In Depth:  Bible Society

Dr Duncan Steed, a Christian Navy medic, tells us his coronavirus experience.

The day I came down with the coronavirus was shocking. I started to feel a bit rotten, thought I’d overdone it on my cycle ride. The next morning, I was drenched in sweat; I couldn’t move or bend the top half of my body. My temperature was 38.3C. I realised I had it.

Abdul met Jesus in a dream. Now he forgets he’s in a detention centre when he reads the Bible

Abdul met Jesus in a dream while awaiting deportation at Heathrow. ‘I came to the UK because I had a problem in Afghanistan,’ says Abdul Ahmad, 32. That’s a bit of an understatement, as it turns out.

Each of the 140 schools which helped to create a historic Children’s Codex received a free copy of the leather-bound book in April.

A further 1,000 copies of the codex – a collection of Bible stories bound into one book – have been printed and will go on sale around Sunderland and Jarrow.

The Bible Society announced in early April that the book The Servant Queen and the King She Serves is so successful that the initial print run of 50,000 has been increased to over 200,000.

The book is produced by Bible Society, HOPE and the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity and celebrates The Queen’s 90th Birthday. It uses her own words to describe her faith and explores and celebrates the place of Her Majesty’s Christian belief.

The organisation Visit Wales in mid-November gave the Mary Jones visitor centre, Bala, an award for the Best Told Story.

Nerys Siddall, the centre manager at Mary Jones World, said: ‘To be recognised by Visit Wales and to be among the winners of the Best Told Story award is a great achievement, since the main aim of the centre is to tell the story of Mary Jones, Thomas Charles and the impact of the Bible worldwide in the most engaging way by using modern technology.’

Open the Book announced in May that 2000 registered primary schools are now taking part in the scheme, and that over 400 schools have registered since October 2014.

There are also over 11,000 volunteer Bible storytellers going into schools across the UK.

Bible stories have been brought to life on YouTube thanks to one young boy’s fascination with stop motion animation and his extensive set of LEGO, it was reported in late October.

Elliot Hurd, 10, who attends a Salvation Army corps in his native Gloucestershire, is becoming a social media sensation with his videos about the story of the Prodigal Son and Jesus healing a paralysed man.