April 25, 2024
DULUTH, Ga. – Churches gave more than $1.4 million over the past year through the Mission Georgia offering that provides funding specifically for sharing the gospel in Georgia, a state with more than 9 million unchurched residents.
Georgia Baptist Mission Board Chief Operating Officer David Melber said that was an increase of more than $100,000 over the previous year.
“The Mission Georgia offering finished the year at $1,431,860, a 7.8 percent increase,” Melber said. “Clearly, our churches are not only praying for the lost in Georgia but are also committing their finances to reaching the lost in Georgia.”
Melber said that’s important considering the state, with its robust job market, is drawing immigrants from non-Christian cultures around the world.
“Literally, the world is coming to Georgia,” he said. “More than a million current Georgia residents were born in other countries. It behooves us to introduce them to Jesus, and Mission Georgia sets us up to be able to do that.”
The Mission Georgia offering is one of three major offerings recognized by Georgia Baptist churches. The others are the Lottie Moon Christmas offering to support international missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter offering to support North American missions.
Mission Georgia funds a multi-faceted approach to reaching Georgia. That includes helping to rescue teenage girls from human traffickers, finding forever homes for foster care children, providing prenatal care and counseling for mothers-to-be to ensure they deliver healthy babies, helping at-risk children learn to read, helping immigrants learn English and find jobs.
Lorna Bius, a mobilizer for Mission Georgia, said the state faces major spiritual battles, and she said she’s grateful churches are stepping up with their prayers and their resources to win those battles.
“The needs are great but the opportunities are also great,” she said. “An example would be maternity homes opening for women in crisis pregnancies, homes for women and girls rescued from human trafficking. We’ve been able to support efforts to house women in ways that we haven’t been able to do before.”
Bius said Mission Georgia concentrates on helping the state’s most vulnerable through prayer, manpower and funding to change lives.
The increased Mission Georgia funding, Bius said, is “a tremendous blessing.”
“I think our Georgia Baptist family is excited to be a part of real solutions to some really critical needs,” she said.
