| Love Is a Bridge |
 What links Dave Bennett to a Cadbury’s Cre`me Egg? Well the answer goes back to 1893, not that Dave was around then! In that year the daughter of Cadbury’s owner, Helen Cadbury, founded The Pocket Testament League, now known as Bridge Builders, a charity whose one goal is to pass on the Good News of Jesus Christ. Dave Bennett is today the National Director of Bridge Builders and here he tells his story and that of Helen Cadbury.
Helen Cadbury’s story 
Helen said, ‘My desire was to show what God had said, rather than what I thought.’ 
pockets onto their skirts in which to keep their New Testaments. So the club became known as ‘The Pocket Testament League’. In 1904 Helen met and married the American evangelist Charles Alexander. He heard Helen talk about the League she had formed some years earlier, and Charles then caught the vision for PTL. He said ‘We must revive that work. The coming revival must be a Bible revival. If only we can get people to read the book for themselves it will surely lead them to Christ.’ Charles sent one of his team into the streets of Birmingham with a box of New Testaments. He encouraged people to accept a Testament on the condition that they signed a promise to read it. It was not long before the team started to hear stories of people coming to faith in Christ through reading these New Testaments  1908 marked the commencement of a worldwide spread of The Pocket Testament League, through crusades in Britain, Australia, the Far East, Middle East, Europe, Canada and the USA. An advisory council was appointed in London in 1914, and an International HQ was opened. This was significant, as with the outbreak of war on 3rd August, PTL was able to respond to the opportunity to give New Testaments to the members of the armed forces. During WW1 a soldier wrote from France saying, ‘Every morning after breakfast, if the enemy is not too active to allow it, the boys come along to the dug-out, and I read a chapter, sometimes two, from the New Testament. The attention with which the men listen is so great that no sound is heard other than my voice, and the occasional boom of the big guns.’ The original vision of Helen Cadbury was to encourage Christians to READ, CARRY and SHARE the Bible and this same vision motivates The Pocket Testament League today. Under the name of Bridge Builders we are still encouraging Christians to read, carry and share the scriptures. How Does Bridge Builders Work Today?We enable Christians to share their faith one to one by providing gospels which are designed for personal sharing. We also run training courses in Christianity and offer the opportunity to take part in a short term mission in this country or abroad.Christians who become members of Bridge Builders are given on introductory pack containing two free gospels and helpful advice about sharing their faith. If they let us know they have given away the two gospels we will send them two more. Many Churches and Christian workers receive bulk supplies of gospels and are kind enough to give us a donation to cover the cost. |
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