WHEREAS, This Convention recognizes, first, that widespread distribution of the printed Word of God is a basic need in mission work at home and around the world, and second, that missionary advance calls for even greater distribution of Bibles, New Testaments, Gospels, other individual books of the Bible, and shorter Scripture selections, and
WHEREAS, The American Bible Society renders an essential worldwide missionary service through translating and publishing the Scriptures without note or comment and through distributing them without profit and usually below cost, and
WHEREAS, The American Bible Society provides without charge to the chaplains, Scriptures for distribution to the men and women of the Armed Forces and to patients in veteran’s hospitals, and,
WHEREAS, The American Bible Society is rendering an additional special service by providing scriptural materials designed especially for the use of Southern Baptist churches in the area of Bible study and evangelism,
WHEREAS, The American Bible Society, in cooperation with fifty other national Bible societies, is now engaged in a program of worldwide missionary advance, with the theme “God’s Word for a New Age,” seeking to place the printed Word of God in the hands, hearts, and lives of more people, in more lands, in more languages.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That we fraternally urge the churches and their people to make worthy contributions to the work of the American Bible Society, in order to provide the Scriptures needed for the missionary advance to which we are committed, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we encourage state conventions, associations, and churches to emphasize in their own programs the need for a wider reading and sharing of the Holy Scriptures both in our own land and throughout the world.