Local Effort Spreads Around The World

PRLog (Press Release) – Apr 16, 2008 – Local Effort Spreads Around The World

CHICAGO—In Zimbabwe, where the inflation rate has surpassed 100,000 percent and
unemployment hovers at more than 80 percent, tens of thousands of people struggle through daily hunger pangs. A church leader shares, “The only constant meal in my house is the Word of God. Thanks to the Bible League, we are having healthy, spiritual meals each day.” The Bible provides faith-building nourishment for millions of desperate people like this man worldwide.
William A. Chapman, Bible League’s founder, and his wife, Betty, first established a Bible placement ministry for Bible-less people in Walkerton, Indiana. But in 1938, the Chapmans could not have imagined the scenario in Zimbabwe or elsewhere—seven decades later and thousands of miles away.
On April 15, 2008, Bible League observed its 70th anniversary. Staff and volunteers in more than 60 nations of current ministry will give praise to God for an expansion from humble beginnings.
In the early years, the Chapmans’ Chicago-area basement was the first office space for the ministry, recalls William’s son, Herman Chapman. “It was a family project, so it was automatic that when the Bibles were delivered it was my job to put them in the basement,” says Herman.
The ministry grew and was first incorporated in 1942. “People criticized him [my dad] for being so ambitious to call it American Home Bible League when he was in a little ‘podunk’ neighborhood,” says Herman. “But there was a vision there, which enlarged when we went overseas.”
In 1950, one of the first international Bible League affiliates was created in India, and within the first year more than 52,300 Scriptures were placed there. Over the past 70 years, the ministry has provided more than 730 million Scriptures worldwide, currently working in approximately 120 languages.
“We’ve stuck with the vision,” says Herman. Through the years—and several name changes to reflect growth—Bible League has looked prayerfully to the future. God has inspired an ambitious new vision for the ministry in which Bible League will endeavor to train 10 million nationals to engage 100 million people in the study of God’s Word through the placement of Bibles and New Testaments by the year 2020. “We do more than place Scriptures,” says Bob Cole, Bible League’s president. “We train, empower,
develop and disciple believers with God’s Word. William A. Chapman’s legacy will inspire us to make an eternal impact for years to come.”

The Bible League is one of the world’s largest evangelical, nondenominational Scripture placement agencies. It partners with local churches worldwide, training and equipping Christians to use the Bible to make disciples and establish new churches. Bible League’s International Ministry Center is located in suburban Chicago. For more Bible League news, visit our online press room at www.BibleLeague.org/News/Press.

For more information about the 70th Anniversary call 708-367-8733. We will be happy to schedule an interview with Bob Cole, Bible League’s president, or with Herman Chapman, son of Bible League’s founder. You may also visit www.BibleLeague.org.