Our Bible Exhibition ran from Sunday 8 to Friday 20 May 2011 in South London, UK. However as time has progressed this advice has been updated from the experiences we have heard about other Bible Exhibitions. Advertising a Bible Exhibition, can involve doing things in an unexpected manner but this advice is not intended to replace any advice given by the owners of any Bible Exhibition but to supplement it. While each assembly/church has its own unique circumstances, we hope that you will find something helpful here. If you have any ideas or experiences that would be beneficial for others to know, and are not written below, then do send them via this website’s Contact form.
We had a week of prayer before the Bible Exhibition, as well as prayer during it, and very much by God’s grace we received 335 school children, with their teachers, their assistants and some members of the public.
1 REGULARITY OF USING THE BIBLE EXHIBITION
For the first time that you have the Bible Exhibition you could well have an encouraging number of visitors which would make you want to repeat it in the next year. However experience has shown that the next year will have a lot lower number of visitors because the interested public have already seen it. So there are various options:
1.1 Have the Bible Exhibition every three years.
1.2 If possible divide the residential area around your Gospel Hall into at least two if not three areas. Then advertise in a different area each time the Bible Exhibition is used. This can be combined with item 1.3.
1.3 One urban assembly focuses mainly on the school year 5 for the Bible Exhibition every year.
1.4 Another urban assembly holds the event every 2 years, each time for 2 weeks, and it has increased in popularity with the schools each time. It is fully or oversubscribed every time and they now only invite the schools that they visit. In parallel the work in schools has grown. They have restricted visits to years 5 and 6 as they are able to get the most from the event and that also lets them maximise the number of schools that they can accommodate.
1.5 Another urban assembly held the Bible Exhibition for the public one year and for the schools in the next year.
2 SCHOOLS ETC, TIMING & COMMUNICATION
2.1 To assist with contacts at local schools ask the local Gideon’s representative (who give out New Testaments to school year 7) who are the likely schools to send children/students. To find the local Gideon representative ring their headquarters, and ask for the Executive Officer. Or contact any other Christian schools’ organization’s for possible schools to send children.
2.2 We contacted schools up to three, London, miles radius from the hall. Contact every school unless you definitely know that they will reject the invitation. One school which, through our historical links with them, we “thought” would not come, we discovered later would have definitely come.
2.3 The independent/private schools and homeschooling groups should not be forgotten. A rural assembly has found that the independent schools are more responsive than the government schools and had responses from schools 200 yards and 8 miles away.
2.4 Also contact Toddler and Nursery Groups. There you are not only are reaching adults but you may be reaching those with older children whose school is not going to send their child to the Bible Exhibition.
2.5 The timing of the Bible Exhibition can be crucial for getting good numbers from the schools. Do not try during exam times (the end of May and early June is a poor time) as teachers are tied up with invigilation. One school could not sent any students to us because of staff required for exams. Probably the best time is in the autumn term and another good time is later in the spring term. Also, unless you have previously got agreement with the schools during the summer term, it is best not to hold the Bible Exhibition in the autumn term until at least the last week in September because the schools will not have had the time to send out letters to the parents about the Bible Exhibition. One rural assembly regularly has the Bible Exhibition about the middle of July.
2.6 As schools are usually very busy it is recommended that you do not send them general invitation letters/e-mails. This is because they often do not arrive at the appropriate person and if they do appropriately arrive they are not always actioned. One urban assembly in 2014 sent letters to the local schools but there was only one response and that from a private Christian school. A rural assembly did not find that even contact with the head teacher made much difference whereas an urban assembly said that if you get it passed the head teacher then all is well. We found that the best way to contact schools is to ring them and speak personally with the Religious Education (RE) Department Head or Co-ordinator. Do not “leave messages” as they do not necessarily get through nor are answered. One teacher said to me that if, after the teaching time, there are too many messages to respond to in the time available, then only the most urgent ones are replied to! Also do not speak to secretaries or “event co-ordinators” as they may use “their own discretion” and not pass the message on. One event co-ordinator did not reply to us but after we spoke to the RE Co-ordinator there were classes sent to the Bible Exhibition. Therefore you will need to find out when the appropriate person is free before you ring again to actually speak to them and you may need perseverance with this.
2.7 The Bible Exhibition owners may have produced a video or website of the Bible Exhibition which is useful when contacting schools etc.
2.8 Then arrange an interview. We recommend that this be done at least three/four months before the start of the Bible Exhibition. One head of RE could not give us an interview for a month. What impresses the schools is:
2.8.1 The website, or advertising DVD, or if neither are available, any pictures. The teachers probably have a restricted idea about what a Bible Exhibition contains and could be surprised to find out the information that is there.
2.8.2 That the Bible Exhibition is free.
2.8.3 The Bible Exhibition’s relevance to the national curriculum (as seen on the Wallington website link below).
2.8.4 The fact that this Bible Exhibition covers all ages including children. Bring a couple of the worksheets to show that they are designed for the children to be “actively involved”.
2.8.5 References from past Bible Exhibitions which the Bible Exhibition owners will have.
2.8.6 If relevant, mention that some of the artefacts are genuine artefacts from Israel.
2.8.7 If a school refuses to send children for “multi-cultural” reasons and says that some parents “may” object then some suggested (including the obvious) replies are:
2.8.7.1 That the children should come so that they can fulfil this multi-cultural aspect of society.
2.8.7.2 That plenty of other schools have come over the years right to the present time.
2.8.7.3 That children of people of other faiths have visited and voluntarily passed positive comments about the Bible Exhibition. This was true at Wallington and no doubt with other assemblies.
2.8.7.4 That if they do not come they are missing on understanding a great part of our heritage.
2.8.7.5 That if any parent objects then they can refuse their child(ren) permission to come.
2.8.7.6 Why should a class or school miss out on a happy and mind broadening experience just because one, or a very few, parents object?
2.8.8 If the school insists on e-mailed details first then, and if they have not had the link to the Bible Exhibition website already, it is suggested that you send Annex A. A similar version of this was sent to a Christian school with a link to our website and they wanted the children to come without needing an interview.
Bible Exhibition – pictures and curriculum
2.9 A few schools may ask for a health and safety risk assessment which covers items like: fire escape procedures, steps, balcony (if any), electrical items and their proximity to combustible materials, etc. In a normal venue where either this has already been done or where common sense has prevailed, this should not involve a lot of work and a helpful government website is:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/managing/index.htm
2.10 If the school agrees to send children it is suggested that you confirm the arrangements by e-mail so that they have a record. Then about a week before the Bible Exhibition starts, send a reminder e-mail.
2.11 As the schools are busy you may well have to work at reminding them to confirm their promises. Two examples are: (1) a teacher apologized for not turning up to another school’s session and so we arranged a private viewing session with him. He consequently arranged for three classes to come the next week. (2) This is a reply we got from a second, but late, chasing e-mail, “Many thanks for your email. We did want to come to the exhibition with a group of our students but unfortunately, this will now not be possible to arrange for the dates you have available due to other commitments in place and other trips that have been arranged for the students we wanted to bring. …”
2.12 We learned from a visitor on the first night that a local school had six teachers who were believers. We contacted the school the next day but, after consultation, they were not able to arrange school visits for the following week.
2.13 Due to our good public transport system and, this time, most schools being within walking distance we did not have to arrange to transport the children to the Bible Exhibition as others have had to do. An rural assembly provides free transport which is a big plus as far as schools are concerned. However cost is an obvious consideration. Although most schools have their own mini buses these days teachers tell us that Humanities/RE demands come way down the list of priorities after sports, geography, history, science etc. etc. when allocating the use of their mini buses.
3 LENGTH AND OPENING TIMES
3.1 Often Bible Exhibitions are held for either one or two weeks. For two week Bible Exhibitions you will probably find the general public numbers increase more in the second week and especially at the last week-end. However two weeks obviously means that more school classes can visit and people given leaflets in the first week can come in the second.
3.2 It takes about an hour to take the children round the Hildenborough Bible Exhibition. The flexible times that we offered the schools and they took were: 9.45am (as 9.30am was considered too early for them to arrive here) to 10.45am; 11.00am to 12.00pm; 1.45pm to 2.45 pm. The 1.45pm to 2.45 pm slot was not popular. One school had to use public transport and so could not start until 10.00am. For the Ayrshire Bible Exhibition the actual visit lasts 1 hour. After a brief welcome/safety notices groups of about thirty pupils are split into four sub groups and are given a 45 minute conducted tour with a worksheet followed by refreshments, a drink and biscuit, and then a quiz to reinforce the knowledge imparted at the tour.
3.3 One urban assembly that regularly uses the Ayrshire Bible Exhibition has five potential sessions a day starting at 09.30 then every hour, with an hour for lunch until 15.30.
3.4 We opened to the public in the evenings: 6.30 – 9.00pm. Virtually no-one came before 7.00pm except on Fridays. A good proportion of those who came in the evenings were either believers or religious people from local churches. However an urban assembly fitted their school classes into the mornings and opened from 3.00 – 8.00pm and so caught mothers coming home from school. Their Gospel hall is on a main road and has far more people passing by and there some brethren standing outside giving out invitations. They consequently had far more people coming in. However in 2014 a rural assembly had a number of mothers pass within 50 yards of the open Bible Exhibition but none of them came in. In 2012 an urban assembly’s best time was from 6.00 to 8.00pm. In 2011 one rural area assembly had no-one came in the evenings. Another urban assembly, which is near some shops, had a number of people come during the evenings. Also an assembly, near the town centre, had a good number come during the weekday evenings and none on the Saturday, which was possibly due to parking costs!
ADVERTISING
4 LEAFLETS & DISTRIBUTION
4.1 For the leaflets, we used a picture of the Roman soldier (see website) as we felt this was eye-grabbing and other assemblies have used the same. It is suggested that you do not use a picture of the high priest because it makes the Bible Exhibition look “religious” and also when it was once used a person thought that it was “Islamic”.
4.2 2011 Costs–leaflet A5, 130gsm (card not thought to be necessary), colour both sides–about £30/1,000.
4.3 You are welcome to use our leaflet but as Jonathan Docksey (Mitcham Junction assembly – 07828 864791) designed it, please ask his permission first. You may wish to use his printing service or your local one.
4.4 If you use a Leaflet Distribution Company you may want to ask your local pizza etc shops who they would recommend. If you use them then ensure that the leaflets are completely delivered a week before the Bible Exhibition starts. This then enables you to go back to the company if they have not distributed the leaflets on time, as has happened in at least two places.
4.5 Leaflet Distribution arrangements:
4.5.1 If you are intending to have the Bible Exhibition at regular intervals then, if it is possible in your area, consider advertising in two or three different sections.
4.5.2 Local free newspapers but they do not consistently cover a particular area. Shared distribution costs are about £25/1,000. A free newspaper near a rural assembly did not distribute the leaflets at the first agreement and after the second time that did not happen the assembly received some compensation.
4.5.3 Royal Mail “Door to Door” service (charging a fixed £500 & VAT for up to 9,000 leaflets).
4.5.4 Leaflet distribution firms doing shared leaflet distribution is the most economic method. and they normally they deliver a minimum of 5,000 “fairly standard” leaflets. Some companies will offer you distribution maps for you to select your areas and they differ in their distribution specialities.
4.5.5 Leaflet Distribution companies usually charges start about £20 to £25 & VAT /1,000 leaflets for shared domestic deliveries of up to five (non competitor) leaflets at a time. The single (called “solos”) delivery costs are normally £50 to £90/1,000. One quote to include industrial premises was £10/1,000 more.
4.5.6 We used Letterbox Distribution (who distribute in London and the Home Counties) as County Distributions had “a lot of work on but could fit us in” for the week we wanted. Also Letterbox solos charge is £35/1,000 leaflets, including VAT, and they give you a written report afterwards of what streets were done. Leaflets need to be in required packet numbers. Add courier costs to take them to the distribution point (about £35). Unfortunately for us only about a quarter to third of the leaflets were delivered. It was time consuming when I realised (the Friday before the Bible Exhibition opened on the Sunday) that some leaflets were not delivered. However after calling on various people and proving my point on e-mail the Sales Director sacked three staff and gave us a two thirds refund and saying that normally they give a good service. If, God willing, we do this again we are thinking of giving this firm part of the distribution work but say to them that I would spot check their area.
4.5.7 Also give out leaflets by railway and underground stations, bus stops and at the entrance of shopping centres and famous locations. However in cities and towns you will need to be sure that at the entrance of these facilities that you are not standing on “private ground” as you could then be stopped or “moved on”.
4.5.8 An urban assembly, when advertising some meetings, put leaflets through the doors of some known people. However afterwards when contacting some of the parents they all said that they had not seen the leaflet. Therefore it is suggested that such leaflets are put in addressed envelopes.
4.5.9 Depending on where the Bible Exhibition is placed it may be a good thing to keep some leaflets so as to give them out to people in the street during the Bible Exhibition. One urban assembly found that they brought a number of people in immediately and another urban assembly that they brought people back on later days.
5 WEBSITE, NEWSPAPER AND RADIO ADVERTISING ETC
5.1 Website. With the Bible Exhibition owner’s permission we were able to put their Bible Exhibition pictures with the standard details on the Wallington Gospel Hall website, and added how it related to the national curriculum. To that some of the visitors’ and teachers’ comments have been added (Annex B) and do feel free to use them yourselves. We found that having a website useful but if you have not got a website then you may wish to consider having a webpage made.
5.2 Perhaps open an account on “netmums.com” and place an advertisement there. It should be noted that when people skim through those advertisements it is the first three lines that they initially see. We get calls through that website from those interested in coming to our Toddler group.
5.3 There may be a/some local “What’s On” websites.
5.4 Press releases. Sometimes a newspaper will give them free. Ours was submitted a bit late and was not even published on their website.
5.5 Premier Radio (Christian).
5.5.1 Their radio advertising is regionalized and in 2011 for London it costs £18 for 20 seconds (the advert times are 10 to 60 seconds. 30 secs =£22.50). They recommend that it is announced three times a day at targeted times for targeted audiences for 14 days.
5.5.2 You can advertise for free on their website at “Events” in the Billboard section. They scrutinise the advert before it is put on the website and so it will appear up to a week after submission. If the announcers think that it is good, they could advertise it for free. We advertised there but do not know if it brought anybody along.
5.5.3 “E-send” is their e-mail that is issued to all 60,000 subscribers and costs £1,250 & VAT. There are no regional e-mail lists.
5.6 Bible Exhibition Pre-view. We tried to arrange for the representatives from the secular and Christian press and radio, and for any teachers who may have needed further persuasion, to come to the Bible Exhibition for a pre-view on the first Saturday. That did not work out for us this time because some newspapers actually cover less of an area than their title suggests and Premier Radio do not have enough resources to send people out to review events.
5.7 Advertise the Bible Exhibition on Facebook, Twitter etc. One visitor to an urban assembly’s Bible Exhibition voluntarily advertised it on their Facebook.
6 POSTER ADVERTISING & COSTS
6.1 Railway/Bus Stop/Bus Advertising. If you use this it is recommended that you contact the railway companies about 5 months or earlier before the Bible Exhibition starts.
6.2 For Railway advertising the Trinitarian Bible Society use:
6.2.1 CBS Outdoor (020 7482 3000 ask for a Sales Manager) They have a three tier pricing system according to the number of people passing the site. The standard prices (for non regular customers) for four weeks for a railway “4 Panel” (i.e. 40” by 60”) site for 28 days was in November 2010: Standard £236, Major £281 and Premier £360. There is the possibility of smaller periods and sometimes, in times of recession, for price negotiation.
6.2.2 J C Decaux (a multi-national company 020 7298 8166 and ask for a Sales Manager). They have one standard rate which, at the special deal rate, is cheaper than CBS Outdoors. Their standard rates are not known.
6.2.3 The advantage of railway advertising is that the posters are covered by clear plastic and are on stations where there are guards and so are a lot less likely to be vandalised. They very likely reach far more people than telephone kiosk advertising.
6.3 Bus Stop Advertising: In 2011 one rural assembly advertised two advertisements for two weeks with one advertisement at either end of the village and so everyone could see them. They produced a few people and cost £200 per week per advertisement. The advertising company was found on the internet, who expected that the advertising would be for at least two weeks and even then that is considered the minimum because they normally advertise for months at a time. An urban assembly has used banners, bus adverts, newspaper adverts and even been interviewed once on local radio and had the event announced on the same station repeatedly. However for newspaper advertisements to really register with the readers it is recommended that you advertise for 5/6 weeks!
6.4 Telephone kiosk advertising – In 2009 an urban assembly paid £200 for two weeks. However the advertisement was defaced shortly after it was put up and only brought in one person.
6.5 The advertisements on the front and back of buses are sometimes booked for years ahead.
7 OTHER ADVERTISING
7.1 If you have a Toddler Group then hold one of the sessions while the Bible Exhibition is on and pray more for safety. We did not have any accidents.
7.2 One rural assembly, with a large hall, issued RSVP invitations to known people for a meal at the beginning of their Bible Exhibition.
7.3 Obviously try posters and/or leaflets in Christian book shop(s), in your local and other areas, which for us brought in some people. A rural assembly member was an employee in a Christian book shop who obtained permission to put a rural Bible Exhibition leaflet in all the orders which resulted in more people coming from a distance to the Bible Exhibition but not to the Gospel Meetings. If you have a local Christian bookshop near you, perhaps you could pay them to do that service for you. Perhaps Christians who own, or work in, other types of shops or in mail order firms may be able to put a leaflet into their orders.
7.4 Doctors’ surgeries, shops/supermarkets/libraries’ advertising boards, and fish and chips shops take posters and leaflets.
7.5 Perhaps some could walk round the public ground of a shopping or train station area etc within a few miles of the Bible Exhibition venue with bill boards, or some other type of banner, and leaflets.
7.6 Give out leaflets at local, or not so local, festivals, shows and car boot, and other, sales.
7.7 Believers could advertise the Bible Exhibition in their cars.
7.8 One urban assembly played the reading of the Bible, interspersed with music, over loud speakers which caught people’s attention and drew them in. They also changed the way they displayed the exhibition. As you can see directly into the hall from the street they found that people were more interested when they, from the outside, could see a lot of the exhibition rather than seeing two display panels near the front door that blocked off the view of the rest of the hall.
8 ADVERTISING TO CHURCHES, HINDU TEMPLES ETC
8.1 We sent an e-mail to various churches in our area, with a link to the Gospel Hall website but do not know if it really brought anyone in. Our e-mail could have given more detail e.g. “A Bible Exhibition, including life-size figures, models, maps and ancient artefacts and display panels, which take visitors on a pictorial journey through the Bible, is being held at …”
8.2 A believer’s best experience is to send to the various churches an A4 poster for their notice board and for this go beyond a London three mile radius from the Gospel Hall/venue. In 2011 an urban assembly put A4 posters round various churches and had a number of people came from them who were amazed at what the tabernacle taught.
8.3 Hindus like to talk about God and so an A4 poster could be put through their temple doors.
8.4 An Islamic imam came for one urban assembly’s Bible Exhibition in 2012.
9 ADVERTISING AT THE GOSPEL HALL/OR THE BIBLE EXHIBITION VENUE
9.1 The Bible Exhibition owners will probably supply a banner for hanging on the hall and a pavement notice and maybe other banners.
9.2 The Bible Exhibition owners may have a set Bible Exhibition notice with an area for putting in the address and dates and/or you may have to print some of your own posters.
10 DIFFERENT VENUES FOR HOLDING THE BIBLE EXHIBITION
10.1 It might be a good thing to use a village/town hall. This would be “neutral ground” which would therefore be less off-putting to people. However a problem with booking these facilities would be those who regularly use such facilities which might slacken off during holiday times.
10.2 Another option is to rent an empty shop. This again would be considered as “neutral ground” and as it would normally be among other shops, where there should be a number of people passing by.
10.3 Perhaps hold the Bible Exhibition at an Agricultural Show but the cost of the area for a large marquee might be quite expensive.
10.4 Hire a couple of sites next to each other at a local festival or market and display a cut down version of a Bible Exhibition.
10.5 One assembly abroad held their Bible Exhibition in a shopping centre and another in a civic centre.
11 TRANSPORT AND GOSPEL HALL/OR EXHIBITION VENUE REQUIREMENTS
11.1 Bible Exhibition transport arrangements vary according to each Bible Exhibition. The Bible Exhibition might be fitted into one trailer or you might have to pay for the hire of a van both before and after the Bible Exhibition.
11.2 There may well need to be a storage area to put the boxes etc. One Bible Exhibition, however, has converted their exhibition boxes so that they can also act as tables.
11.3 The Bible Exhibition owners may require extra people to help set up and take down the Bible Exhibition.
12 BIBLE EXHIBITION REQUIREMENTS AND LITERATURE
12.1 Consider offering refreshments which we did for the general public and it does give an opening for conversation. While other assemblies have given drinks to the school children we did not because, for us, virtually all the school children were local and able to walk to the hall.
12.2 A few assemblies have paid for the children to be transported to and from the Bible Exhibition. One urban assembly tried it once and found that it was too expensive and now regularly take the Bible Exhibition into local schools for half-day sessions.
12.3 Some Bible Exhibition providers may have a leaflet that could be given to visitors as they arrive.
12.4 Make “Bible Exhibition Assistant” badges.
12.5 There is often supplied a Visitors’ book. It is a good idea to ask the teachers to give their comments in the visitors’ book which, for us, were positive. This saves them from having to make the time later to send their comments to us by e-mail which, because they are busy, they may well not do. You may then be able to add some of the comments anonymously to the assembly website before the Bible Exhibition is over.
12.6 If there is a significant proportion of the local population for whom English is not their first language then consider translating some or all of the panels into that language. This could be in the form of extra panels or extra sheets of laminated paper. Also buy tracts in their language.
12.7 The main literature that we used was as follows:
12.7.1 John Blanchard booklets Evangelical Press – £1.25 “Why Believe The Bible?” No doubt there is other similar good literature.
12.7.2 Aaron Colgan “Is Your Future Secure?” Aaron Colgan gives these colourful booklets away. He likes to hear what they are being used for and although we have offered to pay for them he has never charged us. The address is: “Gospel Outreach”, PO Box 66, Magherafelt, Northern Ireland BT45 9AS. {Their e-mail address is not given because it might be picked up by a spambot and so send them a lot of spam e-mails.}
12.7.3 Leith Samuel – “The Impossibility of Agnosticism” & “*The Answer To Guilt” (*language a bit out of date and presentation needs updating, “The Impossibility of Agnosticism” is all right enough to give out). Hayes Press – 50p each.
12.8 You may wish to consider playing a DVD. If possible this will need to be in a corner and quiet so as not to distract others in the Bible Exhibition. If you have a number of people in your area whose first language is not English, then a DVD with capacity for subtitles in other languages would be a good thing.
13 SCHOOLS’ ORGANIZATION
13.1 Introduction. We sat the children down and took 3/4 minutes to explain the panels, life size figures and models. Perhaps we should have taken another minute to explain the thorns and nails in the display case and so brought in the cross. One rural assembly takes 10-15 minutes for their introduction. While an urban assembly took the children round with their introduction we, after a couple of sessions, sat them down for the introduction.
13.2 When talking about the domestic arrangements we said, “In the unlikely event of a fire, then the fire exits are …”
13.3 We divided the children into groups of about five and set them at different stages of the Bible Exhibition with a teacher or a helper to take them round the whole Bible Exhibition. Another option is for individuals to be responsible for a certain section of the Bible Exhibition and at set times all the groups move on to the next section. As some children take longer than others you might have to help with some of the answers and to move them on. With at least one Bible Exhibition some of the panel information is not always near the applicable model and you will need to be aware of this if teachers/parents take round a group on their own.
13.4 An urban assembly had a class adult assistant who brought their own small child to the Bible Exhibition. So a Bible Exhibition helper had to look after the child.
13.5 Closing Time. We kept 10 minutes minimum at the end for giving the answers and for comments. One school insisted that the children were allowed to say what they thought of the Bible Exhibition before they left it and we then did this for all the schools. We encouraged them to be honest about their comments and 99.9% of them were positive including those from various religions. One of the things they really loved were the life sized figures.
13.6 Also the schools like you to comment to the children about how well they have behaved etc, and with us they did behave well. We also mentioned to the children about the “goodie” bag.
13.7 If it is considered feasible and wise you might like to suggest taking the Bible Exhibition into the school(s).
13.8 Also you might like to say to the schools before their visit that there is an offer of a free Bible to anyone who would like one. As some might think that we could be taking advantage of the children while they are at the Bible Exhibition, an option could be that the school could tell the children’s parents of that offer before or after the Bible Exhibition. If agreed to you could then buy a number of Bibles on a sale or return basis. Or perhaps buy Bibles on a USB memory stick, but perhaps the children might not use them. Or you could say that the Bible is available on the internet. One way of pointing children to good Gospel passages without sounding cultish is, “While, we would not stop you from reading any part of the Bible, we recommend that the best books about getting your sins forgiven and being ready for heaven is Mark’s Gospel and John’s Gospel. There are plenty of verses that you can understand and enjoy and so do not let those you cannot understand spoil those you can understand.
4 CHILDREN’S WORKSHEETS
14.1 Some Bible Exhibition owners have one worksheet for all the children that come whereas others might have different questionnaires for the various age groups. If you have those for various age groups you might want to ask the class teachers to pick the one for their class or allocate them yourselves. If you allocate them yourselves it could save you having unused copies of work sheets left over.
14.2 For one worksheet we printed them single side only. This resulted in the children who finished early, doing drawings on the back. One girl even wrote the text above the platform in block capitals. For an older year worksheet we printed on both sides, to save some paper, but then the paper needs to be thicker e.g. like 200gsm.
14.3 A good idea is that the worksheets are kept by the assembly and certificates are created for them and later given away in their school assemblies. One urban assembly said that “The more important outcome of the Bible Exhibition (held for schools since 1999) was that by arranging to present prizes at school assemblies and offering to take assemblies it was the start of our schools outreach. Teachers are continually astounded as to how much of the information the children retain, and still retain when they go back to the school some days/weeks later to present the prizes and ask them some of the questions over again.”
15 CHILDREN’S TAKE-HOME GOODIE BAG
15.1 Like others we gave out a “Goodie bag” to the children. An urban assembly Goodie Bag contents were:
Plastic bag with no text on it, but some do put a text or “Bible Exhibition” in it; Trinitarian Bible marker with the books of the Bible on it – TBS (April 2011 – 7.5p); John’s Gospel – TBS (35p){which is thought to be acceptable where a Bible might not}; Word Search; Text to colour; Assembly Meetings Invitation; Pencil with text on it. (CLC pencils are mainly with a rubber cost 45p each and I have found it difficult to get them with a proper Gospel text on it). Haribo sweets. We did not give out a pencil nor sweets but we subsequently thought that it would have been wiser if we had done so.
15.2 If the Bible Exhibition is held early or late in the year then perhaps include a children’s calendar. See the section “Calendars And Schools” below.
15.3 If you can afford it, there are mugs that can be printed with a text etc. from Dan Butler 01635 250968 (Newbury assembly). In 2011 they cost for one about £4.50 plus packing/postage & VAT, dropping to about £3 & p/p & VAT for 108 or more. Large orders are boxed in boxes of 54 mugs. From time to time believers can help with transport from Newbury to South London.
15.4 Again, if you can afford it, Robert & Karen Plant sell some good children’s stories, with music, CDs at £2 each, plus p&p (2014 prices). Those that are currently available (2014) are “Footsteps of the Saviour” (for girls up to 8/9 years) and “Bible Heroes” (for boys up to 8/9 years old). To purchase them write to: 31 Carragh Road, Bushmills, Co Antrim BT57 8UE {Their e-mail address is not given because it might be picked up by a spambot and so send them a lot of spam e-mails.}
15.5 Again, if you can afford it, there is a DVD called “God of Wonders” (85 mins) which sets out the creation position well and preaches a sound Gospel, using the NKJV. These would be good for teenagers and adults and it has Dubbed (Audio) Languages: English, Arabic, Farsi, French, Hindi, Mandarin, Punjabi, and Spanish and Subtitled (Text) Languages:English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Danish, Dutch, German, Gujarati, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese. The large quantity packs, with a small sleeve, can be bought from: http://www.thebereancall.org/node/8061 from packs of 10 for $50 ($5 per disc) to 100 for $250 ($2.50 per disc) plus p & p (2014 prices). They will quote if you want larger quantities. {Another good creation DVD for teenagers is “GOO2U Via the Zoo” (43 mins) by Creation Ministries International but has beat music}. One urban assembly continuously played, in a local foreign language, the “God of Wonders” DVD in a corner of the exhibition.
15.6 Other helpful items for both adults and children is on the following assembly website: http://www.lightandlifelit.org/e107/page.php?2 In 2014 an urban assembly had a mother comment that, some months after it was done, they still had the Children’s Holiday Club craft work with a fridge magnet on their fridge.
15.7 One small urban assembly held their exhibition during a holiday and had lots of children come. When the children’s worksheets were completed they rewarded them with sweets which encouraged more children to come.
15.8 As the children could drop their goodie bags on the way back to the school we put them in a bag for a teacher to hand out after they had got back to the school.
16 BIBLE EXHIBITIONS IN SCHOOLS
16.1 Some Bible Exhibitions have gone into schools. One urban assembly had a Bible Exhibition in a school for a day and was invited to come back for a week in 2014, when other schools also came. Another urban assembly takes a Bible Exhibition once in most school term weeks, for a morning, into a number of schools and concentrates on year 5 students, which is a longer time than when the children came to their assembly’s Bible Exhibition. 16.2 One Christian schools’ group has converted a double decker bus into a mobile Bible Exhibition for visiting various schools.
17 ADDITIONAL MEETINGS AND/OR GOSPEL CAMPAIGN
17.1 One urban assembly decided that if there were enough people into the Exhibition that they would announce, “In five minutes someone will give a talk about …..”. Then subject would then be explained for a short while which would also give opportunity for the Gospel to be preached.
17.2 You may wish to have a Gospel Campaign with or after the Bible Exhibition.
17.3 In 2014 one rural assembly had a two week’s Bible Exhibition with three Gospel meetings each week. They were open Mondays to Thursday from 10.00am to 9.00pm. Fridays to Sundays (with an early Breaking of Bread) are 10.00am – 5.00pm with the Gospel Meetings from 7.45 to 8.30pm but no outsiders came to the Gospel Meetings. One urban assembly was successful in getting people in to the Gospel Meetings because they had the Bible Exhibition finishing at 8.00pm with the Gospel Meeting starting at 8.00pm. They also advertised that on certain nights they would talk about certain exhibits which drew in some people. If you do that you might want to also put a notice by the exhibit that a talk will be given about it on ……. evening.
17.4 Another urban assembly has one week of the Bible Exhibition followed by a two week Gospel campaign. Usually a few people who were interested through the Bible Exhibition then come to the Gospel campaign.
18 BIBLE EXHIBITION NAME
In 2011 we had few local visitors as many did not know about the Bible Exhibition which was at least partly due to the lack of leaflet delivery. Also as a school class left the Bible Exhibition two girls quietly said to us, “We thought that this was going to be boring, but it wasn’t!” Also we know that the Bible Exhibition was announced or leafleted in at least five churches and at least another house group, and yet very few people came from the churches in our area. Maybe that says something about some spiritual appetites but it is also wondered, and some others disagree, if the title for the advertising might be changed to “Bible & History Exhibition” because that is what it is and maybe that might attract more people in.
19 CALENDARS AND SCHOOLS
19.1 By God’s grace we have approached a few of the junior schools and they have distributed our Children’s Meetings\Holiday Club leaflets and then have given out Children’s calendars. In 2011 one school received one complaint about this and so were not happy about giving them out to the children. Consequently we offered to put them in a box in the school foyer for parents to take them if they wanted to. On the flap of the box we wrote “Free Calendars. Do Take One.” A few days later the school receptionist said that, “They had gone like hot cakes.” For 2013 we delivered something like 130/150 calendars per school to more schools to be taken on a voluntary basis. With a few schools they took up to 2/3 weeks before they all went.
19.2 We have also found that if the calendars are given out in early January rather than in the pre-Christmas busyness then they are more likely to be put up in the homes.
19.3 We use “The Beauty of His World” children’s calendars and are sold by John Gribben (Northern Ireland) 07753 – 824255. Their brochure is on: https://wallingtongospelhall.org/resources/general-and-parenting/ and scroll down and the calendars cost about 30p each including p & p.
20 UK BIBLE EXHIBITIONS
While there are some Bible Exhibitions that emphasize the historical and geographical aspects of the Bible, the following do also give the spiritual aspect well. Each one has its own particular circumstances.
Ayrshire: http://79.170.44.87/bibleexhibition.co.uk/ This was built primarily for use in Ayrshire but since the work commenced it has been all over the British Isles.
Jonathan Black, Bicester, Oxfordshire: http://www.thebibleexhibition.com
Bromborough Gospel Hall, Wirral, Merseyside: This Bible Exhibition goes out to about a 50 mile radius from Bromborough. There is not a website and so to contact them write to: Bromborough Gospel Hall, The Rake, Bromborough, Wirral CH62 7AE
Hildenborough, Kent: http://www.the-bible-exhibition.co.uk/
Wembley, North London/Middlesex: http://www.wembleygospelhall.org.uk/contact-us.html This Bible Exhibition is both in English and Gujarati. If anyone wants copies of the panels then please complete your request on that assembly’s website’s “Contact form”.