SCRIPTURE UNION HISTORY

Josiah Spiers

SCRIPTURE UNION INTERNATIONAL – THE DEFINITION AND HISTORY

DEFINITION

Scripture Union(SU) is an Interdenominational, Interdenominational and Non-denominational Christian Organization.

HISTORY

Scripture Union Ministry began in United Kingdom in the year 1867. It was founded by Mr. Josiah Speirs from Britain. It started as Children’s Special Services Mission (CSSM). The founder’s original aim was to bring God’s word to children who were neglected by the churches at that time.

HOW IT STARTED

On June 2, 1867 Josiah Spiers spoke to 15 children in the drawing room of Thomas ‘Pious’ Hughes’ home. The house is located at 309, Essex Road, Islington, London. That was the beginning of a new approach to sharing Christ among children. Josiah taught the children hymns and choruses among which is the very popular SU Chorus ‘All the way to Calvary He went for me’. He also told them stories of Jesus in a way that they understood easily. It was also so lively, so informal and so very different from the boring sermons they had sat through in their churches. Such was the fun that all the children returned the following week with some of their friends. Not even a single child who participated in the first meeting was absent in the second one.

Josiah Spiers organized a summer sea-side holiday camp for those children and kept teaching them in a very fun manner. This event in August 26, 1868 is the beginning of what has become one of the unique programmes of Scripture Union – Children and Youth Camp.

The first CSSM Sea side Camp led by Josiah Spiers

By November 17 of the same year, the Hughes’ had a capacity crowd of 50 children in their house. They needed a larger auditorium to accommodate the growing children. So on December 8, the Children’s Special Service Mission (CSSM) opened in a school-house in Islington. the meeting had 65 children in attendance.

THE MEETING WITH TOM BISHOP

Tom Bishop, a civil servant, had begun running similar meetings for children in South London. When he had about Josiah Spiers and the work he was doing he decided to meet with him. And in 1868 the two great men of similar vision met and they began working together under the CSSM banner.

The role of Annie Marston

At that time there was a young Sunday School teacher in Keswick, in the north of England. Her name was Annie Marston. She wanted to encourage the children in her Sunday School class to read the Bible each day. So every Sunday she wrote out lists of passages for the children to read at home in the course of the week. The next Sunday she would discuss the passages with them. And she usually give them the opportunity to ask her questions from those passages.

As time went by, more and more children asked her for those bible passages. So Annie wrote to the CSSM in London led by Josiah Spiers and Tom Bishop. She suggested that they print the list of Bible passages for children to read. Though CSSM were reluctant at first, but they later obliged her. So they published an annual card of daily Bible readings for children.

THE ADVENT OF SCRIPTURE UNION BIBLE READING NOTES

The first Children’s CSSM Bible reading card became a reality in April 1, 1879. Those cards attracted 6,000 members, all children. The card proved to be a game changer and an instant success as within months there were Scripture Union members as far away as Belgium, Spain and Russia. And by this time many adult members could no longer hold back from joining the systemic way of engaging Christ through the bible.

This then led to the introduction of adult Bible reading cards too. By 1887 there were 328,000 members in the UK alone. And by 1889 (just 10 years after the first card was printed) there were 470,000 cards printed in 28 languages in many different countries. By 1893 CSSM had distributed 13 million children’s leaflets in 50 languages all around the world. What a massive way of engaging people or Jesus.

So it can rightly be said that Annie Marston was the visioner of the now very popular Scripture Union Reading Notes.

FROM CHILDREN SPECIAL SERVICE MISSION (CSSM) TO SCRIPTURE UNION (SU)

The unique combination of ministry with children and Bible ministry spread quickly to many countries around the world. And eventually the name of the movement changed from Children Special Service Mission (CSSM) to Scripture Union(SU).

From this humble beginning, the Scripture Union work has grown and is now maintained in over 120 countries across different continents. Her programmes and activities has grown to include Bible reading promotion, youth work in schools, and literature ministry. And presently there is an adult ministry known as pilgrims ministry in some countries.

AND THE YOUTH CAMP BECOMES A FORMAL GATHERING

In 1892 two students from Cambridge University came up with a great and completely innovative idea of how they could influence more people for Jesus. Havin bein under the teaching of Mr. Spiers they were looking out for opportunity to reach their friends. So they set out to organize a boy’s camp. It is a programme exclusively for young boys of their age.

According to them, their initial plan was to gather as many boys as possible and together spend some days in tents. They were willing to provide for the boys all the sports and fun that boys longed for. And while in the midst of these ‘enjoyments’, they hope to influence the boys more by their conduct and example than by words.

They did just as they planned and it was later reported that, “on the last night of the camp some of the most unlikely ones, who had come to camp as a joke, told of how they met Jesus that week”.

That is a practice that has continued till today.

This is still the practice in most Scripture Union formations across the globe. Camps are organised once, twice or three times in a year. It is a strategy that appeals to young people. Most of them attend the camp as a place of fun and relaxation. Others even attend to escape been with their parents for couple of days. But just like in that very first camp, they usually leave having met Jesus.

Scripture Union Canada has made a great success of running holidays camp for young people. They introduce different forms of sports that makes the children feel at home in those camps.

A typical Scripture Union Camp in Canada

THE BEGINNING OF SCRIPTURE UNION SCHOOL MINISTRY

By the time the second world war ended in 1945 the events of the war had further opened the eyes of Scripture Union members on the need to reach more people for Jesus. So they were more than fired up for the work than ever. They were equally thinking up more innovative ways, unlikely approaches and places of reaching people.

Scripture Union England therefore developed a new kind of ministry in state schools. They called it Inter School Christian Fellowship (ISCF). In other places like Nigeria it is known as Schools’ Work. This is an arrangement where adult Christians meet with school boys and girls and share the word of God with them in their schools. The commencement of these school groups paved the way for the development of schools ministry in other Movements around the world. By this time the ministry has spread to about 70 countries around the world.

THE INTERNATIONAL GOVERNING STRUCTURE

As the ministry of Scripture Union continued to grow and spread through different countries they were all to report to the international headquarters in England.

But in 1960 as serious growths were recorded an international conference was convened. That conference held in London with delegates from all Scripture Union nationals in attendance. In that meeting it was agreed that in order to maximize the growth recorded across the world a new and more effective governance structure was necessary.

That led to the creation of six regions in the ministry. The strong national movements were given the responsibility of driving Scripture Union work in other countries within their region. Under that arrangement each national movement is to have their own governing board. And the same thing applied to regional movements.

The importance of the Scripture Union International was however acknowledged in providing leadership and guidance. This will help to retain the unity of the ministry. The international council therefore comprised representatives from each regional movement.

The Regional arrangement was however dissolved in the year 2012. The six regions were replaced by Community Groups and a Global Board. And that is what the ministry still operates with till today.

SCRIPTURE UNION INTERNATIONAL AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

In 1985 there was an international delegate conference of Scripture Union leaders from around the world in Harare, Zimbabwe. In that conference it was agreed that the aims, belief statement, and working principles be adopted as a framework for all National movements. The international aims and objective as agreed is therefore as follows:

Working with the churches, Scripture Union aims to:

make God’s Good News known to children, young people and families, and
to encourage people of all ages to meet God daily through the Bible and prayer, so that they may come to personal faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, grow in Christian maturity, become both committed church members and servants of a world in need.

Scripture Union International Aims and Objectives

The meaning and implication of this aims and objective runs deep as far as the ministry is concerned. A detailed explanation of that can be seen in this post from our editorial team.

Scripture Union pursues these aims through a variety of ministries around the world in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ and reliance on the Holy Spirit.

SCRIPTURE UNION TODAY

From a humble beginning some 155 years ago Scripture Union has become a global movement today. The movement has a presence in about 120 countries.

In 2017 the ministry celebrated 150 years anniversary in different countries. In addition to activities in different national movements there was a joint celebration in Malaysia. It was an international conference with over 300 delegates from nearly 100 countries. The 5 days programme featured a lot of learning and sharing together in love. The leaders also took turns to recount the exploits of Josiah Spiers.

Scripture Union today operates dominantly in the following countries:

AFRICA

Angola

Benin

Botswana

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Chad

Congo Brazzaville

(Democratic Republic of) Congo

Egypt

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Guinea-Bissau

Ivory Coast

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Mauritius

Namibia

Nigeria

Rwanda

Senegal

Sierra Leone

South Sudan

South Africa

Tanzania

Togo

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

ASIA

Bangladesh

Cambodia

Hong Kong

India

Indonesia

Japan

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Macau

Malaysia

Mongolia

Myanmar

Nepal

Pakistan

Philippines

Singapore

Sri Lanka

South Korea

Taiwan

Thailand

Timor-Leste

Vietnam

EUROPE

Armenia

Austria

Belarus

Belgium

Bugaria

Crotia

Czechia

Denmark

England

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland Republic

Kosovo

Latvia

Lithuania

Netherlands

Northern Ireland

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

Scotland

Serbia

Slovakia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Tajikistan

Ukraine

Wales

NORTH AMERICA

Canada

Costa Rica

El Salvador

Jamaica

Guatemala

Honduras

Jamaica

USA

OCEANIA

Australia

Fiji

New South Wales

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea

Solomon Islands

Tonga

Vanuatu

SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina

Bolivia

Chile

Colombia

Ecuador

Peru

Tridada & Tobago

SCRIPTURE UNION IN NIGERIA

Nigeria has been one of the very strongholds of Scripture Union Ministry. All the major formations of Scripture Union are alive and active in Nigeria. In fact Nigeria is one of the few countries where the pilgrims ministry is operating fully.

The Scripture Union came into Nigeria in 1885 (just 18 years after the ministry was founded in UK). Group fellowships were organized in churches and the few schools then. The first Scripture Union Committee was held in Ibadan on May 11, 1956. In 1958, the ministry had the first Travelling Secretary for Nigeria in the person of John Dean.

Scripture Union (Nig) as it is addressed was registered on October 1967 as a voluntary non profit making organization.

AIMS OF SCRIPTURE UNION NIGERIA

The aims of the Scripture Union Movement in Nigeria are:

To serve the Christian Church in its ministries by specialized services whereby the Word of God is presented especially to children, youth and families so that those to whom it is presented may:
1. Be led to personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Be encouraged and instructed in the development of Christian character and witness and in a sense of vocation.
3. Take their places as members and workers in the life of their churches and all sections of society.

To promote thoughtful Bible reading amongst people of all ages thereby furthering personal discipleship, Christian Community and social concern.

Scripture Union Nigeria also has their motto. And the motto is taken from Psalm 119 vs 105.

Today there are 37 serving Travelling Secretaries and 10 Regional Coordinators in SU Nigeria. It also has 5 Heads of Departments covering different departments of Scripture Union mission in Nigeria.

Scripture Union Nigeria operates in more than 4,707 secondary schools and 1,050 primary schools.

Scripture Union in Nigeria also has the higher institution chapter known as Scripture Union Campus Fellowship (SUCF). SUCF operates in major universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country. You can read the detailed post about the ministry of Scripture Union in Nigeria here.

SHARE WITH US

Do you think that Scripture Union has made a difference in our world as we have it today? What have been your contribution as a member? Are you one of those people who met Jesus in SU? We will be glad to hear your experience with Scripture Union so far. Also let us know areas where you think SU can do better in your country. The comment box is open and we will be awaiting your viewpoints.

God bless you.

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