Bible League

Bible League

Bible League was founded in 1938 as the American Home Bible League by Bill and Betty Chapman, an American couple who gave Bibles to neighbors who didn’t have but promised to read them (photo). It was later renamed World Home Bible League, and eventually Bible League International.

Bible League International ("Bible League") distributes Christian literature, hosts Bible studies, and trains church planters. Geographically, Bible League targets "under-resourced" Christians, not necessarily persecuted Christians, in about 40 countries, including USA and Canada.

Weaknesses

1.  Focus on fundraising

About 30% of the donations to Bible League is paid to its fundraisers, who hound donors to give more, and spent in other ways to solicit more donations:

(all $ in million)	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016
Donations Received	$13.9	$13.1	$14.2	$15.3	$17.6
Spent on Fundraising	$4.0	$4.3	$4.7	$4.8	$5.1
Fundraising / Donations	29%	33%	33%	31%	29%

2.  Weak leadership

The credibility and zeal of Bill and Betty Chapman have long faded from Bible League, which merged with World Bible Translation Center (WBTC) in 2011 and was led until 2016 by the WBTC president, who resigned after it was discovered that he had hidden his past conviction and termination by a former employer for misappropriating funds. The current leadership team of four represents fundraising (CEO), accounting, finance, and human resources backgrounds; none of the four have ministry experience, missionary experience or ministry education.

3.  Corrupted translation

The "Bible" that Bible League distributes, including in 32 foreign language translations, is the WBTC's flawed Easy-to-Read Version (ERV), which has over-simplified the original text and corrupted it to make it gender-neutral.

4.  Costly headquarters

This Greek columns-adorned building near Chicago is Bible League's headquarters, built in 2001 for an undisclosed sum.

Solutions

1.  Distribute real Bibles.

2.  Beg God, not people, for money.

3.  Bring up or in leaders who can provide spiritual leadership, and disclose their salaries.

4.  Sell the headquarters and move into a building befitting an organization that serves "under-resourced" Christians.