Quiz: How much should you give?
Do you decide what to give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® by fishing spare change out of your pocket or purse? Every gift provides valuable support to more than 5,300 international missionaries—but take this quiz before you decide how much to give to this year’s offering.
1. What percentage of Jesus’ recorded words relate to money and belongings?
a. 1 percent
b. 5 percent
c. 15 percent
2. In today’s market, where do you find the best investment advice?
a. On the Internet
b. From a financial adviser
c. In the Bible
3. For me, the most important element of Christmas is:
a. Celebrating Jesus’ birth
b. Spending time with family and friends
c. Giving and receiving gifts
4. When I give Christmas gifts to family, I spend an average of:
a. Less than $5 per person
b. $5-$30 per person
c. More than $30 per person
5. One luxury I could give up each week is:
a. soda with my meals out
b. one meal out
c. a movie or ballgame
6. The average Southern Baptist gives how much to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering?
a. $2.53
b. $8.35
c. $54.21
7. You may have heard that Scripture teaches you should give one-tenth of your income to God. What percentage above your tithe to your church should go toward the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering?
a. 1 percent
b. 0.1 percent
c. None of the above
8. Your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering are used:
a. To operate the International Mission Board home office and promote the offering
b. To support missionaries
c. For capital expenditures like buildings
9. How much does it cost to support a missionary?
a. $4.23 an hour
b. $101.63 a day
c. $3,091.16 per month
10. What is the most important thing I should do now as I decide how much to give?
a. Figure up how much extra I have in my budget.
b. Count my blessings and consider what God has given me.
c. Pray.
Answers
1. c. As Jesus put it in Matthew 6:21 (NIV), “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Several places in the New Testament point to people’s handling of money as evidence of what is inside their hearts: Mark 12:43-44, Luke 19:8-9, Matt. 19:21-22.
2. c. It’s been hard to find reliable advice on how to increase your net worth anywhere this year. But Jesus’ advice is as reliable as the source: “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt. 6:20, NIV) —and where stock markets don’t tumble.
3. We all know the answer is supposed to be “a.” We also value time with family and friends and the love expressed through gift giving. But often, we find ourselves struggling to keep up with the Christmas rush and thinking of giving as a competitive sport with no reward — but more debt. What steps could you take to simplify your Christmas while making it both more meaningful and enjoyable? By simplifying your Christmas celebration and freeing up a gift for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, you may enable a family on the other side of the globe to celebrate their first Christmas.
4. As you plan gifts for family and friends, think of your Lottie Moon offering as your Christmas gift to Jesus. Consider giving the average amount you spend on one family member. If you’re part of a Christian family, you may enjoy deciding together to add Jesus to your Christmas list.
5. If you don’t find your luxury on our list, name your own. Imagine, for instance, that each week you passed up one fast-food meal out. If you saved $4.31 each week and gave it to your church, designated for Lottie Moon, you would give $224 a year. For each $224 given to the 2002 offering, one person overseas was baptized — one life changed — in 2003.
6. b. Of course, there’s no “average” Southern Baptist. You may have given more or less in the past. If each Southern Baptist increased his or her offering by $1, that would add roughly $16 million to the offering—enough to support 431 missionaries.
7. There is no biblical guideline for how much to give to missions, but some folks find it helpful to set a goal to give a certain percentage of their income. Figure 1 percent of your income and divide it among the missions offerings in your church, including the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Is that a goal you’d like to strive for?
8. b and c. Because the Cooperative Program and other income provides for home office and promotion expenses, 100 percent of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is used in the overseas budget, mostly to support missionaries. A small part of that is used for capital expenses like missionary houses and cars, but most of it is used for missionary salaries and work budgets.
9. Multiplied out, each answer totals $37,094 per year. Just like you, missionaries must have food, clothing and shelter. They must educate their children, travel and carry out their work. How many hours or days of missionary support will you provide? How many months could your church or Sunday School class support? Could your church give enough to support one or more missionaries?
10. c. Budgeting and gratitude are important components of giving, but seeking God’s guidance is a key in deciding how much to give to the offering. God knows better than anyone, including you, what your needs are and how He can use your resources to bless you and others.