More information about BRF
BRF (The Bible Reading Fellowship) is a Christian charity (No. 233280) that started in January 1922 in an Anglican church in Brixton, where the vicar wanted to help his congregation, in his words, 'to get a move on spiritually'. He began to offer a monthly leaflet of daily Bible readings, coupled with a midweek discussion group and the encouragement to pray for the parish. This so transformed the spiritual life of St Matthew's Church, that before long other churches were asking for copies of the leaflets for their own congregations.
Today, 90 years later, Bible reading, Prayer & Spirituality and Discipleship are still the three core strands of BRF's ministry, which as a whole is defined in our statement of purpose: 'resourcing your spiritual journey'.
Skip down to find out more about:
- The heart of our ministry
- Our core ministries
- Resourcing Christian discipleship
- Office, staff, trustees & funding
The heart of our ministry
At the heart of BRF's ministry is the desire is to help people of all ages - children, adults and families - to explore Christianity and to grow in faith. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey - just starting out, or having been a Christian all your life - we'd like to think that BRF has something to offer to help you continue and go further and deeper on that journey.
We do this through the Bible reading notes and books that we publish, through our training and face-to-face work in primary schools and churches, through our specialist websites (many of which offer free downloadable resources along with information about our publications and events) and through the growing Messy Church movement (which is supported, resourced and enabled by BRF).
Our core ministries
Alongside publishing four series of dated Bible reading notes, a prayer and spirituality journal and approximately 40 books each year, we also have four other core ministries:
- Foundations21 - an online discipleship resource;
- Messy Church - a way of being church for families and others based around welcome, crafts and art, celebration and eating together, which is successfully reaching people who would never normally come to church on Sunday;
- Barnabas Children's Ministry - resourcing children and families in churches and primary schools to explore the Bible and grow in faith; and
- Faith in Homes - resourcing children and families at home to explore Christianity and grow in faith.
Resourcing Christian discipleship
We're passionate about helping people to engage with the Bible and prayer, and about resourcing Christian discipleship.
Examples of this include:
- introducing and bringing to life stories from the Bible during a Barnabas RE Day in a primary school, or at a Messy Church, where many of those present could be hearing the stories for the very first time
- equipping children's leaders and primary school teachers to be more effective in their teaching of Christianity and the Bible, but also resourcing them for their own spiritual journeys ('ministering to the ministers')
- resourcing church leaders to encourage the spiritual growth and discipleship of their congregations, but also, as with children's leaders and teachers above, resourcing the church leaders themselves as Christian leaders
- resourcing individuals to grow as Christians - in their understanding, in their experience, and in their expression of their faith
Office, staff, trustees & funding
Based in Abingdon, England, BRF has a staff team of 29 working in its publishing and face-to-face ministries. It is governed by a Board of 18 Trustees, chaired by the Anglican Bishop of Dorchester, The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher.
BRF's publishing ministry is funded primarily through sales of publications; all other core ministries are funded through grants and donations from charitable trusts, churches and individuals.