You’ll no doubt be aware that Wesley Owen was set up as the trading arm of OM in order to directly support their frontline ministry. Over the years it became abundantly clear that the shops themselves provided a ministry in their own right. Just visit the shops in South Woodford or Harrow, to mentio two< to see how that works on the ground today.

I absolutely hope beyond hope that IBS-STL survives in the UK. I pray that the Lord will provide a way through the current storm they facve. Without them the UK Christian book and Bible trade is likely to collapse. Smaller publishers rely on them to provide an economy of scale big enough to allow them to sell books at an affordable price. These publishers are the home of many of our UK authors. Without IBS-STL we will lose most authors who are not known in the USA – we'd be left with only those with the profile of Plass, Lucas, Chalke and co.

Similarly independent Christian bookshops will go to the wall. Except for IVP there will not be a major wholesaler providing an easy one-stop-shop for them. And without extensive knowledge and lots of time how will those shops order new products and keep track of the latest (non God TV) trends?

Should these two developments happen after the poissible demise of IBS-STL the ministry of the church in the UK will be compromised through a serious lack of good resources.

For the sake of the local church I hope and pray that IBS-STL survive. Therefore can I urge you and all your rfeaders to pray for Keith Danby and all others involved in the charity, and take every opportunity to support Christian bookshops, particularly Wesley Owen at this crucial time.

John

apologies to John for not posting this comment sooner. For some reason the spam filter I use with WordPress decided to put it into spam comments.

Two observations: it’s actually IBS, International Bible Society, now rebranding themselves as ‘Biblica’ that have run into crisis here. It’s a tad confusing with so many organisations calling themselves ‘Bible Society’ – this interview in Christian Marketplace explains a bit.

Next, your second obstacle: wondering if you mean “Purchasing on the Internet has now become the norm rather than the exception.”??