October 24, 2024
DULUTH, Ga. – With the pandemic subsiding and worship attendance on the rise, churches are poised to potentially top the $1.25 million given last year through the Mission Georgia offering.
Congregations are gearing up to receive special offerings for Mission Georgia during September, the month designated by the Georgia Baptist Convention for that purpose.
Churches have already gotten off to a strong start this year, having given $551,291 through the end of July. Georgia Baptist Mission Board Chief Financial Officer David Melber said that's $130,204 more than had been given at the same point last year, a 31% increase.
Financial gifts to Mission Georgia are used to get the gospel to some of the most vulnerable and hardest to reach people in the state.
Through Mission Georgia, teenage girls forced into prostitution by human traffickers are being rescued. Orphaned children who had been stuck in foster care are receiving needed support until they can be returned to their families or adopted. Mothers-to-be are getting the prenatal care and counseling they need to deliver healthy babies. Kids who can’t read are getting the educational help they need to not only catch up with their classmates but to excel in the classroom. And immigrants from other countries who settle in Georgia are finding homes, getting jobs and learning English.
“Every step of the way, these people are experiencing the gospel and also seeing it lived out right in front them,” said Lorna Bius, the Mission Georgia mobilizer for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. “People are being saved and their lives are being transformed, proving God is honoring our prayers, manpower and offering.”
The Mission Georgia offering, along with the Lottie Moon Christmas offering that supports international missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter offering that supports North American missions, allows churches to extend their reach beyond their local communities.
“Georgia Baptists face some huge obstacles in reaching the state for Christ,” Bius said. “These obstacles are more than any one of us can overcome by ourselves, but together, with God’s help, we will be able to get the gospel into every part of Georgia. That’s why Mission Georgia is so important. It provides the financial resources to make this happen.”
The Georgia Baptist Mission Board has made promotional resources available for churches at https://missiongeorgia.org/offering/.
