Lottie Moon, Missionary to China

The International Mission Board has announced that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal for 2008 is $170,000,000.00. And to think I'd never heard of her, and it's one of the biggest Christmas fund events in Christendom. Lottie Moon died in 1912 on Christmas Eve on board a ship waiting to take her home to the United States, most likely from the effects of the severe famine she shared with her people in the P'ingtu church in China. She was a woman equipped with a fabulous education, having attended a private female academy receiving an M.A. and becoming an accomplished linguist. In addition to French, Latin, Italian, and Spanish she also knew Greek and Hebrew. After 10 years of teaching school in Georgia she was appointed a missionary to China in 1873, and she asked the Baptist women of Georgia to support her. With other missionaries she instructed women and children, with the men listening in. During China's war with Japan in 1895 she made evangelistic visits to 118 villages in three months. Then she changed her strategy and lived among the people in P'ingtu, even adopting Chinese dress. One of the male converts became an outstanding evangelist baptizing more than 10,000 converts. She truly had an inspiring life, and I enjoyed reading about her in "More than conquerors; portraits of believers from all walks of life," (Moody Press, 1992)

Books about Lottie Moon.

Web page with biography of Lottie Moon.