Giving the Word

Lifestyle/Technology: What should you do with old or damaged Bibles you no longer need? | Susan Olasky

What should you do with old or damaged Bibles you no longer need? Michigan-based Christian Resources International (CRI) suggests several ways to put them to use. Operation Bare Your Bookshelf allows you to send used Bibles in good condition to people who need them overseas. For $11 you can mail a package weighing up to 4 pounds directly abroad, to someone who has requested a Bible, using an address label and customs form prepared by CRI.

Fred Palmerton, CRI's volunteer director, notes that increased postal rates have made it costlier to send Bibles that way. So it's also possible for people with lots of Bibles and other Christian materials to mail them via cheaper "media mail" to CRI's warehouse. There, volunteers organize and process the materials, making them available to missionaries who come through or sending them by container to partner groups around the world. Palmerton says his organization sent about 500,000 lbs. of Christian books and materials abroad last year.