“Painful” changes part of Canadian Bible Society restructuring
TORONTO, ON—The Canadian Bible Society has decided to close almost one dozen of their flagship bookstores as part of a wider "strategic transformation" of their ministry.
Stores in Saint John's, Saint John, London, Calgary and Edmonton will close this summer, while another Christian retailer will take over the Bible Society's Ottawa location. The Bible Society has also recently shut the doors on stores in Charlottetown, Halifax, North Bay, Hamilton and Saskatoon.
"It's painful to leave historic locations, and harder still to say goodbye to colleagues who have served the Bible cause in Canada faithfully for years," says Joel Coppieters, director of scripture resources. "But this has been a strategic move for us. We want to be cautious with our resources and make sure we are dedicated to ministries which are unique to us, core and central to who we are."
This will include continued work on translating the Bible into Canada's First Nations languages—Scripture is still not available in many of them—and developing supplemental biblical resources to go with them. Coppieters explains that in many instances this means developing resources in "non-conventional scripts." Canadian translators have developed unique expertise that allows them to help support and assist in other projects around the world, he adds.
"There are contributions that our Canadian staff are bringing to the table globally that no one else is doing," says Coppieters.
The restructuring will also involve closing some ministry centres and combining others. The Bible Society will expand their wholesale book distribution business, and create a new website where people can purchase books online in more than 100 languages.
Coppieters says the Bible Society has worked "very closely" with other Christian retailers to redirect customers to them. "In several instances those other retailers have already noticed an increase in business. Our pulling out has been really helpful to them."
He points out that Bibles are now more easily accessible to Canadians than they were 200 years ago when the Bible Society hired colporteurs to take biblical resources to remote communities on horseback.
One of the self-proclaimed "last of the colporteurs" is Dale Broadworth, who will retire as district director for Northern Ontario this summer.
"When I first started, I got in my car and travelled all over the North, to communities that had no Christian bookstores," says Broadworth, who has been with the Bible Society for almost 30 years. "Now that's just not happening.
"There has been a choice to do ministry in a different way because of the limitation of financial resources, the improvement of media technology and the crafting of a strategy that we will feel is effective for the 21st century. Now we have fewer people in the field, and more people relying on the modern means of media to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ."
The small office and store in North Bay closed at Christmas, and Broadworth stresses that the Bible Society has been very gracious and generous with employees throughout the restructuring process.
During Broadworth's tenure the Bible Society office in Northern Ontario ran many fundraising and community events, including Festivals of Praise, Bible reading events and the Bike For Bibles on Manitoulin Island. He says the Bible Society may evaluate holding such events in future.
"I think it'll take decades [before] results—good and bad—are felt or realized," he says. "Sometimes by solving one problem you unintentionally create another one. But we do have a very loyal, committed core of volunteers who will continue to do their best to see Bible distribution, fundraising and prayer continue."
"The Bible bookstores were just the tip of the iceberg for us," Coppieters says. "Our physical presence in the bookstores was so prominent that people often had no idea of the other things which were going on behind the scenes which were much more unique, central and core to our mandate.
"The bookstores were a good ministry, which were having an impact. It was a difficult situation—not a choice between good and bad, but a choice between what's good and what's best. Often those are the trickier decisions to make."
"The Canadian Bible Society will continue to make a very positive contribution to the Kingdom of God," Broadworth says. "You can't separate the Scripture from faith development in the lives of Canadians."
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