Time is precious – Day 5

The British and Foreign Bible Society was founded in London on 7 March 1804. This society was the mother society of many other Bible Societies including the Bible Society of South Africa.

The decision to alleviate the chronic shortage of Bibles by founding the society was sparked by the desire and persistence of Mary Jones, a poor Welsh teenager who was determined to obtain a Bible in her own language. After scraping the money together by doing odd jobs over years, she then walked some 40 kilometres over inhospitable Welsh terrain to the nearest town to buy a Bible from the local minister.

At a meeting in London that minister used her example to plead for Bibles for Wales. A fellow minister concurred, saying: “And if for Wales, why not for the kingdom, why not for the whole world?”

The work that the Bible Society does did not originate in 1804. It goes back far beyond that. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the ten commandments to share with God’s children, it was a foretaste of what the Bible Society does today.

The complete Bible is now available in 694 languages, and New Testaments and Portions in a further 2 701 languages. But with more than 7 359 languages in the world there is still much to be done.

The wonderful thing about Bible Society work is that all Christians of all ages can get involved. They could play an active part in translation, production and distribution projects both in South Africa and worldwide.

Maybe God is calling you to share the good news of the gospel in this way.