December 1, 1999
GRACE & PEACE:
Missions giving, going
extends Good News to all people
___"But the angel said to them: 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.'" Luke 2:10
___Lottie Moon, the magnificent Southern Baptist missionary to China, helped link Christmas and missions by appealing to Woman's Missionary Union to take an offering for foreign missions at Christmas. WMU responded to the challenge and has been leading the way in missions support ever since. Few organizations have remained as focused on their primary purpose as WMU. They consistently lead the way in encouraging support of missions through prayer and offerings.
___The Week of Prayer for International Missions and the Lottie Moon ChristmasOffering are now churchwide events, but WMU still leads the way. Nov. 28-Dec. 5 marks the week of prayer, but the offering is received all during this period of the year. Indeed, some churches now receive special missions offerings all year in addition to contributing through the Cooperative Program for missions.
WILLIAM M. PINSON JR. Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___Both prayer and the offering are vital for missionary success. Throughout our state, nation and world, those who serve as missionaries testify to the power of prayer. And though the gospel is free, the delivery system is expensive. With opportunities greater than ever before for sharing the Good News, greater funds than ever before are required.
___The angel's declaration to the shepherds about the birth of the Savior highlights that the glad tidings about this event are for all people. Jesus himself reinforced the angel's message: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The only way "all people"--"all nations"--will hear about Jesus is for those of us who have received the "glad tidings" and believed in Jesus to send the Good News to the whole world. To do this requires people who answer God's call to go unto the uttermost part of the earth sharing Jesus and people who pray and give financially to support those who go.
___The Christmas season is about giving. It began when God gave his only Son to be the Savior of the world. It should continue as we give generously to see that all people everywhere hear the "glad tidings" and the Savior. Please participate both in prayer and in giving to international missions in this season. Texas Baptists have been leaders in the support of world missions; surely that will continue as we move into a new century and millennium. Southern Baptists have many avenues of missions service and support open to us.
___Because of both the relative affluence and rapid transportation enjoyed by many Baptist Texans, volunteerism plays a major role in missions. Career missionaries still are the mainstays of missions, but increasingly long-term and short-term volunteers who serve in distant places play a big part. Texas Partnerships of the Baptist General Convention of Texas helps volunteers fulfill a sense of calling to missions service in many places in the world, including lay envoys who in a sense are bivocational missionaries.
___Pray for career and volunteer missionaries. Pray for churches to be missions-minded not only during the Christmas season but also all year long. Pray for Baptist Texans to be generous in their gifts for missions this Christmas.
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