How it first began over 100 years ago...

In late nineteenth century England, Helen Cadbury was born into a wealthy Christian family. Her grandfather, John Cadbury, and great uncle, Benjamin Cadbury, had founded Cadbury, the great cocoa and chocolates company in Birmingham. Her father, Richard Cadbury, and uncle, George Cadbury, relocated the family?s expanding factory to a garden and recreational setting in Bournville, near Birmingham. Helen?s mother was always loving and understanding; her father was very kind and considerate.

In a family of eight children, three older brothers and two older sisters brought many interests into the lives of Helen and her younger sisters. Moseley Hall, their home for much of their lives, provided a romantic background for their varied activities. It had long underground cellars dating back three hundred years, and the fact that some of them had been used as prisons had a weird fascination for the young? people.

The walls of Mosely Hall were thick, so most of the rooms leading into one another had double doors, which afforded delightful nooks for hide-and-seek. The large estate was ringed with fields and woods beyond the lawns and flower gardens around the old house. A lake fringed with rushes, with its tree-shaded island, provided fishing and boating in summer and skating in winter. Richard Cadbury?s joy was to share all these lovely thing with others. Sunday school, Bible classes, Mothers? meetings and Christian workers of every denomination were frequent and welcome guests at Moseley Hall. There, the whole household met daily before breakfast for ten minutes of Bible reading and prayer.

When Helen was twelve years old, she went with her father one Sunday evening to a gospel meeting at the mission hall that he had built in one of the slum districts of Birmingham. She sat at the back of the hall, watching the mission members as they brought in people from the neighbourhood, all of them looking poor and hungry, many affected by alcohol. She was deeply impressed by what she saw that night. She knew that some of the mission people had once been just like the hopeless people whom they brought to the meeting; and yet tonight they were changed and were singing hymns with real joy and conviction. Something had dramatically changed their lives. Helen knew that it was the power of God.

The preacher finished his address and then asked all those who wished to publicly confess that they were putting their faith in Jesus Christ to stand up. Helen had been brought up by devoutly Christian parents, but she now understood that that in itself did not make her a Christian. She knew that Jesus Christ had died On the cross so that she might have eternal life and she now had to respond personally to what He had done for her. In her heart was a hunger, a desire to know God as her dear mother and father did. She stood up, along with several other people.

The heavy burden was gone and she could now confess herself as a Christian. From that day, she had a great purpose in life. She was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ now and her longing was to bring others to Him to receive the gift of everlasting life that He wanted to bestow She was only a beginner as a worker for Jesus, but there was a mission field right at hand. She knew she must start there, among the girls at school.

So Helen put a Bible in her desk. Beckoning to the last girl to leave the classroom to come and look, Helen showed her a text, saying ?whoever - that means everybody - that means you? She and another schoolgirl who was a believer in the Lord Jesus, prayed for their friends and led some to Christ. They discussed the difficulty of carrying a large Bible around with them in the playground, where the opportunities came more often than in the classroom. Gradually the idea came of always carrying in their pockets a small New Testament that they could use anywhere, anytime Later they formed themselves into a little organisation called ?The Pocket Testament League?. all members of which carried part of God?s Word with them, reading a portion of it daily and trying to lead others to Christ.

The full story of Helen Cadbury is far too tong and varied to be told here: how the American evangelists, Dr Torrey and Charles Alexander, famous in the early century around the world, came to England; and how the song-leader Charles Alexander fell in love with Helen Cadbury and married her: how the Pocket Testament League, first started by a schoolgirl in Birmingham, was revived and launched through the evangelistic campaigns and became the world-wide movement it is today.

But one thing stands out clearly: that God has a purpose for every life and that purpose can only be fulfilled when we yield to Him and humbly accept the forgiveness and new life He extends through His Son, Jesus Christ. Have you accepted what He offers? You can do so now, ?Here I am, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in? (Revelation 3:20).

If you have accepted, are you fulfilling His purpose for your life, to bring the knowledge of Him to others? You can start now. You can tell the people with whom you live, work or go to school with that ?Whoever? means everybody - it means you - and that "whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).