MORGAN – When the members of Morgan Baptist Church here increased their goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to $2,500 in 2014, they thought it would be a healthy challenge for a church that welcomes only 50 people to its Sunday morning service each week.
When the church exceeded its goal, contributing nearly $10,500 to Lottie Moon for the 2014 Christmas offering, they were “dumbfounded.”
“The church treasurer had to count the money three times,” Pastor Tim Howe said.
Before taking up the offering in December, the church decided in a business meeting to use money from their general fund to match the amount, dollar for dollar, that members would give to the Christmas offering. When they took up the collection, church members gave more than $5,000 to the offering. With the matching dollars from the general fund, the church exceeded its Lottie Moon goal by four times.
The church has always supported missions, Howe said, adding that the former pastor himself served on the mission field for a time. But the Lottie Moon offering reminded them that even small churches can make an impact in reaching the world for Christ.
“There really is a link,” Howe said, “between a small church and the missionary on the field.”
Moreover, Howe said that the church didn’t exceed its expectations because of a large gift from a single church member. Instead, numerous church members gave smaller, but very generous, gifts to the offering.
“That was really a sign that God opened these people’s hearts to give,” he said.
Members of Morgan Baptist Church also showed their openness to give by increasing their Cooperative Program contributions by 3 percent. In 2013, they decided to increase their CP giving from 6 percent to 7 percent. In 2014, during the same business meeting where they decided to match the Lottie Moon offering with money from the church’s general fund, they increased their CP giving from 7 percent to 10 percent.