In September 2017 the third in a series of four annual periods of Scripture distribution took place in London in support of the local branches. Over 70 members from across the UK converged on Central London to visit hotels, hostels, care homes, funeral directors and surgeries. This leaves South London to be covered in 2018.

Teams went out from the base hotel in Golders Green and four churches: St Paul’s Hammersmith, St Paul’s Robert Adam Street, Lambeth Methodist Mission and All Hallows Bow. At each of these venues teams prayed together and were briefed before they went out with a list of establishments to visit. Within the congestion zone teams travelled mainly by public transport making small placements and taking orders for larger placements to be made from our delivery van.

A letter had been sent to Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, asking if he would accept a Bible. The reply said he did not have time to receive it in person but would be pleased to have one delivered to his office. Jane Mann, Cambridge Branch, duly delivered the Bible to City Hall.

Responses from the establishments varied. Many of the larger hotels were unwilling to accept Bibles for their rooms for fear of causing offence, but others were delighted to have them. At one top hotel the Manager was delighted to receive a New Testament but also said he had long wanted to read the Old Testament as well so was given a Bible too. Several hostels also accepted Bibles.

At another hotel Neil and Rhoda Bourne, Westminster Branch, met the owner who was a Cypriot Christian. She had been in the business for many years but had never had Gideon Bibles and so was delighted to receive 75, saying she “wanted to promote Christianity”.

At the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green, Andrew and Sarah West, Cambridge Branch, were told by the receptionist that they do not put Bibles in the rooms. They continued to talk to him about the hotels that take them and why they do and he suggested that we speak to his Manager. The Manager said that he used to be the Housekeeper Manager at The Waldorf Hotel in the West End when two Gideons came to see him there. He had agreed to have the Bibles at The Waldorf and said to that he would also love to have them here. He was pleased to accept 140 Bibles for the rooms.

Iain Gray, Oxford Branch, and Gillian Newham, London North West Branch, received a good welcome at one hotel and established that a further 10 Bibles were required for the bedrooms. They also handed out a number of New Testaments for members of staff. On their way out, the Head Concierge, Thomaz, came up to them. He shared some personal difficulties that he was experiencing and they could see the deep pain in his face and demeanour. He described himself as feeling like his wings had been clipped. They talked for a while, sharing the love of God, and pointed him to the Helps in both the English and Polish New Testaments. They went down the street and prayed that Thomaz might experience peace from God in his life.

Iain and Gillian experienced a very positive morning, with almost every clinic they visited in the Harley Street area accepting a Bible for their waiting areas. Consequently, they and another team run out of Bibles. They stopped for lunch at a pavement café so that they could easily be restocked from the van.

On its arrival, they quickly made the transfer, ending up with Bibles and New Testaments piled up on café chairs and their table. They were watched with surprise by the other customers and the lady adjacent to them asked if she could have one. They gladly gave her a New Testament, which led to another customer asking for one. The chain reaction continued, leading to six New Testaments being given to other customers and a passer-by. Gillian then had a long conversation with a Mexican lady on the adjacent table about her son, who was about to start a university course in London. The outcome of this conversation was that she asked for a New Testament for her son. So a “chance” choice of a place to have lunch led to seven New Testaments being handed out.

On the Friday morning came the news of the explosion at Parsons Green underground station. The Lord had overruled as that area had been covered on Wednesday and Thursday and no teams were due to go near there on Friday. One of our teams was in the immediate vicinity of the underground station on Wednesday where they met a man at the reception of a surgery. Teresa Lovering, Devon North Branch, offered a Bible for the waiting room and the man said he would also like one for himself as he was intending to buy a Bible on Saturday.

Personal encounters

There were many opportunities for personal witnessing as members visited the various establishments and during special outreach events. Alan Hall, Coleraine Branch, met Philip, a homeless man, outside St Pancras station and was able to witness to him. As he left Philip was reading his New Testament.

Tristan Kinnear, Lagan Valley Branch, was just below Westminster Bridge when he met a young lad aged about 11 with his grandfather from Iraq. The lad said, “This is my most favourite verse” and opened the Testament and read John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

As was the case in previous years, care homes were generally receptive to having Large Print Testaments for their residents and personal Testaments for their staff. Annabel Howes, Camberley & SE Berks Branch, and Ian Seabrook, Havering Branch, visited Barchester Cheverton Lodge, Archway, but had to wait to see the Manager, who was in a meeting. While they waited they were able to give out several Testaments to staff. Christiana, who was also waiting to see staff to make enquiries on behalf of her mother, accepted a Testament and sat reading it while she waited. Eventually they were able to provide Testaments for the care home.       

This year we had a number of foreign language Testaments available and several staff in hotels were delighted to receive a New Testament in their own language. The manager of one hotel not only accepted Bibles for the hotel but also a New Testament in Arabic for himself. We also had cards advertising the Gideon Bible App, which people can use to read or listen to the Bible in their own language. These were well received by many hotel receptionists from overseas.           

Stort Valley Branch member, David Swindale’s team called at a hotel and the man at reception readily accepted a Testament and started reading it having called for the Duty Manager. She arrived and announced that the hotel didn’t have Bibles in the rooms and they were not interested in having Bibles, because the rooms were too small. She was asked what language she spoke and she said “Polish”. She was then offered a Polish Testament which she said she would accept. When it was handed to her she was silent, and then, when prompted, said she was so excited that she would be able to show her mother at Christmas. She then said she would have a word with the owner about placing Bibles in the rooms.

We walked down the street and called at the next hotel a few doors away and, whilst we were inside, a member of staff at the first hotel ran down the street after us and asked if he could have a Polish Testament. Then he was followed by a female member of staff from the same hotel who said she was Polish and requested a Testament. So from an initial refusal came three Polish Testaments and the possibility of an open door. Mihaela, a Romanian lady who cleaned the room for Neil and Rhoda in the base hotel, had very little English, and her response on receiving a Romanian Testament was “Happy, Happy”. She was overjoyed!

On Thursday evening teams were offering New Testaments at Oxford Circus and at Leicester Square. Altogether the two teams distributed 600 New Testaments plus a number of foreign language editions. It was a very satisfying evening: people took the Testaments willingly and there was an opportunity to pray with four Jordanian youths who wanted to know about Jesus.           

On Saturday teams went out into Central London with Testaments, which included some foreign language editions. Neil and Rhoda led a team of seven in the morning in the Oxford Street area and handed out 150 Scriptures. One was offered to a young man who happily received it, saying he was on his way to a wedding where he was reading a Scripture which he produced on a piece of paper from his bag. He was very happy to be given a Testament and took another to give to the married couple.

In the afternoon Neil and Rhoda’s team moved to the Grenfell Tower area where their team of five distributed 100 Scriptures. At Ladbroke Grove Fire Station they gave 10 Testaments to firefighter Dan for his watch, who were first on the scene for the Grenfell Tower fire.

On Sunday members visited three churches to report on the Scripture Focus. Roger Howes, Camberley & SE Berks Branch, who was part of the team at a church in Kentish Town, noticed that the church was about a mile from where he had been a student and enquired if they had contact with students. This revealed that they owned accommodation for students with 10 rooms and so we were able to present 10 Bibles for them.

A van team at the London Scripture Focus met this Hotel Manager at his hotel in Kings Cross to deliver 90 Bibles requested earlier in the day. 

When the team arrived the Manager was delighted to welcome them and insisted the driver and his mate stay for lunch while he emailed the other 12 hotels in the chain to make sure they were aware of the offer of Bibles. 

When the team came to leave the Manager asked for a further 70 Bibles. 160 rooms now equipped with the Word of God.

The final estimate was that about 7,500 Scriptures were distributed. We thank all those who prayed for this event and those who took part, and request that you pray that as people read the Scriptures that have been placed in establishments or presented to them personally, many may come to know Jesus as their Saviour.

For further information please contact Roger Howes at londonbibles@gmail.com