Annie Armstrong was born in Baltimore at a time when women were not expected to lead. She served, challenged churches to action and rallied support for missionaries. Ultimately, Annie was recognized as a national Southern Baptist trailblazer renowned for visionary missions leadership.
Today, over $1 billion has been given through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering®. All gifts—100%—support thousands of missionaries in church planting and compassion ministries across the U.S. and Canada.
Let’s Get Moving Again
At this time of the year, our church gives to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Each year, the North American Mission Board chooses a theme for this significant offering, and this year it is The Mission Moves Forward. One way our church can help move the mission forward is by praying for our Southern
Baptist missionaries, giving to support their critical work and learning more about them.
Missionaries like Jacob and Francine Zailian in Sanger, California. Jacob is the church planter of Set Free Church and he and his wife serve their community in a heartfelt way.
Their ministry is specifically to those on the margins of society—the homeless, impoverished and addicted, to help set them free through Christ. Everyday, they work beyond the four walls of the church building to care for those in need. During the COVID health crisis, they began serving more than 300 people a week through community meals where they also asked about their needs, prayed with them and invited them to the church worship services.
One of the greatest disservices we have done to the Church, the Body of Christ, is allowing the Church to become identified as a place to go to instead of a people who go out.
It was never intended to be that way. We know this by the Greek word used for “Church” in Matthew 16:18. That passage says,
“And I also say to you that you are Peter [which means ‘rock’], and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (CSB)
The Greek word for “church” in this passage is “ekklesia.” This word means “those who are called out.” It’s not a term that describes a destination, as in a building, but rather one of “movement”—the calling out of those who are compelled to live out their lives in Christ in a public way. It’s a word that should set an image of a group of people assembling to start a revolution rather than sitting still and docile in a congregation.
Movement and mobility are indeed at the very heart and spirit of what the first-century church was all about. And if those first-century believers ever got a little too comfortable or if it became too easy for them to be stagnant and rest on their laurels, God would allow something to happen to get the church moving again.
Our Church Goal
Our Church Goal is $8000