Lottie Moon
IMB photo
Missionary to China
Charlotte Digges Moon,
affectionately called
“Lottie,” was born
December 12, 1840 in
Virginia.
She was one of seven
children.
IMB photo
IMB photo
Lottie grew up at Viewmont, the home on the family’s
plantation. At Albemarle Female Institute, Lottie
studied Latin, history, literature, and moral
philosophy.
After graduating from
college, Lottie worked
as a governess and
teacher.
Microsoft Clip Art photo
She taught at the Danville
Female Academy in
Kentucky, and at a
school for girls in
Cartersville, Georgia.
IMB photo
In 1873, while attending Cartersville Baptist
Church, Lottie applied to be a missionary
with the Foreign Mission Board.
In October of
1873, Lottie
arrived in
Shanghai.
She was one
of the first
single
women
missionaries
appointed to
serve.
IMB photo
Lottie diligently
learned Chinese.
She was committed
to sharing the
gospel.
Lottie Moon in a rickshaw. IMB photo
IMB photo
Lottie faithfully taught and ministered
primarily in Tengchow and Pingtu.
IMB photo
The “Little House at the Crossroads” was
her home in Tengchow.
Eventually, Lottie
realized that
wearing Chinese
clothing was one
way to open
doors to share
the gospel.
IMB photo
She made cookies
for the children.
The children
brought their
mothers to meet
“the foreign
devil,” as she was
called at first.
Many women came
to know Christ
because of a cup
of tea and some
cookies.
WMU photo
IMB photo
She wrote hundreds of letters documenting
her experiences and asking for more
missionaries to come and serve.
IMB photo
Time and again she wrote urging the
organizing of Baptist women for the
support of missions.
In 1888, the newly formed
Woman’s Missionary Union
collected its first Christmas
offering for foreign missions.
They raised over $3,300.
The offering was named for
Lottie Moon in 1918.
IMB photo
For 39 years Lottie served as a missionary to
China. She came home to the US only three
times during those years.
As the years wore on,
the difficulty of
traveling and other
stresses began to
take their toll on
Lottie.
Constantly she
pleaded for more
missionaries to
come and work with
her beloved
Chinese.
IMB photo
IMB photo
By 1912, China was experiencing great famine.
China was embroiled
in war and famine.
Miss Moon’s health
began to fail.
By November of
1912, she was
seriously ill.
IMB photo
IMB photo
On December 20, 1912, Lottie was carried
aboard the USS Manchuria to begin a
journey home to recuperate. She was said
to have weighed about 50 pounds!
On Christmas Eve,
1912, while the ship
was docked in
Japan, Lottie died.
Her ashes were sent
home to her brother
and buried in the
church cemetery.
IMB photo
“How many there are . . . who imagine that
because Jesus paid it all, they need pay
nothing, forgetting that the prime object of
their salvation was that they should follow in
the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back
a lost world to God, and so aid in bringing the
answer to the petition our Lord taught his
disciples: Thy kingdom come.”
—Lottie Moon, Sept. 15, 1887