Ideas for the whole church
Tell us how your church teaches and promotes missions to your whole church.
Sunday lunch - Instead of eating out for Sunday lunch, members or families can take turns cooking for each other. The ones who do not cook can donate the money they would have spent on lunch to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Turn Sunday lunch into something that will reach the world for Christ!
Christmas open houses - Ask some of your best decorators to open their homes one evening for a “Tour of Homes.” Sell tickets for the evening, giving the proceeds to Lottie.
Sock it to missions - Church members in one North Carolina church were encouraged to fill a sock with change and bills throughout the fall and bring them to church for the missions offering.
LMCO Media Kit - Make sure your Sunday School teacher or small group leader has the LMCO media kit. Use the DVD segments in your groups and take time to discuss the importance of each of us doing our part to reach the peoples of the world for Christ. Order a free kit or download the video.
Who’s Missing? Whose Mission? puzzle - In keeping with this year’s theme, set up jigsaw puzzles in your Sunday School rooms or welcome centers. Encourage members to work on the puzzles throughout the month of December at the beginning of class time. Emphasize that each person can set a personal goal of giving, praying and going in order to fill in their piece of the puzzle.
Faith giving - Members of some churches are challenged to step out on faith and pledge a specific amount to missions each month, above their tithe. Some churches have reported huge increases in their Lottie Moon giving when congregations are challenged in this way.
• Consider pledging a church goal based on a missionary’s time on the field, such as a week or a month. Or, encourage each member or family to support a missionary for a day. Here is the average cost to support a single missionary:
• $3,410.97 a month
• $787.15 a week
• $112.14 a day
• $4.67 an hour
• For stories and inspiration, check out Lottie Moon at Work.
Non-bakers baking contest - Ask whichever spouse is NOT the cook in the family to contribute a baked good for a churchwide contest. People can taste the entries and give a quarter (or dollar) to vote for the best cookie, pie, or cake. The winner is the entry with the most money collected. All the money goes to Lottie, but the church enjoys the baked goods and encourages those who don’t usually spend time in the kitchen.
• Variation: Have a contest for the best bakers in the church as well or host a men’s bake-off. There are many ways this idea can provide fellowship for the church and extra giving to Lottie Moon.
Chinese food fellowship - Have a fellowship meal where everyone is asked to bring a take-out container of their favorite Chinese food. Ask someone to share some facts about Lottie Moon and discuss the importance of giving to continue the kind of mission work that she is remembered for. Use the LMCO media kit for video clips.
International costumes - If you have clothing designers or seamstresses in your church, ask them to make simple costumes from around the world. These might be for adults, children or even dolls. The visual reminder of lost people in the world can be an encouragement to the church to continue to give, pray and go.
Daily devotional - Give a copy of the devotional of missionary testimonies, Voices of the Faithful and Voices of the Faithful Book 2, to every church family. Encourage them to read aloud daily while gathered for breakfast or dinner. Order copies.
Prayer breakfast - During the first week of December, host a morning prayer breakfast for the missionaries featured during this year’s Week of Prayer. See your prayer guide from Woman’s Missionary Union or imb.org/weekofprayer.
Christmas challenge - Challenge church members to give as much to the Lottie Moon offering as they spend on their most expensive Christmas gift.
International potluck - Serve an international potluck dinner with recipes from all over the world. Ask church members to speak about the need for Jesus in the regions the dishes represent.
Missions fair - Hold a missions fair. Book a guest speaker and set up booths focused around missions themes. Be sure to highlight your church’s missions involvement.
Movie night - Host a movie night using the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® videos. Adults, youth and children can go to separate rooms to watch segments designed just for them. Donations from tickets and refreshments can go to the offering.
Grow your offering - Distribute $10 bills to members in envelopes marked "seed money." Ask church members to "invest" the money creatively and trust God to grow their enterprise. All proceeds go to Lottie Moon.
Prayerwalk - Members of all ages can be sponsored per mile they complete. Proceeds go to Lottie Moon.
A quarter a day - Challenge church members to save a quarter each day of the year to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Each church member could then give more than $90 toward the church's goal. Multiply $90 times the number of church members to set your goal.
Ideas for Adults, Students, Children, Families, Worship services, Tracking church giving
