Director of Ministry Advancement (DMA) Maritimes-Rev. Dr. Lorne K. Freake
Director’s Outlook

Christian greetings! Thank you very much for dropping by our Webpage today and thank you for your continued interest in the day to day ministries of the Canadian Bible Society, both here at home and around the globe.  As you may already know because of the generally poor global economy, we have experienced a new paradigm shift in the way we operate in order to remain ‘good stewards’ of the precious resources entrusted to us. As a result, in the Maritimes this has meant the closing our CBS Saint John Regional Book Store, effective as of Sept. 30th, 2010. With continual sales of our many different Bibles (in more than 100 languages thus far), and books, music, etc. through our on line store at www.biblescanada.com , it is anticipated that you will also see our Bibles in other book stores, both Christian and Secular stores alike.

Our purpose remains the same and that is to translate and publish the Bible which is still being done both nationally and internationally, in languages that the world can understand and can afford. Our purpose is also to actively encourage the Bible’s use. We continue to distribute the Word of God in as many practical ways as possible such as:  providing  copies of the Scriptures to Chaplaincy Ministries in the Canadian Military (Operation Bible), the penal system, in transition houses,  and to shelters for the homeless,  also to athletes at organized sporting events (Olympics), and  at rescue missions, etc. etc. Our purpose is ecumenical, hence providing the scriptures without doctrinal commentary.

We "freely" provide Special Bibles at significant life occasions such as at baby dedications, baptisms, and confirmations, etc. as part of our Congregational Rep  Program.  In the next 24 months we are actively seeking 100 new Congregational Reps from Maritime Churches who will champion the cause of CBS in their local parishes or congregations. If you sense the call to be one of these reps, please contact me or have your pastor or priest  do it, and we`ll  help make it happen!  We also provide Hebrew Bibles and Greek New Testaments to Bible Language Students in Bible colleges, seminaries and universities. Another one of our popular products is the `Welcome Bible` which is made available to new immigrants who are taking studies in English as a second language (ESL),  a program often provided by large churches in metropolitan areas.

There are other Special Purpose Bibles, so as you can see, at CBS, we are actively involved in creative ways to distribute the Word. Not only are we actively looking for creative ways to distribute Bibles, but also looking for creative ways to fund our ongoing operations, especially the continual translation of the Bible. Much has already been done but there is still much to do. While we now have portions of the Bible translated into more than 100 languages (including 23 First Nation languages), surprisingly, there are still 4,421 languages of the world without even a portion of the Bible translated in their language!  May God help us to focus on the great task before us!

Here is how you can help. Please pray. Please give. Thank you to all of you for what you do. There are many ways that you can help...  by using your time, talents, energy and resources and by participating in any one of our ongoing fundraiser or engagement activities.  A special thankyou to our many dedicated and concerned volunteers who faithfully serve on the provincial boards.  We invite you to read our Blog which will be updated monthly. We welcome your ideas, questions and comments.  Thank you to all for your understanding during this time of transition from what CBS used to look like in the past, to what it is proactively becoming in the future.  Let`s keep the Son in our eyes. Onward!

Blessings on all of you and yours’.

Sincerely,
Lorne