Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions – $31,250
The International Mission Board exists to help mobilize Southern Baptists to reach the world with the gospel. The majority of it’s funding comes through the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions. 100% of funds given though this offering go to the mission field. Here are some important facts related to the work of the IMB. As you can see, there is still much to be done for the world to be reached with the gospel.
Missionaries under the leadership of IMB (as of 5/20/2009) – 5,656
Overseas baptisms in 2008 – 565,967
New churches started overseas in 2008 – 26,970
People groups engaged with the gospel (as of 06/17/09) – 1,178
People groups still not engaged with the gospel – 5,806
Number of people in unreached people groups – 1.6 billion
World population 2008 – 6.9 billion
Who was Lottie Moon?
Lottie Moon—the namesake of the international missions offering—has become something of a legend. But in her time, Lottie was anything but an untouchable hero. In fact, she was like today’s missionaries. When she set sail for China in 1873, Lottie Moon was 32 years old. She had turned down a marriage proposal and left her job, home and family to follow God’s lead. Lottie served 39 years as a missionary, mostly in China’s Shantung province. She taught in a girls’ school and often made trips into China’s interior to share the good news with women and girls.