December is the time when many Southern Baptist Churches give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for missions. Unfortunately, the number of church members who know about Lottie is dwindling. She is very important to us missionaries, and not just because of the offering in her name. Let me tell you a little about her.Lottie Moon was a Southern Baptist missionary to China from 1873-1912. She was one of the first single women to be appointed by the Southern Baptist Convention. A feisty, petite woman, she was not afraid to fight for her right to be a messenger of the gospel to the nations.
Lottie was born to affluent family in Virginia. If anyone questions her tenacity or intelligence, consider that Lottie became one of the first women to earn a master’s degree in linguistics. Not alone in her call to missions, her sister, Edmonia, arrived in China before her. Unfortunately, Edmonia’s health necessitated her return to the States a short while later.
Lottie came to love the Chinese people and her desire for them to know Christ grew to consume her life. She adopted many of the Chinese ways of life, including their dress. She moved to the interior of China, something unheard of for a single lady. She stayed in China through several wars, plagues, and famine.
Lottie may be most remembered for her scathing letters back to the States. She angrily admonished the American churches for not sending more missionaries. She faced the problem of new Christians who had no one to baptize them and felt that American Christians were not heeding the call to missions. She also admonished the churches for their lack of monetary support which would allow the sending of missionaries. She rarely held her tongue when she thought a well-placed word (or letter) was needed. She was the first to suggest that the week before Christmas be dedicated to a missions offering. The Baptist Women’s Missionary Societies took on this task and established the offering that would later be named after her.
In Lottie’s day, missionaries often went overseas with the understanding that they may never see their families in the States again. Going abroad, especially to underdeveloped nations, was extremely dangerous. Disease and hostile nationals led often to death. But Lottie understood that returning to the States gave much needed rest and rejuvenation. She encouraged missionaries to return every 10 years! In her almost forty years of ministry Lottie returned to the States twice.
Towards the end of her ministry, the Chinese people faced a severe famine. Lottie pleaded with the mission board for more money, but it was in great debt. Missionaries’ salaries were voluntarily cut. Lottie, in her compassion for her Chinese people, shared all of her resources with those in need. She also began to starve along with her Chinese friends and neighbors. At the age of 72, weighing 50 pounds, the other missionaries in China forced her to board a ship back to the States to regain her health. She died before reaching the States.
Some of Lottie’s story reminds us of our situation today. How many missionaries still write home pleading for those with the missionary call to obey it? Not every Christian is called to cross-cultural missions, but those who are should obey.And our economic situation today is slightly reminiscent of Lottie’s pleas for money. Though the International Mission Board is not in debt, a great many things have been cut from our budgets so that everyone has enough fuel to get to their churches. We have had to limit the number of appointments to the field. There are people called to missions, obedient to God, who are waiting to be sent - waiting until there is enough money.
This is the Lottie for whom the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was named. You can understand why this offering means so much to us. Missionaries also give to Lottie - and we don’t call it the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, we call it giving to Lottie. We don’t give to an “offering.” We give to Lottie. We give to the greatest desire of our hearts - the winning of the nations to the glory of God.
