Beginnings

God moves in a mysterious way. If it were not so, faith would be easier, but joy would have no surprise. The founder of the Amos Scripture Care Trust encountered a serious problem in the Church, which was not easy to resolve. He had to make a personal act of repentance before God opened his heart to the answer.

Western society, particularly in Britain, was finding it harder to accept the Word of God, however, credit and loyalty cards were becoming increasingly popular. In 1994 advances in colour technology for home computers and printers were creating opportunities for the Church and the answer was to put Scripture onto similar cards, using a personal computer and a laminating machine.

The cards were distributed in several Edinburgh Churches to gauge the level of interest. The success of this trial was very encouraging.

How the Amos Scripture Care Trust received its name 

Society will become barren if it loses interest in God's Word. Can society care; without the knowledge of Scripture to build its care? The motto for the city of Edinburgh is 'Unless the Lord builds this house, the builders work in vain.'

At an early stage of the work with the cards, which had not been given a name, a church in Edinburgh asked the founder to give a talk about them. While preparing for that talk in prayer, the Lord came to him and said, "Look at the grey book in your bookshelf." He took it down from the bookshelf. The book was a memoriam to his Grandfather who had been Minister of North Leith church. It contained the text of a sermon, from Amos, that his grandfather preached on the Sunday before he died.

The founder discovered that, unknown to the Minister or himself, he was giving his talk to North Leith Parish Church on the anniversary of his Grandfather's death. God has a message for us from Amos and it is clear that He wants the Trust to be called 'The Amos Scripture Care Trust.'

A decision was made to establish a Charitable Trust in 1995 and that same week the Edinburgh Diocese of the Episcopal Church asked us to produce 8,000 cards for their Autumn mission. Two teams were set up to produce these cards, one in St John's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh and the other in St George's West Church (Church of Scotland), Edinburgh.

Production teams are a central part of the trust’s operation as well as being an important way of maintaining the trust's ethos of making the Word of God and His purpose easily accessible to as many people as possible. It was always intended that the work of the Trust should not simply be about the production and distribution of the cards, although this is obviously extremely important. It has always been felt that the combination of mission and fellowship should be and is fulfilling and beneficial to all those who work with the Trust as they contemplate their own relationship with God and more generally that of all humanity.

We currently have four production teams: one works at the Trust office in St George's West, one in Kinross and two in Forres. We are always keen to found new teams to help expand our work. Each team meets for two or three hours per week often in a team member’s house and is equipped with a laminator, paper trimmers, and stock boxes for the cards. We are always happy if individual teams receive orders directly from people in their local area as this fits very well with our aim of local and personal mission.

Pat Payne, who is a member of our Kinross Team has these comments to make about working in a team. "Today, people find themselves in an ever changing, uncertain, insecure environment, and the Amos Scripture Care cards remind us that the Lord’s words have every relevance in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. As a member of a team, this is a practical way of expressing my belief that this is what the churches should be about. Working in a small group from different denominations with a common purpose in an uncluttered organisation is refreshing and I feel I am contributing in a meaningful way."

Since its inception in 1995, Bruce Crerar, our founder, had run the Trust, devoting his enormous energy to it, with the help of the many volunteers. Sadly, having suffered deteriorating health over the past two to three years, he died in August 2007, and his obituary appears elsewhere on our website.

In 2008, the Trustees appointed Tom Sutcliffe as Volunteer Co-ordinator / Marketing Manager to manage and promote the work of the Trust. A graduate of Edinburgh University, with BD and MTh degrees, and an active member of the Roman Catholic Church, Tom added an important ecumenical dimension to the Trust. We are grateful to all that Tom contributed to the work of the Trust. 

Following Tom's departure, Susan Rae was appointed in February this year as Marketing/Office Manager.  A graduate of Strathclyde University and a lifetime member of St Mary's Church, Hawick and former Sunday School teacher, Susan also works for Edinburgh TUC.  Susan studied Marketing as a post-graduate following graduation with a BA(Hons) in Politics and English and has had a diverse career; ranging from work for Scottish Medical Aid for Palestinians, through to her long role as Marketing Office with Scottish Borders Council.

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