May 2, 2024
RICHMOND, Va. — The International Mission Board reported Friday that Southern Baptists have given more than $196 million through the Lottie Moon offering for the year, besting a $190 million goal.
“Thank you, Southern Baptists, for your growing commitment to get the gospel to the nations,” said IMB President Paul Chitwood. “Your generous giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, along with your ongoing commitment to the Cooperative Program, has the IMB positioned to overcome the staggering impact of global inflation and meet the needs of your missionaries.”
The $190 million goal for 2022-23 was set in partnership with Woman’s Missionary Union. The $196.1 million total includes gifts to specific projects, often referred to as Lottie Moon challenges or Lottie giving projects.
“We celebrate the generosity demonstrated by these incredible gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering,” said WMU Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin. “Southern Baptists have no intention of abdicating their mandate of taking the gospel to the nations. We joyfully sacrifice at home and abroad to address the world’s greatest problem, lostness.”
One hundred percent of the money given to the offering and directly to the IMB goes to the work overseas to support missionaries and their mission initiatives. Because of faithful giving to the Cooperative Program, which pays for support staff in the U.S. as well as missionary support, every dollar of the Lottie Moon offering goes toward sharing the gospel overseas.
“Your generosity also makes way for a growing missionary force amid the unprecedented growth of lostness,” Chitwood said.
More than 1300 additional missionaries-to-be are now in the pipeline for deployment around the world.
“As we begin a new fiscal year, we are praying that giving continues to grow and keeps pace with the growing number of missionaries who want to serve through the IMB,” Chitwood said.
Pastor Vitaly Sorokun of the Baptist Union of Ukraine was among people around the world who offered words to thanks to Southern Baptists for supporting the work of IMB.
“I came to know Jesus Christ because of a Southern Baptist missionary,” he said. “I began to grow as a Christian because of a Southern Baptist missionary. And we have served with the missionaries from the IMB over all these years.”
