Ben

For one student in Sheffield, spotting a copy of Mark’s Gospel that her flatmate had left lying on the coffee table was her route into church. The gospels had been given away by The Well, a church in Sheffield, as part of welcome packs for freshers – and one of the students who received one had accidentally left one lying out after she’d finished reading it. Her flatmate, a Muslim, read it quickly and came to her asking, ‘Have you got any more of these? I’ve heard of the gospels – aren’t there three other guys, too?!’

Welcoming freshers with the good news of Jesus

This happened last year, and the student came to church until she had to return home due to COVID restrictions. This year, The Well has ordered even more copies of the gospels. Last year, they gave them out to students who were newly arrived in Sheffield, in the street, as a way of welcoming them to the city and as a way to get copies of scripture into their hands. Also included in the freshers’ packs were coffee vouchers, lockdown cookery recipes, and a prayer. This year, they plan to do the same thing again, alongside also giving copies of the gospels away at the end of church services.

When Ben Jones, Minister in Training and the Student Lead at The Well, first saw the copies of Mark’s Gospel (produced by Hope Together in partnership with Biblica) he said, ‘Yeah, we need this!’ The illustrated gospels have been designed in a sleek magazine style, perfect for leaving on a coffee table – and are available from the Hope Together online shop for just £1 a copy!'

A resource that’s both beautiful and accessible

‘Aesthetically, they’re incredibly pleasing – just a really well-made product,’ said Ben.  ‘I think even the language that’s used is very accessible, the whole thing is accessible, that’s the word I would use, for both Christians and non-Christians. Our communications director is very creatively-minded, loves good fonts and the like – he was so stoked to receive them. To have this incredible resource for just a quid – it’s a very well-made product and that’s what really drew us to it.’






There are so many different ways you could share these beautiful gospels with people in your community! Check out the Hope Together online shop to order some for your church to use today.