The Gideons have done this forever. As a Gideon, the practice of distributing Pocket New Testaments which include Psalms and Proverbs in 5th grade classroms has gone on for many decades. One thing that is not included in the red school distribution NT’s which is in some of the other Gideon Pocket NT’s is the plan of salvation. That was excluded to help fend off charges of prosletyzing.
In certain schools where classroom distributions are not allowed sidewalk distributions are arranged where not only 5th graders but others as well are offered NT’s as the kids leave or enter school. I’ve talked to many who still have those NT’s after 30 or 40 years. Many had never read a Bible before and this little NT generated an interest which ultimatley resulted in Salvation.
The Gideons also distribute these in overseas classrooms which are much more receptive than American classrooms. This includes throughout South America, Africa, parts of Asia, Eastern Europe including Russia. Over 80% of the distributions take place outside the US where the NT’s often become a textbook used in the classroom (imagine that in the US). THey often want English NT’s instead of their native tongue as it’s used as an English Primer.
The Gideons have distributed well over 1 billion bibles worldwide and have had a dramatic impact on the spread of the Gospel.
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Omitted is the **Plan of Salvation***!!!!????????????
Sorry! But, that is a serious distortion of Christ’s message and purpose. What kind of non-neutral religious lesson is THAT teaching?
Hm?,,,I Know!
Christians removed the section on the Plan of Salvation so that they could slyly **sneak** past the the government censors.
Well!....They have just taught all the children that Christians are sneaky and sly, and too fearful to proclaim the faith! They may have also taught the children that Christians are lukewarm about the Plan of Salvation since they thought it was unimportant enough to throw it out.
So?...Will the job of real missionaries now be harder or easier? Answer: HARDER! If Christ would spit this lukewarm drivel out of HIS mouth, I would expect that students would too!
The solution: Get government out of the education business!
I still have mine dated 1967.
I was a member of a Gideon's camp in Washington State. The school district said we could not use the sidewalk where the buses waited to pick up students. One of our members who was a local attorney called the school district the morning of the distribution and informed them that we would be distributing from that public sidewalk as was our constitutional right. As a courtesy, we notified the local police of our intentions. The attorney informed the school that any interference with the exercise of our constitutional rights would result in a lawsuit. The bluster worked and everything went off without incident. The Gideons have been distributing from that sidewalk ever since.