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Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon (December 12, 1840 – December 24, 1912) was a Southern Baptist missionary to China with the Foreign Mission Board who spent nearly forty years (1873-1912) helping the Chinese. Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian Year 1840 ( MDCCCXL) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting The Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC) is a United States -based mostly conservative Christian denomination A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The International Mission Board (or IMB, formerly the Foreign Mission Board) is a missionary sending agency affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention As a teacher and evangelist she laid a foundation for traditionally solid support for missions among Baptists in America.
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Virginia plantation roots
Moon was born to affluent parents who were staunch Baptists, Anna Maria Barclay and Edward Harris Moon. She grew up (to her full height of 4 feet 3 inches) on the family's ancestral fifteen-hundred-acre slave-labor tobacco plantation called Viewmont, in Albemarle County, Virginia. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another Tobacco is an Agricultural product recognized as an addictive drug processed from the fresh Leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. Fundamentally a plantation is usually a large Farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country on which Cotton, Tobacco Albemarle County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state Lottie was third in a family of five girls and two boys. Lottie was only thirteen when her father died in a riverboat accident.
The Moon family valued education, and at age fourteen Lottie went to school at the Baptist-affiliated Virginia Female Seminary (high school, later Hollins Institute) and Albemarle Female Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. Charlottesville is an Independent city located within the confines of Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States In 1861 Moon received one of the first Master of Arts degrees awarded to a woman by a southern institution. She spoke numerous languages: Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Spanish. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. She was also fluent in reading Hebrew. Later, she would become expert at Chinese.
Spiritual awakening
A spirited and outspoken girl, Lottie was indifferent to her Christian upbringing until her late teens. Early life Son of James Morrison a Scottish farm laborer and Hannah Nicholson an English woman who were both active members of the Scottish Presbyterian Church. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The following is a Timeline of the History of China. Between the changing of the dynasties, most dates overlap as ruling periods do not transfer immediately This timeline of Christian missions chronicles the global expansion of Christianity through a sampling of missionary outreach events Christianity in China is a growing minority religion that comprises Protestants (called 基督教 Jī dū jiào or Christ Religion) Catholics See also Christianity in China First Centuries Some Christian tradition suggests that St See also Christianity in China The second major thrust of Christianity into China occurred during the Thirteenth century. The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China in the early modern era stands as one of the notable events in the early history of relations between China and See also Protestantism in China China and the West were virtually unaware of each other’s civilizations until the nineteenth century Life Born at Pyritz, Pomerania, he was apprenticed to a Saddler in Stettin, but was able to secure admission to Padagogium in Youth and early work Taylor was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England, the son of a chemist ( Pharmacist) and Methodist The Lammermuir Party of 1866 May 26, 1866 &ndash September 30, 1866) !-->was a British Protestant Christian The Cambridge Seven were seven students from Cambridge University, who in 1885 decided to become missionaries in China; the seven were Charles Eric Henry Liddell ( January 16, 1902 – February 21, 1945) was a Scottish athlete and Rugby Union international Beginning in 1807 with the arrival of Robert Morrison of the London Missionary Society and ending in 1953 with the departure of Arthur and Wilda Mathews of the OMF International (formerly Overseas Missionary Fellowship and before that the China Inland Mission before 1964 is an interdenominational The London Missionary Society was a non-denominational Missionary society formed in England in 1795 by evangelical Anglicans and The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM was the first American Christian foreign mission agency The Church Mission Society, known as the Church Missionary Society in Australia and New Zealand is a group of evangelistic societies working with the Anglican Church American Presbyterian Mission was an American Presbyterian missionary society operated by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, Main article List of Protestant missionary societies Protestant missionary societies in China 1807-1953 See also Bible translations (Taiwanese The creation of Chinese Bible Translations began in the nineteenth century but availability only became widespread in the early Medical missions in China by Protestant Christian Physicians and Surgeons of the 19th and early 20th centuries laid many foundations for modern The Manchurian revival of 1908 was a period of spiritual renewal in the life of the Protestant Christians at churches and mission stations in Manchuria The following colleges and universities were originally founded by Christian organizations Colleges and universities Anglo-Chinese College Xiamen A List of Chinese Christian Hymn Books published between 1807-1912 The Romanization of Chinese is the use of the Latin alphabet to write Chinese Standard Cantonese is the standard variant of the Cantonese (Yuet language Opium is a Narcotic formed from the Latex (ie sap released by lacerating (or "scoring" the immature seed pods of opium poppies ( The Taiping Rebellion or Rebellion of Great Peace was a large-scale Revolt against the authority and forces of the Qing Government in China The Opium Wars ( also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, lasted from 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860 the climax of a trade dispute between China under the Qing Unequal Treaties is a term used in reference to the type of Treaties signed by several East Asian states including Qing Dynasty China, late The Yangzhou riot of August 22 - 23, 1868 was a brief crisis in Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing Dynasty. The Tianjin Massacre ( Chinese: 天津教案 Pinyin: Tiānjīn Jiào'àn occurred in Tianjin in 1870 The Boxer Rebellion, or Boxer Movement, was an uprising by members of the Chinese Society of Right and Harmonious Fists against foreign influence The Xinhai Revolution or Shinhai Revolution ( also known as the 1911 Revolution or the Chinese Revolution, began with the Wuchang Uprising The Second Sino-Japanese War ( July 7, 1937 to September 9, 1945) was a major war fought between the Republic of China and the Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Liang Fa (梁發 Pinyin: Liang2 Fa1 (梁發 1789 - 1855 was the first Chinese Protestant minister and evangelist. Keuh Agong or Kew Ah Gung, Kew A-Gang, Wat Ngong, Wat Angong or simply Agong (1785 &ndash 1867 was a Chinese Protestant Sun Yat-sen ( November 12, 1866 &ndash March 12, 1925) was a Chinese Revolutionary and political leader often Feng Yuxiang ( (1882&ndash1948 was a Warlord during Republican China. John Sung Shang Chieh ( aka John Sung ( 29 September 1901 – 18 August 1944) was a renowned Chinese Christian Wang Mingdao ( (1900-1991 was a Chinese Christian Protestant leader Allen Yuan Xiangchen (1914 &ndash August 16, 2005) was a Chinese Protestant Christian pastor Samuel Lamb or Lin Xiangao ( b October 4, 1924) is a Christian Pastor in Guangzhou, China. She underwent a spiritual awakening at the age of eighteen, after a series of revival meetings on the college campus. A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held in order to inspire active members of a religious body and to gain new converts
There were very few opportunities for educated females in the mid-1800s, though her older sister Orianna became a physician and served as a Confederate Army doctor during the American Civil War. The War Department was established by the Confederate Congress in an act on February 21, 1861. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South Lottie helped her mother maintain the family estate during the war, and afterward settled into a teaching career. She taught at female academies, first in Danville, Kentucky, then in Cartersville, Georgia, where she and her friend, Anna, opened Cartersville Female High School in 1871. Danville is a city in and the County seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. Cartersville is a city in Bartow County, Georgia, in the United States. There she joined the First Baptist Church and ministered to the poor and impoverished families of Bartow County, Georgia. Bartow County is a County located in the US state of Georgia.
To the family’s surprise, Lottie’s younger sister Edmonia accepted a call to go to North China as a missionary in 1872. By this time the Southern Baptist Convention had relaxed its policy against sending single women into the mission field, and Lottie herself soon felt called to follow her sister to China. The Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC) is a United States -based mostly conservative Christian denomination On July 7, 1873 the Foreign Mission Board officially appointed Lottie as a missionary to China. She was thirty-three years old.
Missionary work in China
Early years in China (1873-1885)
Lottie joined her sister Edmonia at the North China Mission Station in the treaty port of Dengzhou, and began her ministry by teaching in a boys school. Dengzhou ( Chinese: 邓州 Pinyin: Dèngzhōu formerly Deng County (邓县 is a city in Nanyang Henan, China. (Edmonia had to return home a short time later for health reasons. ) While accompanying some of the seasoned missionary wives on “country visits” to outlying villages, Lottie discovered her passion: direct evangelism. Most mission work at that time was done by married men, but the wives of China missionaries T. P. Crawford and Landrum Holmes had discovered an important reality: Only women could reach Chinese women. Lottie soon became frustrated, convinced that her talent was being wasted and could be better put to use in evangelism and church planting. She had come to China to "go out among the millions" as an evangelist, only to find herself relegated to teaching a school of forty "unstudious" children. She felt chained down, and came to view herself as part of an oppressed class - single women missionaries. Her writings were an appeal on behalf of all those who were facing similar situations in their ministries. In an article titled "The Woman's Question Again," published in 1883, Lottie wrote:
| “ | Can we wonder at the mortal weariness and disgust, the sense of wasted powers and the conviction that her life is a failure, that comes over a woman when, instead of the ever broadening activities that she had planned, she finds herself tied down to the petty work of teaching a few girls? | ” |
Lottie waged a slow but relentless campaign to give women missionaries the freedom to minister and have an equal voice in mission proceedings. A prolific writer, she corresponded frequently with H. A. Tupper, head of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, informing him of the realities of mission work and the desperate need for more workers —- both women and men.
Cultural sensitivity
Raised in a family “of culture and means,” Lottie at first thought of the Chinese as an inferior people, and insisted on wearing American clothes to maintain a degree of distance from the “heathen” people. But gradually she came to realize that the more she shed her westernized trappings and identified with the Chinese people, the more their simple curiosity about foreigners (and sometimes rejection) turned into genuine interest in the Gospel. She began wearing Chinese clothes, adopted Chinese customs, learned to be sensitive to Chinese culture, and came to respect and admire Chinese culture and learning. In turn she gained love and respect from many Chinese people.
Expanded work (1885-1894)
In 1885, at the age of forty-five, Moon gave up teaching and moved into the interior to evangelize full-time in the area of P'ingtu and Hwangshien. Year 1885 ( MDCCCLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Her converts numbered in the hundreds. Continuing a prolific writing campaign, Moon's letters and articles poignantly described the life of a missionary and pleaded the "desperate need" for more missionaries, which the poorly funded board could not provide. She encouraged Southern Baptist women to organize mission societies in the local churches to help support additional missionary candidates, and to consider coming themselves. Many of her letters appeared as articles in denominational publications. Then, in 1887, Moon wrote to the Foreign Mission Journal and proposed that the week before Christmas be established as a time of giving to foreign missions. Year 1887 ( MDCCCLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Catching her vision, Southern Baptist women organized local Women’s Missionary Societies and even Sunbeam Bands for children to promote missions and collect funds to support missions. The Woman's Missionary Union, an auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, was also established. The first “Christmas offering for missions” in 1888 collected over $3,315, enough to send three new missionaries to China. Year 1888 ( MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a
In 1892 Moon took a much needed furlough in the U. The Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC) is a United States -based mostly conservative Christian denomination Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Anabaptists ( Greek ανα (again twice + βαπτιζω (baptize thus "re-baptizers" are Christians of the Radical Reformation General Baptist is a generic term for Baptists that hold the view of a general Atonement, as well as a specific name of groups of Baptists within the broader Landmarkism is a type of Baptist Ecclesiology. Landmarkism may also appear as Old Landmarkism in some works In 1833, Baptists in the United States agreed upon a Confession of faith around which they could organize a missionary society under the Triennial Convention The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M is the Southern Baptist Convention confession of faith Biblical inerrancy is the conservative evangelical doctrinal position that in its original form the Bible is totally without error and free from all contradiction Congregationalist polity, often known as congregationalism is a system of Church governance in which every Local church congregation is independent The universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, as it would come to be known in the present day is a Christian doctrine believed to be derived from several See also Ordinance (Latter Day Saints See also Baptist Baptists recognize only two ordinances — Believer's baptism and the Lord's Soul competency is a Christian theological perspective on the accountability of each person before God Separation of church and state is one of the primary theological distinctions of the Baptist tradition Baptists generally recognize two Scriptural offices, those of Pastor -teacher and Deacon. John Spilsbury was an English Baptist minister who led the Particular Baptists during the Seventeenth Century Annie Armstrong (b 1850 d 1938 was a lay Southern Baptist denominational leader instrumental in the founding of the Women's Missionary Union. Benajah Harvey Carroll ( December 27, 1843 - November 11, 1914) was a Baptist Pastor, Theologian, Teacher Wallie Amos Criswell, PhD. ( December 19, 1909 – January 10, 2002) was an American Pastor, author and a Adrian Pierce Rogers ThD ( September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) was an American Pastor, author and a three-term Jerry Lamon Falwell Sr ( August 11 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American evangelical Christian Pastor, William Franklin Graham Jr KBE (born November 7 1918 better known as Billy Graham, is an evangelist and an Evangelical Christian William Franklin Graham III (born July 14, 1952) known publicly as Franklin Graham, is an American Christian evangelist Duke K McCall (b 1914 Meridian Mississippi) is a Christian religious leader prominent in Baptist life for more than sixty years Richard D Land (born 1946 is the president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC the public policy entity of the Southern Baptist Convention in the L Paige Patterson (born October 19[[ 942]] is the eighth president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth Texas. R Albert Mohler Jr (born 1959 is the ninth president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville Kentucky. Mark Dever (born circa 1960 in rural Kentucky) serves as the senior Pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D Jonathan Pate Falwell (born 1966) is the senior Pastor at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee (born August 24 1955 is a former Republican governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and a political Commentator Richard D "Rick" Warren (born January 28, 1954) is the founder and senior pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest California The Cooperative Program is a unified funds collection program of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC designed to support SBC seminaries mission agencies and denominational The North American Mission Board (NAMB is the domestic missions agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. The International Mission Board (or IMB, formerly the Foreign Mission Board) is a missionary sending agency affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention LifeWay Christian Resources, based in, is one of the largest providers of Christian resources in the world The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the public policy agency of the Southern Baptist Convention. Baptist Press ( BP) is the official news service of the American Southern Baptist Convention based at the headquarters of the Southern Baptist Convention Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists - Canadian convention partnering with Southern Baptist Convention (SBC in United States Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (GGBTS is one of six official Southern Baptist seminaries Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS is one of six official seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS is a Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is located in Louisville Kentucky and is the flagship Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, or SBC Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, headquartered in Fort Worth Texas, is a private non-profit institution of Higher education, associated with the Southern S. , and did so again in 1902. She was very concerned that her fellow missionaries were burning out from lack of rest and renewal and going to early graves. The mindset back home was “go to the mission field, die on the mission field. ” Many never expected to see their friends and families again. Moon argued that regular furloughs every ten years would extend the lives and effectiveness of seasoned missionaries.
War, conflict, and scarcity (1894-1912)
Throughout her missionary career, Moon faced plague, famine, revolution, and war. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894), the Boxer Rebellion (1900), and the Chinese Nationalist uprising (which overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911) all profoundly affected mission work. The First Sino-Japanese War ( 日清戦争 Romaji: Nisshin Sensō ( 1 August 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a war fought between Year 1894 ( MDCCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Boxer Rebellion, or Boxer Movement, was an uprising by members of the Chinese Society of Right and Harmonious Fists against foreign influence Year 1900 ( MCM) was an exceptional Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar Not to be confused with Qin Dynasty, the first dynasty of Imperial China Year 1911 ( MCMXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Famine and disease took their toll, as well. When Moon returned from her second furlough in 1904, she was deeply struck by the suffering of the people who were literally starving to death all around her. Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on She pleaded for more money and more resources, but the mission board was heavily in debt and could send nothing. Mission salaries were voluntarily cut. Unknown to her fellow missionaries, Moon shared her personal finances and food with anyone in need around her, severely affecting both her physical and mental health. In 1912, she only weighed fifty pounds. Alarmed, fellow missionaries arranged for her to be sent back home to the United States with a missionary companion. However, Moon died en route, at the age of seventy-two, on December 24, 1912, in the harbor of Kobe, Japan. Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture and a prominent port city in Japan with a population of about 1 For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Her body was cremated and the remains returned to her family in Crewe, Virginia for burial. Crewe is a town in Nottoway County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2378 at the 2000 census
Modern legacy
Lottie Moon has come to personify the missionary spirit for Southern Baptists and many other Christians, as well. The annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Missions has raised a total of $1. 5 billion for missions since 1888, and finances half the entire Southern Baptist missions budget every year.
See also
- List of American Southern Baptist missionaries in China
- Color Rendering of Lottie Moon
External links
- Dave and Neta Jackson Short Bio
- More Info from Int'l Missionary Board
- Biographical Sketch of Lottie Moon An Audio message by Dr. Beginning in 1807 with the arrival of Robert Morrison of the London Missionary Society and ending in 1953 with the departure of Arthur and Wilda Mathews of the Tom Nettles.
- Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives
Bibliography
- Allen, Catherine B. (1980). The New Lottie Moon Story. Nashville, Tenn. : Broadman Press.
- Harper, Keith, ed. (2002). Send the Light: Lottie Moon's Letters and Other Writings. Macon, Ga. : Mercer University Press.
- Hyatt, Irwin T. (1976). Our Ordered Lives Confess: Three Nineteenth-Century American Missionaries in East Shantung. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Lawrence, Una Roberts. Lottie Moon. Nashville, Tenn. : Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1927.
- Helen Albee Monsell, Her Own Way: The Story of Lottie Moon (1958).
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Moon, Charlotte Digges |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Moon, Lottie |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Missionary in China |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1840 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1912 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Kobe, Japan |
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