SHOCCO SPRINGS, Ala. (BP)–For the fifth year in a row,
Southern Baptists gave a record amount to the Annie
Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO). The year-end total for the
1997 offering was $41,060,000, according to Bob Reccord,
president of the North American Mission Board, and Dellanna
O’Brien, executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union.
The SBC mission leaders jointly announced the news Jan.
13 to WMU’s executive board during its annual meeting in
Shocco Springs, Ala. Reccord credited WMU leaders across the
country with successfully promoting the offering which was
$1.5 million, or 4 percent, above the previous year.
“In the midst of massive changes in the SBC last year,
you did not let the Annie Armstrong Offering fall through
the cracks,” Reccord said. “When things were up in the air,
you kept plugging and accomplished a phenomenal feat for
North American missions. Thank you.”
WMU initiated a national offering to support SBC
missionaries in the United States in 1895. In 1903, the
offering was named in honor of WMU’s first corresponding
secretary. Nearly $700 million has been given to the
offering during its 102-year history.
The 1998 AAEO, which will be conducted in SBC churches
this spring, will support the work of 5,000 missions
personnel in the United States and Canada, most of whom are
jointly appointed with state Baptist conventions. More than
one-third of NAMB’s income is derived from the offering, 100
percent of which goes to the mission field to start new
Southern Baptist churches, support Christian ministries and
fund direct evangelism efforts.
During his report, Reccord assured WMU leaders that
NAMB leadership wants to maintain a close working
relationship between the two agencies. “Although things are
in process and we don’t have all the answers yet, I do not
want to walk into the future without WMU,” Reccord said.
Nate Adams, NAMB’s vice president of media and missions
education, echoed Reccord’s commitment to WMU. “You are one
of our most important partners. Some of the most important
things we do, we do with you — the Annie Armstrong Offering
and missions education,” Adams said.
Reccord also provided an update on continued
development of the new NAMB missions agency which was
created this past summer as part of the SBC “Covenant for a
New Century” restructuring. He explained NAMB’s major new
emphases of reaching the cities, increasing ethnic
ministries, reaching students and mobilizing volunteers,
noting a strategic plan for the agency will be finalized in
May.
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