Active service Gospel of St John from 1918, and a facsimile produced in 2014
Monday August 4 saw the centenary of Britain’s entry into World War One. On the day before, to mark the occasion, the church distributed a number of facsimiles of the Gospel of St John which was issued to troops by the Scripture Gift Mission between 1914 and 1918, and reproduced 100 years later by its successor organisation, SGM Lifewords.
The event sent Mari Colvin’s husband, Alec, searching through drawers and cupboards. His father, Alexander, was issued with a similar gospel by the National Bible Society of Scotland when he entered active service in 1918 … and Alexander passed the volume on to Alec when he in turn was called up for National Service in 1955.
• Copies of the facsimile are still available from SGM Lifewords order page.
