The Christian charity ‘BibleLands’ recently announced that it will be holding its first ever ‘BibleLands Sunday’ on July 4th 2004. This will be an event for churches nationwide to both celebrate the work of the charity and its partners, and to draw attention to the continuing care and support activities they are providing to the needy. The 4th of July will be exactly 150years and a day since the charity held its inaugural meeting.

In the run-up to the event, the charity has sent out over 15,000 free resource packs to promote the occasion to a range of churches including the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Baptist, Salvation Army and Free Church Congregations. The resource pack contains prayers, readings, sermon themes, hymns, stories and various prayer topics.

Founded in 1854, BibleLands is a non-denominational Christian charity that works in partnership with around 50 local Christian-led projects in the lands of the Bible, in the fields of education, social care, special needs, medical care, vocational and adult training, support and care of refugees.

Nigel Edward-Few, BibleLands’ Director, said “It is our hope that this first ever ‘BibleLands Sunday’ will inspire British churches to encourage Christians in the Middle East through prayer and concerted support. We need to pray that amidst the current political and economic pressures, that Christians will continue to be at the centre of the search for peace in the Middle East and that their faith will be a witness to all around them.”

The idea of BibleLands Sunday originates from the aim to strengthen the profile of the charity, and for it to gain more recognition amongst the churches in Britain. BibleLands currently is probably most famous for their famous Bethlehem Carol Song Sheet which is released every Christmas and is used by thousands of churches across the nation. However, most churches that use the carol sheet do not know the charity well and do not have knowledge of the charity’s other activities such as supporting locally-led Christian projects in the Middle-East region.

The resource pack aims to promote the charity and spread knowledge of its good-workings and activities to church congregations. Awareness of the charity’s efforts will be made clear and the difficult environments in which BibleLands operates will be discussed in the pack.

“We want to encourage churches to get involved with ‘BibleLands Sunday’, and to spend time praying for peace in the troubled Middle East and also to pray for their Christian brothers and sisters, who are in the front line,” stated Edward-Few.

For free copies of the ‘BibleLands Sunday’ resource pack, contact Denise Devaney or Sam Gillman at BibleLands on 01494 897950.