Give Away Your Bible
What should you do with old or damaged Bibles you no longer need? According to World Magazine, Michigan-based Christian Resources International (CRI) suggests several ways to put them to use. Operation Bare Your Bookshelf allows you to send used Bibles in good condition to people who need them overseas. For $11 you can mail a package weighing up to 4 pounds directly abroad, to someone who has requested a Bible, using an address label and customs form prepared by CRI.
Fred Palmerton, CRI’s volunteer director, notes that increased postal rates have made it costlier to send Bibles that way. So it’s also possible for people with lots of Bibles and other Christian materials to mail them via cheaper “media mail” to CRI’s warehouse. There, volunteers organize and process the materials, making them available to missionaries who come through or sending them by container to partner groups around the world. Palmerton says his organization sent about 500,000 lbs. of Christian books and materials abroad last year.
The Bible Foundation makes it possible for someone to connect with Bible distribution at any level: donating at a Bible drive, organizing a Bible drive, or coordinating a master collection center. His group also connects overseas Christian groups that need Bibles with people able to transport Bibles. “We’re always looking for other ways to ship Bibles overseas,” Kingery says: His group emphasizes networking but also runs the master collection center for Idaho, Washington, and Oregon that processed 20,000 Bibles last year. Other Bible drives and master collection centers are all independent of the Bible Foundation.
I know it sounds romantic to recycle Bibles but I sure hope someone is crunching the numbers on this.
Sounds like a great idea! No need to waste a good Bible!
Local prisons also have need of Bibles all the time, including jails. They also welcome good Christian books including teaching and novels. Call up one in your area and ask to speak with the chaplin. He/she can tell you what the needs are and how to deliver them.
I don't know about old bibles, but as a retired police officer I buy Peace Officer Pocket Bibles by the case to give away. I've given them away at Police Academy Graduations, at events where law enforcement types gather (such as the Police Unity Tour), at the National Law Enforcement Memorial in DC, even to those TSA guys while they patted me down.
There's nothing wrong with spreading the word in hard copy!
I'm going to have to replace my Bible. I need a larger print version, and our puppy ate most of Genesis and parts of Exodus last month.
Unfortunately, I don't think it's good for the 2nd hand market. Some of us are too hard on things. I'm one of those people. I never make a dime on yard sales, 'cause once I'm done with something, no one wants it.
This Bible is not only missing whole chapters, but it's got highlighting, notes in the margins, and crayon drawings on the last 6 pages or so.
I think Bible recycling is a great idea for most folks. We have a ministry that really needs Bibles for our students. We need the easier to read modern translations to send home with people who just can't wade through the King James Version. The Dollar Tree sells the KJV, and we're thankful. I wonder though, would it cut into their profits if they sold easier to read translations?
If you're a huge fan of the KJV, and are getting upset at the idea anyone might hope for something else, take it easy. I like it too, but a lot of young people find it hard going. I'd like to make it easier for them.