SHORT HISTORY OF POSTAL BIBLE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT 1958 – 2008
It is amazing how a work of God which starts in a very small way can
grow and increase beyond the wildest dreams of those involved. The grain
of mustard seed - “smaller than all the seeds on earth”-“became greater
than all herbs, and shoots out large branches” (Mark 4: 31-32)
The work of Postal Sunday School began in 1958 with one student in
Ireland. Bert and Wendy Gray had a vision to reach the children in
Southern Ireland and in view of the distances involved and the scattered
nature of children, it was decided that a Postal Sunday School was one
of the best ways of bringing the Gospel to them. Slowly, lessons were
written and then printed. Others in the UK saw the possibility of using
the lessons in their areas and so a number of Postal Bible School
Centres were commenced in different parts of England. Today they are
used in many postal and other types of ministries.
A system was soon established where by each child is sent a set of four
lessons for each month and when they have completed these lessons they
are returned to the centre and a team of markers or teachers are
responsible for marking the lessons. Correct answers are given points so
that, every so often, prizes are distributed and in certain areas
prize-givings are held and an endeavour is made to bring all the
children and their parents together for a special event. Hundreds of
faithful Christians, month by month, spend time marking lessons and
making suitable comments for their students.
Four levels of lessons were written to allow for specific age groups
4-6’s, 7-9’s, 10-12’s, 13- 15’s. The work slowly grew. Today, there are
14 main Postal Bible School Centres in the UK and Ireland and
approximately 8,000 lessons are distributed each month.
Around 25 years ago it was realised that the lessons, which were
currently being used, had a number of mistakes and needed to be
completely revised. A team was formed to edit and re-write the lessons.
The project has been on-going. Lessons have been written for a three
year syllabus for each grade and the designs from the late 80’s have now
been revised twice so that the lessons now are in a modern, full-colour
format giving students today the opportunity of studying God’s Word in
an attractive and interesting way.
Bert and Wendy Gray handed over the running to the Postal Bible School
in Southern Ireland to Noel and Liza McMeekin in 1992, but they have
continued to be very involved in the publishing of the lessons and the
overseas work.
The big concern is that these lessons should be more widely used. We are
all conscious that we live in a country where less than 5% of our
children attend any place of worship on a Sunday, so there is a mission
field on our doorsteps. We need committed leaders who in their homes,
churches, with their family and in any other way possible, can introduce
children to PBS lessons and encourage them to study God’s Word.
A large number of people have been blessed and helped through studying
the Postal Bible School lessons. A parent writes – ‘Thank you for all
the marking you have done for our daughter’s Bible time Lessons. She
professed faith in the Lord Jesus when she was 11 and is going on well
with the Lord, being a blessing to us, in the family and at the church.
Her brothers and sister 10, 8, and 4 would also like to commence doing
the lessons.’ A missionary mother writes – ‘Thank you for the input into
my daughter’s spiritual life, it is a big help since most of the
meetings and Sunday School are in the local language which at present
she does not understand.’
A Charitable Trust (Bible Educational Services) has been set up to be
responsible for the publishing of the lessons and the overseeing of the
work as a whole but each Postal Bible School Centre carries their own
financial and administration responsibilities.
Over the years, Bert and Wendy Gray have made a large number of trips
overseas and slowly there has been an interest in the lessons being
translated into other languages and used in other situations. The first
major step forward was when the Primary and Junior lessons were
translated into Korean and have been widely used amongst Korean
Christian families.
Peter Smith left the Editorial Committee in 1999 and moved to serve the
Lord in Canada. He commenced a Postal Bible School work which has grown
rapidly to over 1,300 regular students.
However, the main thrust forward has come in Eastern Europe particularly
after the end of the Cold War and the work has been established in
Romania, in Hungary, in Russia and in the Ukraine with other
developments in Poland, Czech Republic and Armenia. Teams of translators
have worked very hard to produce the lessons in their own language with
the standard BES formats. Support and encouragement has been given to
establish Postal Bible School Centres in these countries. In the last
two years there have been many enquiries about the possibility of either
using these lessons in English speaking countries or translating into
other languages from virtually every continent of the world. God’s
timing is always right, and as the work has grown He has called Sam and
Louise Balmer (from Northern Ireland) to become the International
Secretaries and they are making a major contribution in the overseas
work. To date, we would make a conservative estimate that at least
32,000 children and (some adults) are regularly doing PBS lessons across
the world.
No-one could possibly have imagined that the work which commenced in
such a small way in an obscure part of Ireland could have developed into
such a massive outreach in producing Bible Study lessons for children
and adults virtually across the world. No one can really begin to
estimate the impact that the lessons have had in children’s and adult’s
lives. We give God the glory and acknowledge His hand upon this work and
recognise that the potential is even greater as current and future
technology gives the opportunity for students in many parts of the world
with many different languages to download lessons from the internet.
The website will have lessons in many languages and it is planned to set
up a contact team who will deal with lessons in whatever language
students may return to us.
Prayer would be valued in these busy days, that the Lord will raise up
others to share in the work and that the work will go forward unhindered
and as a result many more children and adults will study the Scriptures
which, as with Timothy, will be able to make them “wise unto salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Stephen Gillham
A fuller history is recorded in a book called “Love Letters to the
world” written by Noel Davidson. To obtain copies of the book contact Stephen Gillham, Bert Gray or Sam Balmer. Special price: £10 including post. |
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Bert & Wendy Gray.
Wendy (centre) with the first students.
Wendy in the office in the mid 70's.
Sam Balmer (bottom right) a former PBS student now BES international secretary with BES leaders from several CIS countries.
Stephen Gillham, (extreme right) BES Editor, with his Irish editorial team.
BES Trustees 2010. (Left to right Stephen Gillham, Sam Balmer, Bert Gray, Stevie Walls, Glyn Davies & David Purchase.)
Lessons being shipped to Kenya through Every Home Crusade.
A Bible Club in South Africa.
Sam Balmer with some students in Africa.
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