promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
I am always amazed this time of year by the amount of energy we spend as churches on celebrating Christmas. We have pageants, musicals, special candlelight services and go to several class parties to celebrate. While thinking on this I began to wonder how much energy we give to teaching our students about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and getting them involved in helping support our missionaries that are taking the message of Christmas all around the world. So I ask. I emailed several youth ministers from across Kentucky and ask them this question: How are your students involved in giving to and promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering?
The responses were mixed. About half of those that responded (and probably most of those that didn’t) did not involve their students at all in giving or promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.One said “We don't really do anything”, another said, we “haven't done much with students regarding the Lottie Moon offering. We give towards it, but haven't connected students to it very well.”
Now, before we all get discouraged and going running to our youth ministers’ office with promotional materials for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering let’s note that all of those responded are in churches that give to and support Lottie. It is just that they didn’t do anything special with their students.
I was encouraged by what some of the youth minister were doing and want to share a few of them with you.
Rob Marquess, youth minister at Ashby Lane Baptist Church in Louisville said: “Our ladies have a tea to raise money for the Lottie Moon offering and two of our youth girls are sponsoring a table at the tea.” He went on to say, “And most years several of our guys volunteer to serve at the tea. Yea and we're all real cute in our white shirts and red bow ties and aprons.”
Tree Akers, Minister to Students at Northside Baptist Church in Elizabethtown replied: “we have a few students that assist with physical illustrations and representations in the Sunday morning services for December.” Also, “one of our ladies comes up with the different things we can pray for, and frequently, she will have students assist” her in this. Also, “our church does a Lottie Moon Christmas post office. Cards that go to various church members, are placed in the "church post office" and are sorted and sometimes delivered by the youth.” To help raise money toward the churches goal “We do ask for a suggested donation per card”.
At First Baptist Church in Richmond, were Steve Coleman is the minister to students they “are stressing Lottie Moon as a way to give a gift to Jesus for the Christmas season. Everyone else gets a present on Christmas so how can you give Jesus a gift?” they ask their students. The answer Steve tells them is, “give to Lottie Moon so that missions can be carried out all over the world. Cash works best; you can put it into a Christmas card and place it on the altar or the remembrance table the last Sunday before Christmas.”
“We talk about Lottie Moon with our students and encourage giving to the main offering that our church takes up”, said John Beach, Minister of Students at Bowling Green First Baptist Church, “and recently we were at SBTS and took a little time to show them the desk display they have in the Honeycutt Center and talk about her life and ministry a little while we had the opportunity.”
While I was at Edgewood each year we would, as a church do the International Missions Study that was provided by our church’s WMU. We would teach the youth study and use that as on opportunity to teach how the monies from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering were spent.
Let us all do our part to find ways to involve our students in giving to and promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
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posted by: Joe Ball on December 8th, 2009
