The Good Book Company

The Good Book Company
Founded 1991
Country of origin United Kingdom
Headquarters location Epsom, Surrey, England
Publication types Books
Nonfiction topics Christianity
Official website www.thegoodbook.com

The Good Book Company (TGBC) is an evangelical, reformed Christian publisher, located in Epsom, Surrey, England.[1] They are structured as a large unquoted, private company, limited by share capital.[2] Their practices include publishing, mission outreach and training.

History

TGBC began in 1991 under the name St. Matthias Press UK,[3] in response to what TGBC saw as a "resurgence of Bible-based reformed evangelicalism in the UK." [4] Their name was later changed to The Good Book Company in 2000.[5] TGBC now supplies books, along with Bible study notes, to multiple countries including that of the UK, US, Australia and the developing world.

Activities

Publishing

TGBC writes and publishes Bible studies, training and evangelism resources, including Bible reading notes, youth materials and the Christianity Explored range. They distribute in the UK for the Australian evangelical, reformed publisher Matthias Media. They co-publish The Briefing magazine in association with Matthias Media, with whom they have been associated since their start.[6] (As noted above, TGBC was originally called St. Matthias Press UK, while Matthias Media in Australia was called St. Matthias Press and Tapes).[7] They also promote and distribute a number of imprints of other publishers, including Intervarsity-Press UK, Good News Crossway, Evangelical Press, Christian Focus[8] and Anglican Youthworks.

Mission Outreach

As part of the not for profit side of their activities, TGBC provides basic sermon outlines on a number of Bible books, named the Pray Prepare Preach (PPP) series. The Forum of Bible Agencies International states that this is because some pastors and teachers in third-world countries have little Bible training and few resources in their own language.[9]

Aside from direct sales from TGBC, distribution to third-world countries includes:[10]

Conferences and Training Events

TGBC is part of a conservative group (along with London City Mission, All Souls Langham Place and Oak Hill College) that organises the annual Evangelists' Conference.[11] TGBC is also involved in the annual London and Northern Men's and Women's Conferences (and publishes the talks, seminars and handbooks from those conferences)[12] for local church ministry. They run training events for Youth and Children's work in the UK and Northern Ireland. TGBC co-hosted the Urban Plant Life Conference in November 2008.[13]

The Good Book College and the Moore College Extension Course

In 1999, TGBC began administering Moore Theological College extension courses in the UK - an established distance learning course from Sydney, Australia. The Open Bible Institute states that this was consistent with TGBC's desire to build on the training events it had been running.[14] The Open Bible Institute was renamed The Good Book College in 2012.

Over the next five years, enrolments in the Moore College course grew to just under 1,000 students. TGBC set up the Open Bible Institute in 2005/2006, as a distance learning college that could accommodate students of varying levels of competency. The Good Book College now offers validated courses to Cert HE level as a UK Academic Partner of Middlesex University[15] and handles Moore College enrolments for students in the UK, Europe and Africa,[16] including students of the Bible Training Partnership.[17]

Overseas Distributors

The TGBC USA website began in February 2009,[18] in conjunction with the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference. TGBC exhibits at large North American evangelical, reformed conferences, such as Together For the Gospel and Desiring God Pastor’s Conference.[19] The company now maintains a permanent office based in Purcellville, VA, and employs two full-time staff as of 2013. Trade distribution is performed in Australia by Reformers Bookshop,[20] who also perform order-fulfilment for the TGBC Australian website.[21] In November, 2015, Canadian distribution was announced through David C. Cook in that country.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Address details obtained from the Booksellers Association of the UK & Ireland Webpage
  2. ↑ See the UK Data Ltd Company Summary Page for the Good Book Company
  3. ↑ See the Matthias Media History Webpage for information about TGBC's early history.
  4. ↑ See the Gospel Coalition's profile on TGBC
  5. ↑ See the Good Book Company About Us Webpage
  6. ↑ See the The Good Book Company About Us Webpage. Matthias Media describes the relationship as "very long and close" - see the Matthias Media International Contact Webpage
  7. ↑ Matthias Media History Webpage
  8. ↑ Christian Focus is a large, evangelical, Scottish publisher.
  9. ↑ As noted on the Resources Page of the Scripture Engagement group of the Forum of Bible Agencies International.
  10. ↑ See the Sussex Gospel Partnership for more details.
  11. ↑ As noted on the Evangelists Conference Website
  12. ↑ See the Evangelical Alliance Website.
  13. ↑ See the Autumn 08 Article by the London City Mission
  14. ↑ As noted on the Open Bible Institute History Webpage
  15. ↑ See the Middlesex University UK Academic Partners Webpage
  16. ↑ As stated on Moore College's Certificate in Theology Course Enrolment Webpage.
  17. ↑ The Bible Training Partnership in the UK is independent of the Open Bible Institute but states that its current training strategy is to use the Moore College Correspondence Course as the basis for the training they provide.
  18. ↑ See the article on the Anglican Church League Website
  19. ↑ See the Christian Today article describing the North American launch and TGBC's promotion at large conferences of evangelical reformed pastors.
  20. ↑ See the article on the Sydney Anglicans website about the distributorship. Retrieved on 28 May 2009.
  21. ↑ The Good Book Company Australia Website began in October 2008. Retrieved on 19 May 2009.
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