Around Christmas time, does your family have traditions? Our family watches the movies Elf & It's a Wonderful
Life, bakes cookies, takes a vacation, and reminds ourselves of the true meaning
of Christmas by reading Old & New Testament Scriptures about Christ's first
advent to this earth.
Tevye and his family in the movie Fiddler on the Roof struggled
with "Tradition." The daughters wanting to break the old social and
religious traditions without breaking their "Papa."
Since the Christmas of 1887, Southern Baptists have been giving a
special offering to make sure the gospel gets told around the world. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO), as
it became known later, has now become a tradition in our churches. Some traditions should never be broken!
As Southern Baptist missionaries, people ask us what the LMCO
means to us. Legacy is the first word
that comes to our minds. The way Lottie
Moon lived; as a pioneer and as an evangelist (sometimes going to over 400
villages a year to share the gospel) and the way Lottie Moon died; giving her
food away to Chinese until she herself died of starvation. This legacy pushes us on when sometimes we
want to quit.
When we think of the LMCO, we also think of Commitment. Since that first offering in 1887 where
Lottie Moon challenged Southern Baptists to "self denial," more money
has been given through this offering than any other mission offering in the
history of the church.
We also think of Cooperation; the mega-church and the small
country church joining together to send out and support almost 5000 long-term
missionaries worldwide. Some pastors
with much zeal (and sometimes much ego) are "giving the Great Commission
back to the church," believing that agencies (imb) are unnecessary and
unbiblical. This narrow view is a
misapplication of Scripture and a misunderstanding of mission history.
Some traditions should never be broken! May we, as Southern Baptists, continue to
remember our legacy as a mission people, re-commit ourselves to a life of
self-denial for the sake of the nations, and work together to place more
long-term missionaries among peoples where the gospel is not.
Keep the tradition alive!
-Jess & Wendy
