It all began with a desire to make the gospel available to people who might never walk through the doors of a church.
Around twenty years ago, my mum had some money that she wanted to use for the Lord’s work. She had noticed that there were many people in Stockton who never came into a church, and she wondered whether there was another way to bring the gospel to them — right where they were.
The idea was simple: take Christian books and Bibles into the marketplace and make them available to anyone who wanted them.
There was just one small problem. My mum is a miner’s daughter, and a housewife. She knew very little about market stalls!
Thankfully, we knew someone who did. A friend with a market stall was kind enough to share his advice — and then went even further. With great generosity, he had a small market stall made for us and gave it to my mum for what became The Word Bookstall.
Twenty years on
Since those early days, on the first Saturday of most months — with the occasional break for bad weather, holidays or illness — a small group of us have taken the stall into the market.
We set it up, unpack the books and take turns being there throughout the day. The stall has become both a place to find Christian books and Bibles and a place where conversations can begin, friendships can form, and Christians can encourage one another.
We don’t run the stall to make money. The books are often sold for less than we pay for them. The stock is replenished through personal donations, and the market pitch is often paid for by one of the team. Friends give towards the calendars we distribute at the end of each year. A Christian in Lancashire heard about the stall and now regularly buys large boxes of Bibles for the stall, with just one condition: they must be given away freely.
The Word Bookstall team now attend various churches across the northeast. Many of us, like my mum, have been involved since the very beginning. We continue to look to the Lord to bless this work as he sees fit.
