Is your life filled with such joy and peace that it overflows with hope?
We all fall short of that standard to varying degrees, but that’s the kind of life that Scripture describes for those who know and follow Christ.
In Romans 15:13, the Apostle Paul writes, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (CSB). Paul’s prayer for the Christians in Rome recorded in this verse is a prayer he wants every believer to experience.
And it’s an ideal verse to support the theme of this year’s North Carolina Missions Offering (NCMO), which is “Relief for Today. Hope for Tomorrow.”
September is the emphasis month for the NCMO, the annual offering that supports the work of N.C. Baptists on Mission, church planting and missions projects in our state’s local Baptist associations. Your generosity makes it possible to offer help and hope in Jesus’ name by sharing the gospel in word and deed to those who need it most in North Carolina and beyond.
Most of the people whose lives are touched and transformed through the ministries that the NCMO supports don’t have the type of hope that the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 15. The hope Paul wrote about is more than just a human, temporal hope. Instead, it’s a supernatural, eternal hope rooted in the character of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s prayer is not only a fantastic prayer to pray for ourselves, but also to ask God to grant to others. And when you support the NCMO with your financial gifts, you play a vital and tangible role in seeing this prayer answered.
Whether it’s helping a displaced homeowner after a natural disaster, assisting a new church plant reach a new community or supporting missions projects in your own backyard, your gifts to the NCMO help people without hope find everlasting hope in Christ.
You can learn more about the NCMO by visiting ncmissionsoffering.org. There you’ll find stories of lives that have been transformed through the offering, as well as other resources to promote the offering in your church.
This year’s offering goal is $2.5 million, which is a $400,000 increase from last year’s goal. With the exception of 2020 which was impacted by COVID-19, N.C. Baptists have exceeded the NCMO goal in four of the past five years. I’m praying that we will exceed the goal once again this year so we can reach even more people with the good news of the gospel.
N.C. Baptists, thank you for being a movement of churches on mission together and for providing relief for today and hope for tomorrow through the North Carolina Missions Offering.
