The Power of Littles

On the 18 May 1843, in Edinburgh, currently the home city of the Banner of Truth headquarters, there was a seismic event in the history of the church in Scotland. This was the day of the Disruption, when almost 500 ministers left the state supported Church of Scotland and formed the Free Church of Scotland.

Perhaps to the ears of many of us today that doesn’t sound so bad, but for the ministers and the congregations who left, it was to have huge implications. The minister’s homes were lost, the new church had no buildings, there were wages to be paid. There were missionaries across the world who needed supporting.

For many, it seemed hopeless. How could the finances be raised to build the church buildings, build the manses, and support the ministers and missionaries? But Thomas Chalmers, one of the leaders of the Free Church was not daunted by the task. He had a vision for the financing of the new church, a vision that he called the power of littles!

‘What if’ said Chalmers, ‘every family in our churches were to give 1 penny per week. What could be achieved?’ The ‘power of littles’ scheme was launched, much to the scepticism of many in the church. But the sceptics were proved spectacularly wrong – the success of the scheme was astonishing. Some gave large amounts, but the majority of the funds came in from lots of small amounts, ‘the littles’. Within a year something like 470 churches had been built, a training college established (with premises built by 1850), and missionaries funded.

In another website article, you can read about partnering in prayer with the trustees and staff of the Banner of Truth as we seek to provide the premises that are needed for taking the work of the Banner into a new chapter.

With the support of people like you, who read our web articles, buy our books, come to our conferences, listen to our podcast, read the magazine and support the work of the Book Fund, over the last 69 years, the ministry of the Banner has been an integral part of the Christian life of many Christians and churches around the world. We give thanks to the Lord that he has been pleased to bless the work of the Trust and provide for the work over these many years.

Those of us who work at the the Banner of Truth recognize that the work is not just about the staff who have laboured over the years, but it is also about you, about those who have supported the work in so many ways.

As you read, you might be asking what is the relevance of Thomas Chalmers and the power of littles? In the article referred to above, which is a call to prayer, and also elsewhere on the website you will see numbers quoted for the funds that are needed to put in place the facilities that are desperately required for the next chapter of the work of the Banner. And they are large numbers; just as the figures were large in the early days of the Free Church.

Let’s put some round numbers to things. If we need $12M that sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but it is the cost of 2026 construction projects. But what does that break down to in ‘the power of littles’ thinking? It’s 10,000 donations of $1,200. And that sounds like a different proposition.

We have many, many more people on our mailing lists than that, many more people than that who buy our books, and there are thousands of churches across the world who have been part of the story of the Banner of Truth. And you are probably one of them. Can you pray for us?

If people like you are praying for this project, is it too much to expect that our bountiful God could move 10,000 churches, organizations, and individuals to provide $1,200 of funding? Of course, there will be people/churches who may be able to contribute far beyond that, which would be a wonderful provision. And there will no doubt be many who are not able to contribute anything financially. If that is you, we understand that, but we covet your partnership in prayer. Whatever you are able to do, you can play a vital part.

The power of littles!