In October 1978, a letter was received from the Reverend Noel Procter who was a Chaplain at Dartmoor prison in Devon. It contained a request for 150 copies of our scripture diary. The charity has been publishing this pocket diary, which contains a verse of scripture each day, for more than 40 years. However, we had never received a request from a prison chaplain.
For three years the same quantity of diaries were requested for distributing to the inmates. Then around 1981, Noel Procter informed us that he was moving to Strangeways in Manchester, and asked if we could transfer the diaries to his new prison.
However, in Dartmoor, the inmates insisted the diary should continue to be sent to them. The problem we were facing was that information about the diaries was spreading to other Chaplains, who now began to request large quantities for their prisons. It was becoming clearer to us that the charity had to print more. Each year the numbers increased and it began to drain our finances, but a door had opened and we had to continue trusting that Almighty God would meet our needs. It was not just the cost of printing, but also distributing.
This ministry has continued for 38 years and now up to 190,000 copies are distributed to 167 prisons and Young Offenders Institutions. The diaries have also been requested by prison workers overseas, such as Canada, Australia and Cyprus.
Lives have been changed through this ministry, and Chaplains are constantly asking for them. Unfortunately we struggle to meet all the requests that are received.
Your support for this ministry would be much appreciated and an encouragement to us as our desire is to maintain this important ministry that God has opened to us.
Thank you