Bishop calls for people to rediscover the Bible through readings in pubs, schools, libraries and other community venues

The Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, is calling on churches to help people rediscover the Bible next year by organising public readings in pubs, market places, community halls, sports centres, schools and other venues.

Bishop Paul, who will be speaking at St Margaret’s Church, Aspley, in Nottingham, on Sunday (December 5th), will use the traditional ‘Bible Sunday’ to highlight the special place of the Bible in our culture.

He said: “Next year we celebrate 400 years of the King James Authorised Version. So for me this is a sort of launch of ‘2011 Year of the Bible’ and I will be celebrating the Bible everywhere I go in the coming year. I’m also encouraging all our clergy to consider raising knowledge, reading and use of the Bible by all our church members, as well as publicly reading and celebrating the Bible in imaginative and creative ways in our communities.”

Although the Bible has been praised by some as the most beautiful book ever written, it is also a fact that many young people have never even heard of it. According to a new survey 51 per cent of under-35s have never heard of the King James Bible and yet it has been described as a work that was far more influential than Shakespeare in the development and spread of the English language.

Bishop Paul hopes that the churches and communities across the county will join in the national celebrations being coordinated by the 2011 King James Bible Trust. Celebrities and broadcaster have been joining in the celebrations, which will include films, publications and events - see the website for details: www.kingjamesbibletrust.org . One project involves the video sharing site You Tube. Called the ‘YouTube Bible’,  the project aims to create a complete reading of the King James Bible on YouTube. The readers will be made up of actors, sportsmen and women, musicians, politicians and anyone else who wants to take part.

In this diocese, Chair of the 2011 Trust, Frank Field MP, will give the Southwell Lecture on June 17th in Southwell Minster. He said: “It is not possible to comprehend fully Britain’s historical, linguistic or religious development without an understanding of this great translation.” The lecture will be supported by a special King James Bible exhibition running at the cathedral from 17th May to 19th June.

Churches will be able to make use of the wide range of resources from both the 2011 Trust and ‘Biblefresh’ – a project set up by a range of Christian partners to help to promote the rediscovery of the Bible.

Bishop Paul also hopes that every lectionary Bible in churches will always be open, and at a passage that would make sense for visitors to read, who may have called in unexpectedly.

In addition to this the collections from all the Confirmation Services in 2011 will be going towards Bibles for Burundi. This will mean that every £3 raised will enable the Anglican Church in Burundi to give a Bible to every young person confirmed there in 2011.

Bishop Paul said: “For these young people the cost of a Bible is very high in terms of daily income. We can transform many young lives this way.”