“Without the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® our churches couldn’t support a ministry evangelism specialist. I would be somewhere else, doing something else. And I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Melanie Lawler, 2008 Week of Prayer Missionary and ministry evangelism specialist for the Sierra Baptist Association in Northwest Nevada, on what the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® means to her ministry

“The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® is a lifeline here in Iowa. We are so thankful that we don’t have to stop our work to go raise funds. We can continue our efforts here knowing that people are praying for us as they give.”
Mindy Jamison, 2008 Week of Prayer Missionary and co-director, along with her husband, Jon, of the Friendship Baptist Center in Des Monies, Iowa, on what the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® means to their ministry

“Our missions partnerships are with Southern Baptists. That way, when our people think of the Cooperative Program, they have a connection with real live missionaries.”
Hance Dilbeck, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church, speaking about how his church uses Acts 1:8 partnerships to put a face on the Cooperative Program

Classic Quote
“We do not want, as the newspapers say, a church that will move with the world. We want a church that will move the world.”
G. K. Chesterton

Sources: SBC Life, Leadership

Good news for annie

Last year Southern Baptists gave $59.3 million to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering®, a 1.4 percent increase over giving the previous year. Of course, 100 percent of the offering goes to undergird the ministries of 5,200 missionaries serving in the United States, Canada, and their territories.

The offering was named for Annie Walker Armstrong (1850-1938) of Baltimore, a tireless servant of God and a contagious advocate and supporter of missions efforts throughout the world.

 2008 National goal: $61 million

Gifts to Annie

While the majority of AAEO gifts provide salary support for missionaries, some are used for ministry supplies. Here are some ways your dollars are used by our missionaries.

            $1        A hot meal at the Open Door Soup Kitchen in Barre, Vermont

            $5        Snacks for Kids Club ministry at an apartment complex for one week

            $10      A can of paint for a World Changers project

            $15      A textbook for an ESOL student

            $20      100 Gospel of John booklets given out at a block party

            $50      Hot chocolate reception to introduce college students to Christ

            $500    Materials and supplies for a new church to hold their first VBS

A booming mission field

Only 6.8% of those who become Christians and new church members are over age 50 according to Charles Arn, author of White Unto Harvest: Evangelizing Today’s Seniors, and only 1.2% are over 60. Furthermore, two-thirds of churches with 1,000 or more members in the U.S. reported that one or no senior adults were added to their membership through “conversion growth” the previous year.

Is your church missing out on a ripe mission field? With baby boomers moving into this age bracket the senior population is booming. They’re more active than ever and looking for places to get involved. Why not turn the focus of your church’s senior adult ministry outward to reach unbelieving seniors for Christ.

 Source: Southern Baptist Texan, March 19, 2007

 Canada’s ever-changing face

 Metro Vancouver is now more multicultural than Miami, Los Angeles, or New York City. That’s the picture that emerged from 2006 census data released recently that showed the proportion of foreign-born residents is at its highest level nationally in 75 years. The third-largest metropolitan area in Canada for many years, Vancouver passed the 2 million mark for the first time in 2006. British Columbia’s biggest city, it’s home to more than half of the province’s population. Vancouver is the destination of many international immigrants. Between 2001 and 2006, an average of 25,000 immigrants a year settled in the Vancouver area. The total number of foreign-born residents is 831,265, almost 40% of the metro population.

Vancouver’s top three immigrant groups:
Chinese, Indian, and Filipino

Sources: The Vancouver Sun, December 5, 2007, Statistics Canada

By the numbers

FAST FACT
More than 150,000 Southern Baptists were mobilized through volunteer missions in 2007.

this & that

Unchurched

When asked if Christians get on their nerves, 44% of Americans said “Yes,” according to a new study of unchurched Americans conducted by LifeWay Research in partnership with the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research.

However, 78 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to listen to someone who wanted to talk about their Christian beliefs. The number rose to 89 percent among adults 18-29.

 Losing faith

Only 46% of Americans say they have either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in organized religion. In 1975, 68% expressed trust in organized religion. Despite the lack of confidence a Newsweek poll showed that more than 36% of Americans think the power of organized religion has increased in recent years and 32% of those surveyed think religion has too much influence.

Source: Newsweek, April 9, 2007 and Beliefnet.com/Gallup

Going to the chapel

A recent study revealed that 75% of engaged couples, both churched and unchurched, would prefer to be married in a church. Allowing unchurched couples to participate in premarital counseling and hold their ceremony in your church is a great way to help get new marriages started off on the right foot. And it provides an opportunity for your church to share the gospel with non-Christians in your community.

Source: Outreach May/June 2007

Over the counter

Sales of the Plan B “morning after” contraceptive have doubled since the federal government
approved its sale without a prescription. Manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals expects Plan B sales to hit $80 million this year—that’s more than 1 million doses of the drug.

Source: The Week, July 27, 2007 and The Washington Post

Basic Christianity

Many Americans, including many born-again Christians, have considerable holes in their understanding of basic Christianity. Most people grasp the concept of God as supreme Creator who is perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful, and sovereign. And when it comes to Jesus most adults believe that a person has to accept Christ as savior to go to heaven. However, only one third of Americans embrace the idea that Jesus never sinned. Similarly, one-third of Americans—and only half of born-again Christians—believe in the Holy Spirit and just 38% of Christians realize they have a real enemy in Satan.

Only about one in 10 Americans is able to articulate a perspective that embraces an orthodox view of God, believes that Jesus did not sin, affirms the reality of the Holy Spirit and acknowledges the existence of Satan.   

Source: Rev! magazine, November/December 2007

Who does the church reach?

In a recent survey churches admitted to having a bias in the way they minister to different family groups. A majority of pastors (70%) say one group they are reaching very well is married couples with children. While keeping a family focus is a goal of many churches, the number of traditional families in the U.S. is declining—half of all family units are non-traditional, non-nuclear. While no organization can serve the needs of every member equally well, think about what your church can do to give more even treatment to all groups.

Source: Your Church, September/October 2007 and Leadership