Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Need help? Be sure to explore some of the commonly asked questions below.
If you don't find the answer to your question then send us a message.
Ministry Related Questions
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we equip and empower believers of Christ in over 40 countries to become local champions to transform their own communities. These local champions will reach out to their communities through one or a combination of four different ways depending on the context of the countries we work in.
- Starting New Churches Ministry: Training and equipping local champions (church planters) with Scriptures and discipleship resources.
- Children’s Ministry: Providing a safe learning environment for children in regions of deep poverty to learn about the love of Jesus.
- Adult bible-based Ministry: Teaching illiterate men and women to read and write using Bible-based literacy material.
- Persecuted Church ministry: Partnering with Christians in countries where persecution denies them the freedom to worship.
Everywhere we work, there are three things that always go together: the Word of God, local believers and training.
For more details, see here.
Our work spans over 40 countries and across five continents. See here for details of country profiles and specific ministries.
All people who do not know Christ as their Saviour are in need of the good news. Thus, all areas are in need of the Scriptures and someone who knows the cultures in order to share the Gospel and disciple the communities for the Kingdom of God. For this month, the area of focus is
No, we are an interdenominational charitable organization.
Bible League Canada is committed to keeping administrative costs as low as possible. We are able to keep our costs low because of the hard work of Bible League Canada staff and the partnerships in the countries where we minister. For fiscal 2016, approximately 86% of total contributions went directly toward the ministry field. A full report of our most recent financials can be found in the Annual Report, located here.
In 2007, in order to meet CRA regulations, Bible League Canada separated from Bible League International. We are a totally separate ministry, with no corporate ties. We are uniquely Canadian, with a Canadian board and staff.
Yes. In 1960 our name was the Canadian Home Bible League. In 1984, we changed our name to the World Home Bible League of Canada. In 1992, our name was changed to The Bible League of Canada. Presently we are known as Bible League Canada.
We are not part of the Christian Reformed Church or the World Missions division of the CRC. We have a unique history that has been closely associated with the Christian Reformed Church and a number of our staff members are members of the CRC. Their head office is located at 3475 Mainway and their phone number is 905 336-2920.
Yes. You can certainly give a donation as a tribute or memorial to a loved one, or for a special celebration, such as an anniversary or birthday gift. Twice a year, a notation is made in our quarterly Joy Report listing these special gifts. For a tribute donation, our GodQuest booklet, Hope in the Midst of Grief, is sent to the family along with a notification of the gift given on your behalf. Please have the name and address of the honouree available.
Bible League Canada does not send North Americans to do work in other countries. We partner with Christians living in the countries themselves to do the work of Starting New Churches (church planting), children’s ministry and adult literacy in their own countries. We have found this to be a much more effective way to evangelize in nations where the church is strong and leadership is in place. We are convinced the most effective way to impact a community or nation is to work with national Christians who give their time and resources to reach their fellow citizens with the Good News of Jesus Christ. We certainly appreciate your prayer support and any financial gifts that you are able to give.
Bibles and resource materials used in our ministry programs are usually printed in the regions where we operate. We have found this to be the most economical way of producing these items.
By partnering, not only are we are working with experienced ministries and directors who have a thorough understanding of the country and culture they work in, but Bible League Canada is able to use the funds we raise much more effectively and keep our overhead low.
Our ministry partners must agree to strict regulations and requirements of Bible League Canada and their mission must completely align with ours. Bible League Canada is extremely diligent in ensuring that proper and accurate reporting is done. Every Bible and ministry resource distributed in the field is accounted for. This allows us to audit our accounts accurately and produce an annual report of all funds raised and dispersed. Bible League Canada is proud of our fundraising efforts and has successfully reported that 90% of all donations go directly to our mission work.
Bible League Canada meets all Canada Revenue Agency regulations and ensures that tax receipts are properly issued. If you were to give a donation directly to the country or ministry outside of Canada, you would not be able to receive a tax receipt.
The mailings we send to our donors are an important way of letting them know about the ministry of Bible League Canada and to inspire people to continue to give to the ministry work. The funds we receive in response to the mail we send, greatly outweighs the cost of sending these appeals, so we think it’s worthwhile to keep sending mail. You are always welcome to ask us to reduce the number of mailings sent to you.
Joint Ministry Relations Related Questions
In 1988, two businessmen from BC traveled to India with Bible League Canada. Upon their return they decided that they needed to do something more to assist Bible League Canada. They organized a thrift store and foundation. There are now over 40 stores across Canada, with money raised sent through the Bibles for Missions Foundation (Canada) to Bible League Canada.
Presently, just over 60% of our budget comes from the Bible for Mission Thrift Stores.
The DNA of The Gideons International in Canada is to distribute the Word of God and share the gospel through personal witnessing opportunities. This strength is reinforced by the training resources and programs of Bible League Canada. We have successfully placed Scriptures through discipleship training, literacy classes and church planting in more than 40 countries around the world through our many indigenous mission partners. Together we align to meet the needs of ministry based on each other’s strengths. The alliance of our unique strengths and purpose is synergized and creates a powerful and dynamic team.
By partnering together, each ministry’s strength is multiplied resulting in more churches planted, more leaders trained, more Scriptures distributed, and more souls finding Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. There is power in unity of purpose and focus. We both believe that the world will be reached through strong, local, indigenous churches that are well equipped with the Word of God and trained to reach their own peoples with the gospel.
Bible League Canada continues to be involved in prison ministry through our partnership with Crossroads Bible Institute Canada. The funds that are given to Bible League Canada through your donations allow for prisoners to be enrolled in the program.
Crossroad Bible Institute Canada is an international discipleship and advocacy ministry for prisoners and their families. Prisoners across Canada are coming to know Jesus as their personal Saviour through this training program.
In 2014, your donations contributed to over 700 new students enrolled in the program, 532 graduates of the program, and over 16,000 scriptures were placed within prisons in Canada.
We are happy to announce that Crossroads Bible Institute Canada in partnership with Bible League Canada has decided to become an independent charity within Canada. CBI Canada continues to serve prisoners in Canada to see lives transformed.
There are two ways you can support this ministry. You can pray for Crossroads Bible Institute and for the prisoners a part of the program. You can also make a donation to Bible League Canada. It costs only $100 to enroll a prisoner in a 12 week introductory Bible Study Program.
When you give to Bible League Canada, you are supporting the work of transforming lives through partnerships that are developed with likeminded organizations. Bible League Canada continues to provide significant support for prison ministry though our Ministry Partnership with Crossroads Bible Institute Canada. In order for Bible League Canada to be able to provide the funds through our Canadian Ministry Budget, we need to raise support in Canada for this ministry. As always when you donate to Bible League Canada, you will be issued a tax receipt.
Yes, you can give directly to Crossroads Bible Institute by contacting their office at (289) 861-1369 or toll-free at 1-844-677-6658.
Resource Sales Order Related Questions
We carry a number of foreign languages, but our selection does vary. Please check our website, or call our Sales Desk at 1.800.363.9673 for specific language requests.
Your order will be processed and shipped within two days, and should arrive within 5-8 business days. In exceptional cases, we’ll give you a call to go over the details. We are able to send items by express delivery upon request and for additional cost.
No, we do not ship our catalogue products outside of Canada.
At present, shipping is free for most of our products and they are sent by Canada Post Expedited Mail. If you request special shipping, such as Purolator or FedEx, the amount will be added to your invoice.
Our listed price is offered to our customers at an exceptionally low cost and remains the same whether shipped or picked up. At our Grimsby office, we stock limited quantity, so it best to inquire with us first before stopping by. We store our resources in an offsite warehouse which does not provide the option for pick up orders. Whether it is shipped directly to your home, or you come by and pick it up, you are enabling ministry dollars to go to the field – and we thank you for that!
The Student Planners are available to order in December for the upcoming school year. The Devotional Day Planners are available to order in August for the following calendar year.
The Devotional Planner is a product that we use in Canada to encourage Bible engagement, personal development and discipleship. We design and produce in bulk quantities for churches and large ministries to use for these purposes. When we separate the large quantities, it increases shipping cost that we pass along to the customer. Based on our research, $9.89 is a fair book-store price for single copies.
On a regular basis, we stock New International Version (NIV), King James Version (KJV), New Living Translation (NLT), English Standard Version (ESV), New International readers Version (NIrV), and Common English Version (CEV) translations. We are also willing to source other translations.
There is no definitive answer to this question. There are many good options available, and each has its own strengths. Every person’s definition of “best” is unique: do you value exact faithfulness to original languages, original concepts, tradition, readability? Consider reading about each Bible translation so you can identify the strengths that most closely match your interests and standards. An excellent resource for side-by-side comparison is BibleGateway.
We are able to special order certain language Bibles. If it is a language we have access to and you’re willing to order a full case lot we may be able to help. Please call us at 1.800.363.9673 to ask about a specific request. If we’re not able to access the particular item you’re looking for, we may be able to direct you towards a local Christian bookstore or a relevant website.
We get these kinds of request regularly –several times a week – from all over the world. Unless they are requests from countries where we presently work, we cannot help, for a number of reasons.
- We do all of our work through partner ministries. In rare instances, if the request comes from someone in a country where we, or our partner, do ministry, then we can pass the request along to our partner in country. However, their workloads are at maximum capacity and they often do not have the resources to spare for extraordinary requests
- It is very expensive to ship Bibles from Canada. We work with printers all over the world to provide Scriptures locally, and more economically.
- According to CRA regulations, unless we have an existing missions agreement, we cannot send Bibles or money outside of Canada to another ministry or person.
On a personal level, you are able to purchase Bibles and send them to the person or ministry you wish to bless.