Bible Society is turning 200 on March 7, 2017. “We want 2017 to be not just a celebration of the Bible Society, but of the Bible” says Clarke. “We are organising events and campaigns that we hope will be easy for churches to pick up, adapt and use in their own ministry.”

A major event, a National Celebration of the Bible, will take place on Sunday, March 5. It will be webcast from the Hillsong Convention Centre in Sydney, featuring church leaders including Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies and Hillsong’s Brian Houston.

Any church can use the live stream or show a delayed stream.

There also will be ‘Lighthouse Churches’ in every state, which will partner to carry the event live. If your church would like be a ‘Lighthouse Church’, email Greg Clarke  or contact 0475 01 2017.

“During the month of March, Bible Society, Hillsong and others will create a Digital Resources Centre, a website where you can download free a whole range of videos which promote, explain and celebrate the Bible in various ways’” says Clarke. “Churches can use this material in whatever way you wish: sermons, small groups, Sunday Schools… It’s all yours.”

“After 200 years, we’re here for good” is the theme of Bible Society Australia’s  bicentenary. BSA is the oldest continuously operating organisation in Australia. It predates the first bank, now Westpac, by one month – and all its original directors were directors of the Bible Society. The Word came one month before Mammon! But 200 years on, Clarke reminds us that “there is an enormous amount of work still to be done.”