Our Redemption Hill Church family goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering For International Missions is $25,000. Each year, our church joins with 50,000 churches across America to participate in an offering that supports missionaries serving around the world. Every penny that is given goes directly to the mission field in support of these missionaries and their mission work.
Over 100 years ago, a single adult, Lottie Moon, served as an international missionary in China. She began writing letters challenging the American church to send and support more workers to go there.
Born Charlotte Digges Moon, December 12, 1840, in Virginia, Lottie rebelled against Christianity until she was in college. In December 1858, she dedicated her life to CHRIST and was baptized at First Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia.
She was appointed a missionary in 1872, and she served for over 39 years in the Shantung province in China. She was passionate about people knowing CHRIST.
Lottie shared her meager finances and food with the starving Chinese people around her mission, severely affecting both her physical and mental health. Alarmed, fellow missionaries arranged for her to be sent back home with a missionary companion.
She died on December 24, 1912, at the age of 72. At the time of her death, she was in route to the United States, but took her last breath in the harbor at Kobe, Japan. Her body was cremated, and her remains were returned to her family in Virginia for burial. Cause of death: severe malnutrition.
Charlotte “Lottie” Moon came to personify the sacrificially missionary spirit of those who serve around the world. So, as a result of her faith and her legacy, a missions offering was established and named in her honor.
Let’s all give generously and sacrificially to support our missionaries who are serving CHRIST around the world. As we contemplate giving, let’s remember II Corinthians 9:7: “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for GOD loves a cheerful giver.”
Pastor Mike