Follow Tom Follow Tom

Facts About Lottie Moon – Part 1

Did You Know…

1) Lottie Moon was a real person and considered by some to be the most educated woman in the south. Her parents had high expectations of their children. A tutor was employed in the home for languages and classical literature. Lottie’s sister Orianna became the first female medical doctor south of the Mason/Dixon line. Lottie attended Albemarle Female Institute, the women’s counterpart to the University of Virginia. In 1861, she was one of the first women in the South to receive a master’s degree. Lottie spoke 6 languages fluently. At 15, while attending Albemarle Female Institute, she wrote the following which is included as an example of her critical thinking.

“Literature has acquainted man with himself and the nature of things surrounding him. It has made us to know our history. The circumstances of his creation and the advancement of the race, up to his own existence, are not lost in oblivion, but preserved with almost perfect accuracy by those nations blessed with literature. Without it, age would succeed to age without gaining knowledge. Love, like the rays of light, would vary in its import as it passed from hand to hand, and one generation could not be enriched by the acquisitions of its predecessor. But literature does exist and the present age, like the posterity of an ancient family, revels in the riches entailed by its ancestors.” [Nettles, Tom, The Baptists, Volume 2, Christian Focus Publications, Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, IV20 ITW, Scotland, pg 364]

2)  Lottie Moon’s sister Edmonia was the first unmarried woman to be appointed as a missionary; and, at her urging, Lottie applied for an appointment as well.  The next year she joined her sister in Tengchow, China, in the Shantung province. Throughout her career, Lottie wrote numerous letters home, urging Southern Baptists to greater missions involvement and support. One of those correspondences triggered the first Southern Baptist Christmas offering for international missions. The receipts were enough to send three new missionaries to China. In 1918, the Woman’s Missionary Union named the annual Christmas offering for international missions after the woman who had urged them to start it.

3) Lottie Moon grew up in antebellum Virginia. Their plantation was named Viewmont. Her family owned 52 slaves. In her younger years, she approved of the institution of slavery. Viewmont still exists north of Scottsville. The original homestead had two huge fireplaces. These still can be seen in the home that currently exists on that site.  After a short time in China, she wrote a letter with the comment that ”…living among the heathen makes one stupid.” The belief in the superiority of the white race was still playing at her mind. However, within a few years, that changed. She began dressing like the Chinese and loved the people.

See more at “The Courage of Your Faith,” (www.coyfaith.com). The “The Courage of Your Faith” consists of 12 short stories from Baptist history and 12 Bible Studies on issues as relevant today as they were in the past. Each study includes supplemental information and a Power Point slide presentation.

All documents can be downloaded at no charge.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow Tom