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Thread: Lottie Moon, Woman Missionary and Preacher

  1. #1

    Lottie Moon, Woman Missionary and Preacher

    Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon

    I have been reading about Lottie Moon this morning. Moon began her career as a missionary in China in 1873. She was among the first of a long line of single women appointed by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board.


    We always think of her as a missionary, but if course, she had multiple duties in her work ministering the gospel in China. She was a schoolteacher, yes, but she was also an evangelist preaching and teaching the word of God as she sought to win souls to Christ!!!


    Think of it, ... 4 feet 3 inches tall, and a woman. The most famous Southern Baptist in history! We honor her with our missions offering every year,The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Missions, and she was a woman preacher!!! What irony!!! Today, even as in her day in the late 1800's and early 1900's, most Baptists are not encouraging of women in ministry, yet this dear woman dedicated herself to serving Christ in doing the work of gospel ministry.


    I came across comments of a Baptist pastor in reviewing a biography of Lottie Moon.

    Chuck Warnock wrote, "The historical record shows that Moon worked not only with Chinese women and children, but also preached to and taught Chinese men and boys when the situation demanded it. And here in the United States, at Moon's urging, Southern Baptist women organized themselves into the Women's Missionary Union, despite the opposition of many SBC pastors in the late 1800s. In short, Moon was an egalitarian when it came to women's service in Baptist life."

    "The truth is that Lottie Moon started some of the schools in which she taught, and established and ran the Pingtu mission singlehandedly. While she did teach women and girls, she also taught and preached to men and boys out of necessity, and in defiance of SBC Foreign Mission Board rules for female appointees."


    "But Moon's story is even more wonderful because she was a true pioneer. Lottie Moon was a woman who grew up in a family that educated its girls, expected them to excel, and gave them room to grow into intelligent, thoughtful young women. Moon's sister, Orianna, was the first woman in Virginia to study medicine and be granted a medical license. Moon's family encouraged their young women to find their own place in a rapidly changing society. Moon's sister, Edmonia, preceded Lottie to China as a missionary, and Lottie joined her and others there in 1873. "
    (Chuck Warnock, "The Real Lottie Moon Story".


    One of Lottie's male converts became a pastor, Li Shou-ting. He was credited with baptizing over10,000 people! At least two Chinese congregations she helped start continue today, and women figure prominently in their leadership. The pastor of the church in Pingdu is Wang Xia who traces her ancestry back four generations to a convert of Lottie Moon. The two associate pastors are also women. How appropriate for a church-planting movement that was started by a woman!!!


    Psalm 68:11 tells how God gives the Word and the women who proclaim it are a great host:

    American Standard Version
    The Lord giveth the word: The women that publish the tidings are a great host.

    New International Version
    The Lord announces the word, and the women who proclaim it are a mighty throng:

    English Standard Version
    The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host:

    New American Standard Bible
    The Lord gives the command; The women who proclaim the good tidings are a great host:

    Holman Christian Standard Bible
    The Lord gave the command; a great company of women brought the good news:"

    NET Bible
    The Lord speaks; many, many women spread the good news.

    GOD'S WORD® Translation
    The Lord gives instructions. The women who announce the good news are a large army.

    JPS Tanakh 1917
    The Lord giveth the word; The women that proclaim the tidings are a great host.

    English Revised Version
    The Lord giveth the word: the women that publish the tidings are a great host.

    Praise God for those women who are bold to proclaim the gospel of Grace! God grant us more faithful servants who will dare to obey the call of God in gospel ministry!

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    curly sue (11-17-2016)

  3. #2
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    I always remember hearing about the 'Lottie Moon Offering' when I was a kid in the Baptist church.

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    Ari (11-17-2016)

  5. #3
    Thank you for sharing, Ari! I so love reading the accounts of the early missionaries. About 10 years ago, I read a series of biographies of missionaries and it was so inspiring. Lottie Moon was one of the bios I read.

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    Ari (11-17-2016)

  7. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    I always remember hearing about the 'Lottie Moon Offering' when I was a kid in the Baptist church.
    Yeah, ... I've heard of Lottie Moon all my life in connection with the WMU and missions support.

  8. #5
    Some things about Lottie were downplayed. Especially when she expanded her ministry to outlying areas around the city where her mission station was located. And the story of her death by starvation is not entirely factual.

    In regard to women in ministry, she is a very significant figure to me because the official position of Southern Baptists is against women serving as senior pastors of churches. And many Baptists oppose women in any kind of preaching or teaching ministry as well. But this dear little woman paddled upstream against the established church culture, the foreign mission board, and the general cultural norms of the day. She preached unto and taught the Bible to both men and women, leading many to faith in Christ and establishing churches!

    Lottie is held up before the world. She is no doubt the best known Baptist in the whole world. Her dedication to the cause of Christ in reaching the lost humanity with the gospel is a wonderful example to all Christians. Her letters soliciting support for missions are powerful inspiration for us today.

    I would that all Baptists, and many Christians from other faith groups as well, could see the wonderful way God worked through a single woman to reach men, women, and children with the gospel message, and instead of opposing women in ministry, they would encourage women to answer the call to preach and teach the Word of God.

    I am impressed with the sense of irony of this woman representing Southern Baptist missions while the denomination opposes women preachers.

    And I remember how many of the Samaritans believed on Christ because of the "saying" of a woman after Jesus ministered to her.

    Praise God for women, faithful to Christ, who answer the call to preach, teach, and minister with spiritual gifts to a lost and dying world!!!

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    Colonel (11-17-2016), curly sue (11-19-2016), GodismyJudge (11-17-2016)

  10. #6
    I have this book in my library but have not yet read it. (I'm still about a decade behind on my reading).

    https://www.amazon.com/Her-Own-Way-S...9423174&sr=1-8

  11. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Bookman View Post
    I have this book in my library but have not yet read it. (I'm still about a decade behind on my reading).

    https://www.amazon.com/Her-Own-Way-S...9423174&sr=1-8
    I know what you mean, ... I have many books on my waiting list. Many of them get pre-empted by recent purchases ....

    Chuck Warnock was commenting on a more recent book about Lottie , .... Regina D. Sullivan's new book, Lottie Moon: A Southern Baptist Missionary to China In History and Legend.

    https://www.amazon.com/Lottie-Moon-S...ds=Lottie+Moon

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    Bookman (11-18-2016)

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