New Testament from Scripture Gift Mission

Lifewords (formerly Scripture Gift Mission) is a

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, but with offices worldwide. It exists to promote the positive influence of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

on everyday life. This has been done traditionally through literature distribution, but more recently includes websites, film, educational programmes and live events. Lifewords does not carry out mission initiatives directly, but provides resources to other mission organisations, churches, or individuals. All Lifewords' work is funded by donations, and the agency currently operates in over 25 countries.

History

Scripture Gift Mission (SGM) was founded in 1888 by a printer named William Walters, who believed the Bible should be accessible to all. His two main innovations were to make the Bible available free of charge, and to dispatch two painters ( James Clark and Henry Andrew Harper) to Palestine to produce illustrations. Both of these were controversial at the time, as it was felt that they devalued the scriptures. SGM produced Bible materials for troops in the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

in 1899, and the supply of military items was to become an important part of the mission's work, particularly during the two

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s. In 1945, the society distributed hundreds of thousands of

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

s according to the text of the Miniature Bible by Franz Eugen Schlachter to German POWs in English prisons. In the post-war years, SGM continued to expand, starting offices in Australia,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, among others. Translation work was an important feature of the mission, and SGM published its 1000th language in 2002, according to their ''Interact'' magazine. Following changes in the nature of their work, and a desire to move into new fields, SGM rebranded in 2005 and became SGM Lifewords (since 2017 - Lifewords). The organisation celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2013.

Current work

Lifewords produces literature in many languages, available from their offices worldwide or online. It remains free of charge. The range includes pastoral and counselling titles, ranges for

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

and

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, and more general evangelistic materials. Among Lifewords' broader portfolio is the Pavement Project, a counselling programme for street children, and Choose Life, a values education programme for

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

n schools.

External links

homepage of Lifewordsthe Lifewords blog
{{Authority control Christian missions