’s call. Their courage and commitment inspire us to live more faithfully in our own contexts.
2. Faithful Witness in Hard Places
The reality is that most of the world’s unreached people live in areas that are difficult to access and spiritually resistant. These are the places where IMB missionaries serve—bringing the gospel to people groups who have never heard the name of Jesus. They labor in places where the soil is hard, but they do so with perseverance, trusting that God will bring the harvest.
3. Fruit That Multiplies
One of the most inspiring aspects of missionary work is its multiplication effect. IMB missionaries train local believers to become leaders and disciple-makers in their own communities. This creates a ripple effect, where the gospel spreads far beyond what one person or team could accomplish. By equipping others, missionaries ensure that their work continues long after they have moved on.
Yes, these missionaries are truly the unsung heroes of the SBC, faithfully living out the gospel in hard-to-reach places. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a way for Southern Baptists to celebrate and support their sacrifice. Supporting it is not just about giving—it’s about partnering in the gospel. Here are three ways you can be involved:
How You Can Participate
1. Pray
Prayer is foundational to missions. Pray for the missionaries supported by the LMCO, asking God to sustain them, open doors for the gospel, and provide for their needs. Pray also for the unreached people they are trying to reach, that their hearts would be receptive to the good news of Jesus.
2. Give
The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is only as effective as our generosity allows it to be. Consider how you can give sacrificially to support this work. Whether it’s skipping a few cups of coffee or rethinking your holiday budget, every dollar matters. As Lottie Moon herself said, “Why should we not…do something that will prove that we are really in earnest in claiming to be followers of Him who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor?”
3. Go
For some, the call to participate in missions goes beyond prayer and giving—it means going. The LMCO supports those who are willing to go. Perhaps God is calling you to be one of them. Whether as a short-term volunteer or a long-term missionary, there are countless ways to serve in the mission field.
A Call to Action
The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is the lifeline for missionaries and an important part of fulfilling the Great Commission. By supporting it, Southern Baptists have the privilege of partnering with God’s work around the world. What a privilege it is to support these men and women who are telling people about the Jesus for the first time! We truly are better together. Through the millions of dollars that will be given this year, let’s believe and pray that God will do immeasurably more with those dollars than we could ever hope to do on our own.
This Christmas, as you consider the incredible gift of salvation through Christ, remember the missionaries who are sharing that gift with the nations. They are the real heroes of the SBC, and they deserve our prayer, our support, and our admiration. Let us give generously, pray fervently, and live missionally, so that the name of Jesus might be exalted among all peoples.
Through our collective efforts, we can ensure that the gospel continues to advance to the ends of the earth. And one day, when we stand before the throne of God, surrounded by people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, we will see the eternal impact of our giving. Until that day, let us press on with the same urgency and devotion that Lottie Moon demonstrated, for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.
Editor's Note: As a part of its commitment to fostering conversation within the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist Review may publish editorials that espouse viewpoints that are not necessarily shared by the TBR team or other contributors. We welcome submissions for responses and rebuttals to any editorials as we seek to host meaningful conversations about the present and future of our convention.
Jared Cornutt
Jared Cornutt serves as Pastor of North Shelby Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. Jared’s motion to amend the BFM2000 made at the 2023 Convention was overwhelmingly adopted, the first amendment to the BFM since its initial adoption. Jared graduated from the University of Alabama in 2013 and from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2015 with his Master of Divinity. He is currently a student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO pursuing a PhD in Historical Theology and will also earn a ThM in the process. Jared is a regular speaker at D-Nows, camps, revivals, and other church related events. Jared is married to Kandace and together they have four children. He is a founder and leadership team member for The Baptist Review.