It is hoped that this will be the first in a series of occasional articles in which ideas for circulating the Holy Scriptures are discussed. This short article explains how a church website can easily be used as a distribution channel for Bibles.

Many churches, chapels, and assemblies have found that having a website is an invaluable means of communicating with their local communities. On these websites one would expect to find some background information about the church and its history, details of when and where meetings are held, and perhaps an archive of sermons to listen to. But less common is an offer of a free Bible.

Free Bibles

Over recent years several supporters of the Society have found that a good number of Bibles can be distributed by offering them free of charge on their church websites. Typically a church contact will send the applicant’s details to us, we will invoice the church account (which has a 35% discount) and then despatch the Bible.¹

A contact of ours from Essex, England, wrote the following regarding his experiences administering such an offer.

Since our Gospel Hall is quite small, we did not expect to have much take-up for the free Bible offer. But we have been pleasantly surprised; several Bibles have been given away each year since starting this offer, some to local people and others to individuals overseas who have somehow found their way onto our website. Not having to despatch the Bibles ourselves [see below] has made this much more manageable for us.

The Process

The process usually works as follows:

1. A ‘Free Bible’ page is created on the church website and made accessible via the homepage.
2. A website visitor accesses the page and reads about the offer.
3. The visitor requests a free Bible by submitting the necessary personal information on a website contact form or by email.
4. This information is received by the individual nominated by the church to administer the offer.
5. The offer administrator passes the contact details on to the TBS Sales Team, either at once or when a batch of requests has been received.
6. The TBS Sales Assistant processes the order on the church’s account, which attracts a 35% discount, using the applicant’s address for delivery.
7. The Bible is despatched by TBS and received by the applicant.
8. TBS sends the invoice to the email address on the church account and the church treasurer pays the invoice.

Questions to think about

In considering whether such a scheme is right for your church, chapel, or assembly, the following questions might be helpful:

• How many Bibles would you be prepared to send out each month? You are unlikely to be flooded with requests, but it is worth thinking this through in advance.
• Which Bibles would you send? Typically a hardback, medium-print text Bible such as the TBS Windsor Text Bible (product code 25A) is most suitable.
• Would you like to place any restrictions on where you will send Bibles? You may wish to restrict applications to your local area or your own country, or you may be happy to send Bibles internationally.
• Would you like TBS to supply and ship the Bibles, or would you prefer to purchase the Bibles and packaging materials and send them yourselves?
• Who in your church would take responsibility for administering this offer?
  

Next steps

If you are interested in pursuing the idea of a free Bible offer for your church website, consider working through these steps:

1. Commit the idea to the Lord in prayer.
2. Share this article with the leader(s) of your church, chapel, or assembly.
3. Establish who will manage the free Bible requests from your website.
4. Ensure that your church account details with TBS are up to date.
5. Update your website to include the free Bible offer. The text below is given as an example and can be adapted to suit your circumstances.

In the distribution of the Word of God some seed will fall by the way side, some upon a rock, and some among thorns. But some will fall on good ground, spring up, and yield fruit. (cf. Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8). May the Lord greatly bless the distribution of faithful editions of the Holy Scriptures through this and other means.

First published in Quarterly Record 622. Last updated 4 February 2025.