Pocket Testament League
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The Pocket Testament League is a Christian organization which distributes printed copies of the Gospels. The Pocket Testament League is a relatively small non-profit organization serving hundreds of thousands of members from various denominational backgrounds. A small team runs the ministry, and it is managed by a 15-person Board of Trustees. Members of The Pocket Testament League have shared[when?] over 110 million[citation needed] Gospels.
History
The Pocket Testament League was originally founded in 1893 by a teenage girl named Helen Cadbury, as a means of winning her classmates to Christ. In 1904, Helen married American evangelist Charles McCallon Alexander, who officially organized the League with Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman in Philadelphia, in March 1908.[1] Alexander had been associated with the prominent evangelist Dwight L. Moody and his experience in worldwide evangelism gave huge impetus to the League. In 1914, The Pocket Testament League opened an office in London, England, and began sharing Gospels as part of its First World War outreach. In October, a campaign gave out 400,000 New Testaments to soldiers on Salisbury Plain.
During the Great Depression, members of the League shared Gospels through the Civilian Conservation Corps in the South and throughout New England. The Corps was a government-organized effort to put jobless men to work on public projects. Billy Graham was a great encouragement to the League, commenting that "I am completely sold on the work of The Pocket Testament League, and continue to pray for those associated with it."[citation needed]
After the Second World War, the league started its missionary work in foreign countries. With the support of General George Marshall and Chiang Kai-shek, bibles were distributed among Chinese soldiers fighting in the Chinese Civil War.[2]
Present
As of 2013, the League has over one million Facebook fans in dozens of countries, over 350,000 members, and a staff of 5 full time people that work from virtual offices. The League has members from all 50 states and 140 countries.
Today The League still prints small pocket sized Gospels of John in many languages, such as English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese. The League partners with local Bible Societies for accurate Bible translations, and ships from several locations around the world. They League offers a wide range of ornamental cover designs featuring artwork, hobby-related imagery, and camouflage.
See also
External links
- Official website
- The Pocket Testament league around the world by George Davis
- The Remarkable Story of Helen Cadbury at Therebelution.com
References
- ^ Archie R. Crouch (ed.), Christianity in China : a scholars' guide to resources in the libraries and archives of the United States, New York 1989, p. 226.
- ^ Archie R. Crouch (ed.), Christianity in China : a scholars' guide to resources in the libraries and archives of the United States, New York 1989, p. 226.