Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Vignettes

The following vignettes can be used in sermons, Bible studies, Sunday school, church bulletins, etc. They tell stories of how Sub-Saharan Africa missionaries are thankful for Southern Baptists giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®.

Learn some of the ways LMCO dollars are used in Africa by missionaries and how they benefit Africans. Click on the catagories below to find related short stories.

Find more vignettes (many with related photos and videos) on the IMB website.

Ministry

Hearing about Jesus on the radio
Every night at sundown he turns on his radio. Like many other people in West Africa, he listens to the radio because he can not read. He listens to the news, and later he and his friends tune in to local programming and music as they sip attaya, a strong, bittersweet tea. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering gives a local missionary $46 a week to prepare Christian programs so that when this man turns on his radio, he will hear the story of Jesus in his heart language.

Reading the Bible for themselves
West Africa has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world – 78 percent illiteracy. New believers live in countries like Burkina Faso, Mali or Niger, where many people cannot read or write. Handing out a Bible or using a worksheet to teach Biblical truths will not work. Consider that $1.77 provided by the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering purchases a packet of training materials, such as pictures, to help teach Bible stories orally.

Movie draws people to Christ
“‘Oh, oh, oh,’ the elderly lady said as she watched Jesus being tortured in the film,” Lin shared. “She was sitting on the grass beside me. Later, during the invitation to follow Jesus, she actually jumped up to respond. We had an estimated 300 Africans watching the film and about 50 or 60 decided to dedicate their lives to Christ. This was the same village where the chief had said to me, back in August, ‘I don't believe in Jesus. What's going to happen to me when I die?’

‘Well, you'll go to Hell,’ I replied, ‘but the good news is that you still have a chance as long as you're alive.’ He finally made his decision to follow Jesus.” This chief was able to accept Christ through watching the JESUS Film that your giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering provided.

Bringing hope
While on a walk in her village, Kimberly passed a cemetery. She’d been in West Africa for less than a year, working among the Mandinka people.

“The thought entered my mind, ‘Not one of the people buried here is now in the presence of the Lord,’” Kimberly said. “They were born into a world with no sign of hope, and they died only praying that God would have mercy on their souls.”

Because of Southern Baptist giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Kimberly works with the hope that “the spirit of the true and living God will one day permeate the hearts of these people. The kingdom of God is present in this place. He is at work in my life and in the lives of many people here. I must not forget that salvation is coming.”

Raising Up Future Missionaries
Sylvie remembers hearing the stories about Jesus at night as she sat with her family around the glowing fi re in their open mud-block courtyard. Chickens and goats meandered about as her father played the cassettes he got from a missionary named Jay, who lived with his family in their Bissa village in Burkina Faso.

Soon, Sylvie’s father quit visiting the traditional African sorcerer who lived next door. The stories of Jesus had changed her father’s heart. When Sylvie turned 16, she decided to join him as one of the few Bissa people to follow Jesus. But despite six years of public school, Sylvie never learned to read well. Eager to understand the newly translated Bissa scriptures, she worked through the missionary family's village literacy program.

At age 24, she now leads the Bible-based literacy program that presents the Gospel while teaching adults to read. She also uses her literacy skills for other purposes. She recently directed a choir of small girls who sang a song Sylvie composed herself, reflecting her desire for the Bissa people to hear the Truth.

“We give ourselves to You, Lord,” they sang. “We put our trust in You, Lord. We abandon ourselves to You, Lord. We are the missionaries of the future.”

Your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering makes partnerships like this possible.

Faithfully teaching
Ray, a 32-year veteran of missions work, travels monthly to a village in Togo to teach a three-hour seminar for pastoral training. “I’ve been doing a series of how a Christian should live and relate to the African traditions that make up such a large part of the everyday life here,” Ray said.  “Many of the traditions are pagan, occult practices. Some, however, are noble and good. The Christian needs to learn to distinguish between them and have courage to resist those that are ungodly.”

They meet in an open-air market that is usually filled with people on market day, but this day it is empty and the pastors can study the Bible.

So, Ray goes to faithfully teach pastors from three towns every month. One pastor walks four and a half hours to attend the training. He has to cross a small mountain range and leaves his home at first light to start the hike.

“His name is Minsa,” Ray said. “In Kabiye that means 'the fire is burning.’ Doesn't that seem like a good name for someone with that kind of constitution and passion for learning about the Lord?”

Your giving through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering has supported Ray for more than 30 years. He has trained pastors all over northern Togo, about 150 pastors and leaders a month.

“This gives me a feeling of being a part of a mighty movement on which God evidently has his hand,” Ray said.

Medical

Giving birth
After living overseas for almost a year, “Kim” found out she was pregnant for the first time. “I felt uncertain about all that was ahead and my ability to clearly communication with the doctors in our new language,” she said. “I felt so blessed to know that all of my medical expenses would be paid for through the giving of Southern Baptists. It was one less thing to worry about.”

“Kim” delivered surrounded by doctors and nurses who could only speak to her in French. “We felt the support and prayers of so many and were blessed with the gift of good medical care – paid for through your giving!”

Receiving medical help
“After the arrival of my first child overseas, I was experiencing some medical complications,” said “Sarah,” a missionary in West Africa. “I received several different tests but my doctor was still unsure of the problem.”

The International Mission Board has a wonderful medical staff that is available to answer questions at all hours. With their help, “Sarah” was able to finish her medical testing and felt confident that the complications were resolved. “Thank you for giving so that we can have great medical help – no matter where we are in the world.”

Vehicle

A truck ride away
Remember the old saying, "A dog is man’s best friend?" In West Africa a man's best friend is his 4x4 truck. More than ¾ of the roads in Niger are unpaved, and most of those roads are more like narrow foot paths. A truck can make all the difference in whether or not West Africans in remote villages ever hear the name of Jesus. The $400 a month provided by the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering covers vehicle upkeep and diesel fuel so that missionaries can cross rugged terrain without worrying about how they'll make it to the next village.

Not hindered by rain
“The chief's house fell down,” Susan said. “His wasn't the only one. Torrential rains have pounded the K-village region this season.” Susan’s six-year-old son moved among the mud and brick. The mud hut had literally melted in the rain.

“The roads were soupy with rain water,” Susan said. “Without the aid of the two 4-wheel-drive pickup trucks you provided for us and the other missionary family traveling with us, we would have never arrived in K-village at all this weekend (to share Jesus).

“Thank you for giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.”

Language

Immersed in language
“Our first five months on the field were to be spent in intense language learning,” Laura shared. “Our time each week was to be divided between living in the city and working with a tutor and living in a village to be immersed in the language. We made so many dear friends in the village. And we continue to hear of the Lord’s working in their hearts. Thank you for your giving so that we can have such wonderful language learning experiences, so that all in West Africa may hear in their heart language.”

Language learning
One of the first jobs of every new missionary family is to learn the local language and culture of the place where they will work. “We are in language four hours a day, two days a week and six hours a day, two days a week. Wednesday is laundry and market day. Cultural learning is all the time!” These are the words of a new missionary family – Don, Jana and their three kids. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering provides language lessons so that missionaries can tell West Africans about Jesus in a language that will speak to their hearts.