Biblica Europe, Author at Biblica Europe

Shining for Jesus!

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Biblica Europe

The Big House Ireland is a Christian charity that exists to help young people know God’s love, especially when they are dealing with difficult life situations. Katherine Dickson said

“We believe that young people are precious, valued and deeply loved by God, regardless of who they are, where they are from, or whatever difficulty they may be facing. We want young people to know that they are not alone in difficult situations and that there is no difficult day, no dark experience that God cannot bring hope and life into”.

The Big House provide counselling, camps & weekends, youth group sessions and training for leaders. The camps and weekends are designed around the needs of young people and seek to respond to their experience of difficult life situations. Whether it’s a long-term illness, a family difficulty, or a personal issue, Big House camps aim to help young people encounter Jesus in the midst of their difficulties and grow in their knowledge of God’s love and care.

Working on a collage

Biblica have been able to support The Big House by providing copies of The Accessible Bible: New Testaments for one particular camp called Shine. Shine camps are for young people with learning difficulties and the aim is to provide:

A safe, non stereotypical, welcoming residential setting for young people with additional needs (as well as their siblings and youth leaders) where they can connect with others, whilst hearing the message of the gospel in relevant, engaging and creative ways
Vibrant, and accessible spaces where young people are encouraged to spend time with their Heavenly Father, and have the opportunity to pray on their own or with the help of a mentor
A place of joy and fun, where young people are able to try new activities and discover independence in areas where they normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so
An opportunity to be away from home for the first time, pastorally and physically supported by an inter-generational team of volunteers (fully trained) who have a heart for sharing the joy of Christ with others; regardless of age, culture, illness or special educational need.

As you read this it will not surprise you that in 2020 the Shine camp was not able to go ahead due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, The Big House did stay connected with the campers by posting activity kits which included a bible-based activity, craft, links to worship songs and lots of sweets!

In December, the campers usually attend an annual reunion. This year they are planning to meet on Zoom, with the theme ‘The Greatest Gift’ and plans are underway to share copies of the Accessible Bible: New Testaments. Katherine said

“This Christmas, we are especially thankful to Biblica for their generous donation, allowing us to celebrate The Good News of the gospel. Through Biblica’s donation, each of our campers will literally receive the gift of good news this Christmas, AND have the opportunity to gift a copy of the Accessible Bible: New Testament to a friend or loved one”.

Some of the campers do not communicate verbally, so gifting a bible enables them to shine as they share the good news of Jesus with others.

At Biblica we are delighted, humbled and greatly blessed knowing that these special campers will be shining for Jesus!

Katherine said “Our SHINE campers will be beacons of hope as demonstrated in Romans 10:15 “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””

A first in Ukrainian!

Posted on November 12, 2020 by Biblica Europe

Ukraine is a country that has a history of invasion, occupation, repression and revolution, and as one of the largest countries in Europe, with a population of 44 million, it does not have a contemporary translation of the Bible in the heart language of the people. Under the oppression of the Soviet Regime, Russian became the common language in Ukraine. In 1996 Ukrainian was once again confirmed as the official language in the country’s constitution.

In 2018 Biblica began the translation process for the contemporary Ukrainian translation.

Andrey & Tanya Shpygunov are the Directors of ServeNow in Ukraine. They can trace their journey to this point back to the 1990s when, after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, many missionaries came to Ukraine. It was during this time that they both made a decision to follow God and dedicated their lives to serve him.

Andrey and Tanya in Traditional Clothes

Previously, and for 10 years, they served in Crimea working in another ministry to children. Reflecting on this time Tanya said

“Everything seemed so stable, and we thought that it would be this way forever. No one could imagine that things might change. Yet, that is what happened in 2014. Russia occupied Crimea, and we had to leave the Hope Centre behind”.

It was a difficult time for Andrey and Tanya, but they can now see how God was working out his purposes for their family in what appeared to be a hopeless situation, leading them to ServeNow, and to becoming the Directors in Ukraine in 2014.

Partnering with Biblica, Andrey and Tanya obtained 1200 Survivors booklets – the first Biblica resource in Ukrainian for ServeNow! In Summer 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to run two camps which were attended by 173 children. Each of these children got their own copy of the Survivors Booklet.

Kid with Survivor Booklet

Tanya said

“During our Bible study classes, we read this booklet and discussed it together. Most of the kids were not Christians, and so the accessible text with simple illustrations helped us to have meaningful conversations, as we talked about their fears and as we prayed together”.

What a great encouragement this is!

The contemporary Ukrainian translation is an opportunity to influence a nation. An opportunity to introduce people to the love of God. At Biblica we are excited to be working on this translation.

It costs just £1 to translate the next word – can you help?

www.biblicaeurope.com/givetotranslate/

You can download the Survivors booklet in Ukrainian here.

Living Breath Videos

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Biblica Europe

“Living Breath Videos” produce dramatised Bible readings, using the NIV translation, for churches and other ministries.

Last month we were delighted to partner with them on their virtual launch night which included the premiere of Living Breath’s first full book of the Bible, Ruth. Susie, an actor and performer, and Ben, director, writer and videographer, who together set up Living Breath, reflecting on the launch event, said:

“We are really grateful to everyone who came to see what we are doing! It was so exciting to engage with some new people, and see the positive impact of simple Bible readings. We are so passionate about sharing the Bible and exploring new creative ways of helping more and more people experience it in a fresh way”.

Many people joined us online, here is a selection of how they reacted:

“Wow absolutely enthralling and refreshing. Powerful tool for so many different environments. As a person with dyslexia I can see this format working very well in a small group discussion session”. Lachlan.

“This was so powerful, so refreshing! Well done Ben and the rest of the team”. Julie.

“This was brilliant, looking forward to hearing more, so accessible and alive”. Carol.

As we move closer to Christmas Living Breath are working hard on a video of the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel, bringing the nativity story to life in a new and exciting way. Looking further ahead Biblica are excited to be working with Living Breath on some dramatised readings from the NIrV Accessible Edition: Psalms.

We are delighted to share with you Living Breath’s latest video, The Beatitudes, with actor Gideon Asuming in the role of Jesus.

To find out more and access a growing library of dramatised Bible readings visit www.livingbreath.co.uk.

Happyland – The Christmas Story

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Biblica Europe

Happyland is one of Early Learning Centre’s oldest and best loved brands and is described as “a place of wonder, fuelled by the imagination of each child who travels there!”

In partnership Biblica and HOPE Together have published the all-new Happyland Christmas Story booklet. The 20-page booklet uses the popular Happyland characters along with Glen Scrivener’s nativity rhyme. Glen is the Director and Evangelist at Speak Life.

In addition to the booklet there is an incredible Happyland nativity animation which you can access on YouTube:

The animation is available to share on social media, in schools and in church services. What a great way to bring the nativity story to life for Christmas 2020!

To buy the Happyland Christmas Story booklet click here to go to the HOPE Together Shop.

We are delighted to be part of making this creative and accessible resource available and would love to hear from you how you plan to use the booklet. In December it would be great to follow up and hear how the booklets have been shared and the reaction of people to them. To share with us how you plan to use the booklet please email [email protected]

The Accessible Bible Project – Urban Saints

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Biblica Europe

Mark Arnold is the Additional Needs Ministry Director at Urban Saints. Urban Saints has been in existence for 120 years, reaching out across the UK to support children’s, youth and family workers.

Urban Saints partnered with Biblica at the start of the Accessible Bible Project. Mark said

“We dreamed big dreams, we produced a big list of things that we hoped the Accessible Bible would include, and bit by bit we saw it taking shape…… It’s been great to be involved in such an exciting project that has reached out and enabled children, young people and indeed adults across the UK and across the world to be able to access God’s word in incredible ways for the very first time”.

In this video Mark reflects on how he and Urban Saints got involved in the project; how they continue to use the NIrV Accessible Edition: New Testament; the impact that the project has had; and the excitement for the launch of the NIrV Accessible Edition: Psalms.

Mark shared this story from the launch of the NIrV Accessible Edition: New Testament:

“As the …. New Testaments were being handed out…, I found one of our Trustees …. close to tears. This friend of mine is Dyslexic himself and has a Dyslexic daughter and as he opened the New Testament he could immediately start to read it himself and he was so thrilled that not only would he be able to have a Bible in his hand that he could easily and accessibly read, but he knew that his daughter would be able to read it too”.

Please watch this video. At the end you will find a link to read more about the Accessible Bible Project.

Summer of Love

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Biblica Europe

In February 2020 the phonelines were hot between Biblica and the Scottish Bible Society (SBS) as a unique edition of Mark’s Gospel was finalised and published. The plan was that 7,000 copies would be distributed to churches and individuals across Scotland to share in their communities with a further 3,000 copies for Scripture Union Scotland to use at their 2020 Summer Camps.

It will not surprise you that when the COVID-19 pandemic reached Scotland and the country went into lockdown, the plans were shelved and the 10,000 copies of Mark’s Gospel, which arrived just 2 days before lockdown, went into storage.

Mark’s Gospel

A number of months on we were keen to get an update from SBS and to find out about other projects Biblica have been involved with, so we had a chat with Fiona McDonald, Director of National Ministries.

On Mark’s Gospel Fiona said “First off they are beautiful books! We are so pleased with them. They are beautifully illustrated to show contemporary life and designed to be an accessible read for those outside the church”. Fiona went on to confirm that “they arrived just as lockdown began and so we had to warehouse them as distribution was impossible”.

However, Fiona explained that in the months that followed they were able to send copies to some churches which was great in terms of getting some early feedback from others. One rural church in the Highlands of Scotland had been distributing ‘Boxes of Blessing’ containing various essentials for people who were having to isolate due to the pandemic. The boxes contained food, toiletries, games and a copy of Mark’s Gospel. Rev. Andrea Boyes said, “When we packed up the boxes in the food bank, we included a copy of Mark’s Gospel, and have given out 300 so far. Such a great opportunity to spread the message of hope found in God’s word while showing practical love and care”.

Fiona told us that SBS had planned to distribute copies of Mark’s Gospel at a couple of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As the Festival was cancelled, many theatre groups have been forced to take the unprecedented step of moving online. Not to be left behind, SBS have been involved with a group of actors in creating an 11-part audio drama for a serialized podcast, based on the book of Ruth in the Bible, called “Where You Go”. Having sorted out the licensing with Biblica, SBS set about using Ruth in NIrV, printing a give-away booklet for families linking with the audio drama.

Fiona said “this has been such a success story of our Summer. A few thousand families have benefitted from our Ruth themed ‘Bag of Love’. We created a 5-day online event that could be used in place of holiday bible clubs, which included activities and an episode from the audio drama of Ruth. So far there have been 1,400 downloads of the audio drama, and it was even featured on BBC Radio Scotland”.

(You can access the audio drama here: https://scottish.bible/bible2020/whereyougo/)

On behalf of SBS, Fiona said “Biblica has been enormously and incredibly flexible. People like Trevor Wilson and Marius Roetz have been so willing to help us as we have moved to get more of the Bible online.”

Just when we thought the conversation was over, Fiona let us know that following on from the Ruth audio drama, SBS are planning to run an Advent version. It is clear that the Scottish Bible Society are adapting and evolving in these times to continue to put the Bible into people’s hands and hearts, and we at Biblica are so blessed to be part of that with them.

The Balding Bishop & 3,000 Gospels of Luke

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Biblica Europe

The Adventures of the Ginger Vicar and the Balding Bishop is an innovative project of Share Jesus International (SJI).

Over six episodes Andy Frost (Balding Bishop) and Rich Ellerington (Ginger Vicar), share adventures and stories of meeting people in Costa Rica, Panama, Norway, Morocco and the USA, while gradually exploring the Christian narrative. Great resources for school assemblies and youth events and can be accessed here: The Adventures of the Ginger Vicar and the Balding Bishop

We want to give people the opportunity to discover who Jesus is

To help people further explore who Jesus is, SJI and Biblica partnered on the production of a custom edition of Luke’s Gospel, as an accompaniment to the YouTube channel ‘GVBB adventures‘. It includes some great graphics and an introduction which challenges people to read the story of Jesus for themselves.

Watch this short video as Andy Frost takes delivery of 3,000 copies of this custom version of Luke’s Gospel.

The Story of Jesus as Told By Luke

If you want to find out how we can work with you in providing customised Bible resources, please visit our website (https://www.biblicaeurope.com/custom-bibles) or email us at [email protected] to start a conversation.

GVBB say “If you want to read the greatest adventure of all time, you won’t find a greater one then the story of Jesus as told by Luke. If you’ve never read the story of Jesus or want to give one to a friend, then email [email protected] & we’ll send a complimentary copy in the post to you!”

The Accessible Bible Project – Tio Associates

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Biblica Europe

Tiō Associates is a small charity based in Northern Ireland. Their vision is to see people with intellectual disabilities and their families being welcomed, valued and participating in the church and in society by promoting an authentic Christian perspective on intellectual disability. The charity does this by speaking, teaching, training and consultancy, celebrating and supporting best practice.

Early in lockdown we supplied Tiō Associates with some NIrV Accessible Edition: New Testaments to distribute to those who would benefit from them and we were keen to find out how they were used, so we had a chat with Rachael Mackarel.

Biblica: Rachael, what is your role and how did you get involved?

Rachael: I studied a Masters of Theology under our founding director Ian Dickson on the topic of Biblical Pedagogy* for people with intellectual disabilities. We piloted theological education for people with intellectual disabilities at Belfast Bible College in 2012 and completed 8 terms with our students.

Subsequently I have been leading Tiō’s Accessible Bible study group for adults with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities. Our members have successfully taken part in leading church services and speaking at events including New Horizon as well as our own Tiō Associates conferences.

Biblica: Tell us how your group has been using the Accessible New Testaments

Rachael: Our group have been using the New Testaments since they were published and we always promote and model the use of them at all Tiō training, services and events especially those which are intentionally accessible for people with disabilities.

We often take our time over passages to learn, process and begin to apply the text into our own lives. Each term we have a theme or section of New Testament text to cover, for instance one theme was ‘Friends of Jesus’. We read and used drama, arts and activities to learn about the people Jesus was friends with and how he related to them. We were able to bring out applications to help us all build positive relationships and be a good friend. These topics we addressed pastorally through share and prayer time and peer support e.g.; those of us that struggle with conflict were able to learn from the patience and assertiveness of Christ; Those of us who feel lonely and friendless were comforted by His friendship with us.

Before lockdown started, we ceased meeting in person with our group to safeguard and protect the well-being of our volunteers and members. We moved to online video conferencing and increased our frequency of meeting from fortnightly to weekly because so many other aspects of our members’ lives and routines were closing down, and we were keen to be a support to them. More of our members were able to read from their own Bibles at home because the weight and size of them made them difficult to transport for some when we were physically meeting up. We focused on memory verses of hope through the Spring and Summer e.g., Romans 15:13 and we learnt the Makaton signs online together to help us to learn it. We used this verse to springboard into praying for each other especially those with mental health struggles related to lockdown.

One of our members was sadly bereaved during the time that we were meeting online. We were unable to visit his family or support them at the funeral due to restrictions. Sometimes the topic of death and loss can be a bit taboo in the intellectual disabilities community because we do not want to upset people. Like others, for people with intellectual disabilities being a witness to a friend’s grief can stir up feelings of loss they have also experienced.

The week of the funeral we all gathered online and wore black together as a sign of our collective mourning. Then we read from our NIrV:

Give praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is the Father who gives tender love. All comfort comes from him. He comforts us in all our troubles. Now we can comfort others when they are in trouble. We ourselves receive comfort from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIrV)

The group members were given time to think about a time that they were sad and needed God’s comfort and then we prayed for God’s comfort to be known to our friend and his family. This verse helped us to process our own sadness and at the same time think about the feelings of our friend.

Biblica: Is there something that has encourage you during lockdown?

Rachael: Many adults with intellectual disability do not own their own Bible. Some live in supported living where staff do not share their faith or are not aware of different types of Bibles. To be able to put the NIrV in the hands of people in these situations has been wonderful. The simpler translation helps us to teach the meaning of texts without having to regularly stop and explain difficult words. Before lockdown we would meet in a church building and do our Bible study in a separate space from the rest of their lives. Now we are meeting online from our homes and the process of opening our Bibles and reading together is actually being shared with carers and staff, and so we are connecting with some of them in ways that we didn’t before.

*Pedagogy is the discipline of study related to the field of education and teaching methods

The Christian Medical Fellowship

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Biblica Europe

The Christian Medical Fellowship was formed in 1949 and exists to unite and equip Christian doctors, nurses and midwives to live and speak for Jesus Christ. Currently the membership includes approximately 5,000 doctors, 900 medical, nursing and midwifery students and 300 nurses and midwives.

The aims of the CMF are:

Discipleship – to unite Christian healthcare professionals and students in Christ and encourage them to deepen their faith, live like Christ and serve him obediently, particularly through acting competently and with compassion in their clinical practice.
Evangelism – to encourage Christian healthcare professionals and students to be witnesses for Christ amongst all those they meet.
Mission – to mobilise and support all Christian healthcare professionals and students in serving Christ throughout the world.
Values – to promote Christian values in society, especially, but not limited to, the areas of bioethics and healthcare.

Read more about what CMF does on their website: https://www.cmf.org.uk/

In 2016 Biblica produced a custom version of the gospel written by Doctor Luke for CMF appropriately called A Physician’s Story. Since then hundreds of copies have been given to members to use as evangelistic resources with colleagues and fellow students and some distributed at outreach events, such as the London Healthcare Carol Service.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic CMF ran a 40 episode podcast series called “Voices from the Front Line” featuring healthcare professionals in the UK and other parts of the world. In the 40^th episode Audrey, a Consultant Anaesthetist working in an Intensive Care Unit in Glasgow shared some of her experience from the previous few months. She describes it as a rollercoaster with mountain tops of fun and very low valleys dealing with a significant number of deaths to the disease, and the intense grief experienced by staff as they accompanied people in the final moments of their lives in the absence of family. She also shares how she has seen the sacrifice of so many healthcare staff, and how she has been able to share Jesus with people in the middle of all of this.

We recommend you listen to some of these at https://cmf.li/3dzURd8 and check out their Instagram accounts at https://www.instagram.com/cmfjuniors/ and https://www.instagram.com/cmf.student.nurses.midwives/

Other resources on the CMF website includes a seven-day guide to praying for Christian healthcare workers and how to care for healthcare workers in your church family.

https://www.cmf.org.uk/resources/covid-19-resources/

At Biblica we highly commend these resources and encourage you to make use of them. We look forward to developing new resources with the CMF.

An Interview with Andy Dakin

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Biblica Europe

Part 1 – Introducing Andy Dakin

Andy Dakin is the Executive Director of the Naval & Military Bible Society (NMBS). Biblica print NIV New Testaments with Psalms (NTP) for NMBS to distribute to various military units. These are extremely well received by trainees and serving personnel. With increasing demand for NTPs and for bilingual scriptures in 2020, Biblica are excited to see what lies ahead as we continue to partner with NMBS. In this story we wanted to introduce Andy to you – to share part of his story and how he got involved with NMBS. In a follow-up story we ask him some questions about the work of NMBS and the partnership with Biblica.

Andy Dakin spent his early years living on the Island of Jersey with his parents and an older brother, where his father worked as an aircraft engineer. Following a move back to England for the eldest son to start senior school in preparation for University, Andy’s father then worked for Lloyd’s Insurance assessing crashed airplanes. Andy’s brother went to university in Southampton, joining the Air Squadron, learnt to fly and joined the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) as a Navigator.

When it came time for Andy to go on to tertiary education he chose to study Geography at Birmingham University with the tentative plan of becoming a Geography teacher. It will come as no surprise though that he followed similar interests to his father and brother and joined the Air Squadron at university. Recognised for his flying abilities he obtained a scholarship from the R.A.F. in his final year which involved training at the R.A.F. College in Cranwell, Lincolnshire. From this he was selected to fly Harrier jets – famous for their vertical / short take-off and landing.

With regards to active service, operational clearance for Andy came just at the end of the Falklands War, but Andy did get to spend a number of deployments on the Falklands, followed by Belize and across Europe.

Along the way Andy met his future wife who was training to be a nurse. They got married and had three children, who are now grown up and the number of grandchildren currently sits at five. In the early stages of married life Andy was part of No. 1 Squadron – the R.A.F.’s oldest unit which has been involved in every major British military operation from the First World War to present time. This involved, over a 10-year period, time in the UK, Germany, The United States and back to Germany before returning to the UK.

In 1990 the Iraqi Army invaded Kuwait and with a few weeks, Andy was posted to the Gulf with the U.S. Marine Corps trying to process whether conflict was going to follow, and thinking about his wife and three children, all under four years old, who he had left at the Marine Corps Air Station in Cherry Point, North Carolina. Andy pays tribute to his wife who not only looked after the family in these new circumstances, but she also looked after many of the Marine Corps wives who were left at home. In fact, she received official recognition for this with a Marine Corps Commendation. At this time Andy’s wife had a faith and was attending a good church in Cherry Point, though as a typical “young arrogant fighter pilot”, Andy’s words, he didn’t think he needed any help for a higher authority.

Andy spent seven and a half months in The Gulf, during which he had plenty of time to think and reflect on life, his relationships with family, others and the world around him. He also had time to read. He was given a U.S. Marine Corps camouflage covered NIV New Testament and Psalms. Andy said “in reading this Bible, I came to the realisation that my life would be for nothing without a relationship with the living God. Whilst I wasn’t fearful about going to war, having this relationship was extremely comforting”. It was while serving in The Gulf War that Andy came to faith in Jesus. Talking about numerous near misses, Andy said “without my faith, I don’t think I would still be here! During the war and my subsequent career there were many times when the difference between life and death has been a few centimetres or a couple of seconds!”.

After the RAF, Andy worked with BAESYSTEMS as the new technology projects manager within the Harrier programme. In his spare time, he also worked with Cranfield University on air research programmes.

Jumping forward to 2018 Andy was seeking a future career path in a vocational environment that had connections to his Christian beliefs. He had shared this with his church Home Group, and they prayed for him. The very next day he received a call asking if he would consider interviewing for the role of Executive Director of the Naval & Military Bible Society (NMBS), which provide Bibles to service personnel. Andy was successful in this process and has now been with NMBS for nearly 2 years building connections with chaplains, supporters and partner organisations in the UK and around the world.

PART 2 – An Interview with Andy Dakin, Executive Director, Naval & Military Bible Society

Biblica: When did you first become aware of the work of Biblica, and how have Biblica and Naval & Military Bible Society (NMBS) been working together over the years?

Andy: The relationship between Biblica and NMBS began before I started in my role, and I have been pleased to continue that connection through my tenure.

It is important that we access widely recognised versions of the Bible in NMBS published material and Biblica’s New International Version of Scripture is key to our offerings. We operate by giving Bibles and other Christian resources to personnel in the military, cadet forces and seafarers both through chaplaincies and directly to individuals and organisations.

Biblica: Tell us more about those that you partner with.

Andy: We partner with many organisations; chaplaincies for the military, other services, cadet forces and seafarers to reach with high-quality Christian resources. Whilst we write our own material, we do not re-invent the wheel and if we can see someone is producing excellent books that could help individuals we are trying to reach, then we will partner with these organisations. For example ‘Inner Struggles’, produced by ‘BeaconLight’, was originally produced for prison ministry and we took that book and adapted it to produce both a military, seafarer’s and Royal Navy editions.

Biblica: Tell us more about the NIV New Testament with Psalms that Biblica recently provided. How have they been distributed?

Whilst we produce both hardback and paperback full Bibles, the pocket-sized New Testament and Psalms (NTP) is central to our operation. It provides a high-quality and durable resource for the personnel that receive them.

Working through Biblica we can cost-effectively produce NTPs in batches of 5,000. These batches generally contain about five variants. Some versions, such as the Royal Navy and Army versions, are produced in their thousands. However, we also produce versions for individual Army Regiments, Brigades and Battalions down to around two hundred and fifty units.

A majority of our distributions come via orders made by individuals and organisations through our website (www.nmbs.org.uk), however we also receive orders via email, telephone call and even occasionally by letter!

We are seeing an explosion of requirement for our Bibles and in 2020, if funds become available, we are on track to deliver five times our historical annual output.

Biblica: Can you share something about the response of those who receive the Bibles?

Through the distribution of our Bibles and books we are seeing an increased desire for the pursuit of all things spiritual. For instance, whilst one might think that the youth of today may not consider such things, it is our experience that this is not the case. In an environment, like the Royal Naval recruit training centre at HMS Raleigh where chaplains offer Bibles as part of their ministry, generally 95% of personnel passing through ask for a Bible and associated materials, and we see the same in Army training centres.

We often receive testimonies from our seafaring chaplains with whom we are connected with through our membership of the International Christian Maritime Association. One recent example of the appreciation of availability of Bibles to seafarer’s came from Panama:

“Just to let you know that I visited a containership today. A crew of 17, 14 of whom are Filipino. I took on a couple of the NMBS Bibles and the bi-lingual NTs…well, you would think that I was distributing the winning lottery ticket! They were snatched up with great delight. One young Able-Bodied Seaman, James, who was stationed at the gangway, asked me for a Bible. When I told him that I had left an extra one with the Chief Officer for whomever needed one…James took off, ran to claim it. It was a lovely moment and I left the containership (in a real tropical down pour – soaked to the skin) with a smile.” Fr. Ian Cervantes-Hutchinson

Biblica: What are your plans for the rest of 2020?

As I’ve already mentioned the requirement for Christian material from our ‘audience’ seems to have exploded! We will be producing around 25,000 NTPs for at least 20 different organisations and also a number of hardback full Bibles. In one instance the provision of several hundred NTPs to the Kenya Defence Force has led to a ‘Bibles for Soldiers’ project in that country, which requires the production of 20,000 NTPs. Also, of special note is the ongoing initiative to produce a suite of Bible materials for the seafaring world. This includes Diglot Luke/Acts extracts and NTPs in Tagalog, Russian, Mandarin, Indonesian and Hindi. As always, the need for funds to complete these initiatives is the prime challenge!

Biblica: How can people be praying for you and the work you are involved in?

As we continue to operate through the current COVID-19 crisis, we would ask that our supporters pray that our suppliers, partners, chaplaincies and recipients are not unduly affected over the coming months.
Increased levels of funding from individuals and granting organisations. We have made concerted efforts over the last year to reduce our operating budget and in 2020 this is set to be 30% less than the 2019 value. This enables more of our income to be made available for the production of resources. However, the greatly increased demand for our materials, particularly Bibles, means there is always a shortfall.
That we continue to make new relationships, and enhance existing relationships, so that we are able to ensure that we are providing the best suite of materials for our partners. Our uniqueness comes from the fact that we are a gifting Bible Society that builds bespoke relationships with our connections so that we supply the resources that is best suited to the individual requirements.
We are looking to make connections that can help with the content of our mental welfare related booklet programmes.
We work with a very small team and whilst we are working ever more efficiently it is difficult to be constantly available for our connections in the UK and globally. So, we are in the process of building a network of volunteer ‘Ambassadors’, whose role is to promote our ministry to their local and regional communities. Finding the skilled people to fulfil our motto of, “Serving those who Serve” in their locality is one of our needs of the moment.

For more information on the work of NMBS visit https://nmbs.org.uk/

For more information on how Biblica can help your church or organisation reach out with God’s Word visit https://www.biblicaeurope.com/our-work/overview

Author: Biblica Europe