Bibles for Christmas Gifts

Two adult males attended their first Gospel meeting tonight. They didn't know each other but they shared one thing in common - neither of them had a Bible in their homes. They were both young married men. One at least had a child. But no Bible in their homes.

One young teenager attended his first Monday Night Bible Club and with excitement the Christian looking after the attendance at the door, excitedly told the teenager: "If you come five nights in a row, you will get your own Bible for free." He looked somewhat blank and asked: "What's that?"

I was standing there when that exchange took place and yes, the country was Canada, the Maritimes.

Are we still allowed to distribute Bibles freely and publicly in our country? If the answer is yes - why don't we seize more opportunities to get the Word of God into their homes while we have the freedom. The day may come when we may have to smuggle Bibles into our towns and homes.

Imagine having a table set up in a shopping mall two weeks before Christmas. A nice professionally produced sign is the backdrop - "Give the World's Best Selling Book as a Christmas Gift This Year." Have not-the-cheapest Bibles available. Choose a reliable current English translation such as ESV or NKJV for outreach purposes. Make sure it has a good size reading font.

Purchase some labels and have a laptop and printer there - so you can personalize the gift with an impressive calligraphy font - To and From and hopefully at the bottom of the printed label - have a contact number or website.

Have someone there who can do a nice wrapping job.

To avoid people who will show up at the table wanting three Bibles (or eight) - anything-for-free type of people, who love to collect freebies---- to discourage that, charge $2 per Bible.  You could say the $2 will be donated to a local charity, if you do not want to use it to help defray the cost of the Bible.