By Paul Chitwood
President, International Mission Board
The 2020 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal is $175 million. That number is significant because 2020 marks the 175th anniversary of Southern Baptists sending workers to the nations.
The annual offering makes up almost 60 percent of the International Mission Board’s revenue and helps to support 3,535 missionaries and their families. Going back to 1888, the year Woman’s Missionary Union launched the offering, Southern Baptists have given over $4.7 billion through the offering.
Simply put, our company cannot exist without the Lottie Moon offering and this year’s offering goal is a God-sized goal. We’ve never had a $175 million dollar offering goal and never had a $175 million offering. Last year’s offering, the third largest in history, was $157 million. The largest Lottie Moon offering ever was $165,798,000. That falls almost $10 million short of this year’s goal of $175 million. [Read more…]