February 2014 - Open the Book

Not to be confused with our Thursday Bible Study, ‘Open The Book’ is a national charity that offers a programme of themed and dramatised Bible stories at no charge to the schools. Have you ever thought that children in schools might be missing out on what the Bible has to show them? They could go through their entire school life without ever learning about Adam and Eve, Noah, David, Jonah ... or even the life of Jesus and the stories of the New Testament. ‘Open The Book’ sessions are around 10 minutes long and fit comfortably into assembly times.  Volunteer story-tellers use drama, mime, props, costume - and the children themselves - to present Bible stories in ways that are lively, engaging, informative ... and great fun for everyone involved!

‘Open The Book’ started in Bedford in 1999 where a group of Christians first started presenting Bible stories in school assemblies, partly inspired by Bible Society’s “Open The Book” Millennium initiative.  Word reached other schools and areas and so grew from a local initiative into a national enterprise.  In September 2013 ‘Open The Book’ merged with Bible Society which seems logical since the vision and mission of both organisations are so closely aligned. About 254,500 primary children are now regularly enjoying the great story of Scripture in school assemblies as there are now 1,497 ‘Open The Book’ teams across the UK (an increase of 137 in the past 6 months) and 8,651 volunteers (an additional 1,131).

Phil Arnold, Jean Gregory and I became involved as part of Hope ’09, and we are part of an ecumenical team going into Oakwood School on a Thursday morning. We would love some more people to join us, so don’t be shy, and come along if you would like to see what happens before you join us. Money raised helps to buy the books we use, and to help with props and costumes. If you would like to help us by making these we would be very grateful, so please have a chat with Jean or myself.

To find out more about Open the Book visit their website here ...