Australia's History

Bible League in Australia - 1970's: The Beginning

The beginning of Bible League in Australia met a need, in the words of Reverend Gerald Hanscamp, for“low cost, good quality material for street ministry and prison ministry.”

Dr Van Groningen, recalls, “My family and I were commissioned as missionaries… to Australia in the spring of 1958.

"Low cost, good quality material for street ministry and prison ministry. "

"In the first years while pastoring the Geelong congregation, I also became very involved in church planting in West Victoria. I was always handicapped by the lack of good biblical materials that would be useful in my outreach work.

"While prayerfully considering the situations as described above, I recalled that as pastor, I had been involved in the distribution of Bible League literature in Michigan, USA. These memories led me to decide to write to Mr W. Ackerman, the first President of the World Home Bible League. In a very short time I received an enthusiastic letter from him, assuring me that we could request Bible League literature in Australia.”

In 1970, a shipment arrived, several sets of “The Bible’s Answer”, plus the “Greatest is Love”, at only 65 cents. Overjoyed to have a New Testament at a price that every one could afford, Rev Hanscamp immediately placed an insert in “New Life” newspaper offering the “Greatest is Love” to churches.

Rev Hanscamp became a full time Bible League worker in 1973.

The Chicken Shed Saga!
Rev Hanscamp recalls the day of the chicken shed saga. "An order of giant print NASV of John's Gospel arrived one day - 30,000 copies on palates; the rain was pouring down, the storage area was full and mud everywhere else. As many people as we could muster up arrived and took boxes away to their cars. The only place we could find to store them was in chicken sheds. We had to crawl into the chicken sheds to store them. By the end of the exercise everyone was filthy dirty and smelling terrible but the New Testaments were safely stored away." 

1988: Celebrate with the Bicentennial New Testament 

In 1988, the vision and dream of Bible League in Australia was to place a New Testament in the homes of Australians as a Bicentennial project.

Permission was sought and obtained from the International Bible Society to use the popular and readable New International Version.

Print size was set a 1/7th above standard. Winston Gauder prepared “A New Way of Living” Gospel outline for the back pages. The first three chapters of Genesis, Psalms 23 and 51 and the Ten Commandments were included. Carefully researched, needs of readers were addressed in a “When you need help and guidance” section. The most famous verse in the Bible (John 3:16) was printed in the front in twelve languages. Various covers were prepared to touch the sporting world, the educational system and working people.

1.3 million copies were printed and all were placed, with a later small reprint.

The actual placement of the New Testaments to homes was in the hands of local churches.

The project saw the right people (ordinary church members) with the right product (God’s Word) in the right place (on the doorsteps of the nation!). A “dry run” distribution by experienced visitors led to a prediction that distributors could expect a 50% acceptance rate. In the event, that rate proved to exceed 70%. 

Important Dates 

 Bible League's history in Australia 1988 onwards...