The hopes and aspirations of the Amos Scripture Care Trust have much in common with those of the Scottish Bible Society. The Autumn 2005 edition of the Society's magazine, 'Word at Work', reflects so powerfully the challenge facing Christians today that I feel it worth quoting at length from its contents.

Doug Campbell, Chief Executive, asks “How do we share the Good News in a new age where we are overwhelmed with information? The challenge is that when we do communicate, the leaflets and the glossy appeals get binned more often than not”. “But”, he continues, “that is not going to stop me”. Because of what he believes Christ has done for him, he wants to share that with others. He invites anyone who has been personally affected by the message of the Bible to join in sharing that message.

The ethos of our Trust is to do just that through the team work of producing and distributing the cards. The advantages the cards have over other forms of invitational literature are their brevity, the clarity of the message, their quality, and hence the incentive to keep them or hand them on to others. They are collectable. As Christians we are called to use everything at our disposal to share God’s Word, living as we do in a society where fewer than 1% read the Bible, and in which more copies of the IKEA catalogue are now printed than the Bible.
In the same edition of 'Word at Work', Peter Clayton (of Clayton Graham Associates, an advertising and communications firm who have offered their services free to the Scottish Bible Society) writes “The Bible needs marketing today. Marketing doesn't shape society, it reflects it. It delivers what people want, not what we want them to hear.” He continues “ It's ironic that when you compare a list of what people want, or what they find missing from their lives, with a list of values the Bible portrays, they are virtually identical; honesty, integrity, sympathy, support, encouragement, and to better ourselves through following Christ”. He adds “The most important route to communication is to deliver the positive messages to where people are”.The Trust is currently working on a project to make a suitable range of cards available to young folk in business. 

As the accounts show, this past year has been a somewhat static one for the Trust, partly due to the ill health of Bruce, our founder, and to a lack of continuity in our administration staffing leading to insufficient marketing. We are seeking to create an administration team, providing scope for initiative and autonomy in undertaking developmental projects. Meantime, we thank God for Bruce's leadership and drive, and pray that his health will allow him to continue to promote and encourage the growth and development of the work of the Trust into the future.

Alan Mackinlay