A Call to Prayer – The Next Chapter

Author

Category Announcements

Date April 13, 2026

The staff and trustees of the Banner of Truth are calling on our supporters to join with us in prayer for the next chapter of the work of the Banner of Truth.

At various times in history, nations and churches have issued calls to prayer, often in times of crisis. Whatever the rights and wrongs of these events, it is unquestionably the case that the Christian should be a praying person, and the church should be a living, praying organisation.

The Lord Jesus Christ himself taught his disciples how to pray, and God has seen fit to record that for us in the Scriptures. We have examples of Christ’s prayers (John 17, Luke 22) for our instruction, and there are many places in the Gospels where he tells his disciples to pray. In Acts we have descriptions of the early church and what they were doing – ‘they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers’ – prayer was a key part of the early church.

In Acts 4 we have the believers praying for boldness in proclaiming the gospel, and when Ananias was told to go to find Saul/Paul, what did the Lord say to him? – ‘look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold he is praying’. Praying should be a natural part of the life of a Christian, it’s why Paul ends his description of the whole armour of God in Ephesians 6 with ‘praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication’. Then there is also that well-known passage at the end of James on the prayer of faith.

Prayer was part of the DNA of the early church, and so it should be for us today.

There are multiple places in the New Testament where Paul asks for others to pray for him and the work of the gospel. Examples would be Romans 15:30-32, Ephesians 6:18-20, 2 Corinthians 1:11, Philemon 1:22, and 1 Thessalonians 5:22 where he simply writes, ‘Brothers, pray for us’.

And at this time in the history of the work of the Banner of Truth Trust, the trustees and the staff of the Banner are simply taking the example of Paul and saying ‘brothers and sisters, pray for us.’

We know that there are many people around the world who do already pray for the work of the Trust, but at this time we want to bring a particular need to you for your prayers.

Summary – The Next Chapter Project

There is a pressing need for a new headquarters building for the Banner of Truth in Edinburgh. Much has been done already, but we now need to raise the necessary finances to see the project to completion.

We are asking people like you to pray for the project. Our particular prayer requests are listed below in this article.

And we are asking people like you, where possible, to consider financial contributions to the project. Details of how to donate are listed below.

Read on for more information on this Next Chapter…..

A Bit of History

It is nearly 70 years since the Banner of Truth was founded, and a little over 50 years since the Banner of Truth headquarters moved into its current premises in Edinburgh, Scotland.

From its humble beginnings in the 1950s the founders, Iain Murray, Jack Cullum, had a vision to make available the great truths of God that were to be found in the classic Christian books of the past – books that had enduring value but had become unavailable and out of print.

As the founders embarked on this venture, they probably had little idea of how God was to use their efforts in the coming years.

Along with other influences and people , the ministry of the Banner was used by God as part of a remarkable return to the ‘old paths’ of Christian truth. As men and women were once again able to read the writings of the Reformers, the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards, Ryle, Spurgeon and others, there was a renewed interest in biblical Reformed theology and a renewed understanding of how that affects Christian living, affects the church, and indeed, affects the proclamation of the gospel.

That renewal started off in the UK and US, and it spread to other countries too. For instance, Conrad Mbewe speaks about the impact of Banner of Truth books in his own life and how they played a part in the reformation of the church in Zambia.

There are many people who testify to the impact of the Banner of Truth on their lives. The following quote is from Sinclair Ferguson, who many readers will be familiar with.

Ever since, as a teenager, I happened on my local library’s copy of C. H. Spurgeon’s The Early Years, books published by the Banner of Truth Trust have been the soundtrack of my life. The same is true of friends whose ministries have shaped congregations and in some cases, an entire generation. We thank God for prompting, providing for, and blessing the vision of the trust founders, Iain Murray and Jack Cullum, in the nineteen fifties.

From those early beginnings of the first books and the magazine, the ministers’ and youth conferences developed. The work of the Book Fund grew from the early 1960s and through that endeavour hundreds of thousands of books have gone all around the world to needy places. And then more recently things like the podcast have been added in to the ongoing work of the Banner.

As we look back we can clearly see the hand of God guiding and blessing the work. Something like 20 million books have been distributed, and we have around 900 currently in print. Over two million magazines have gone out, and it is almost impossible to number the ministers, young people, and others who have attended our conferences.

The work of the Banner is multigenerational – the grandson of a man who was at the first Banner of Truth ministers’ conference is now in ministry and attends the conference. We now have men speaking at the Banner Youth Conferences who used to attend when they were young people, and now their children come along to the conference – we don’t think that we have seen grandchildren yet, but that is perhaps only 5 or 6 years away.

People Like You and the Hope for the Future

People like you reading this article are the people who have enabled the work of the Banner. You are the people who have been coming to Banner conferences, reading Banner books and magazines, visiting the website, listening to the podcast, subscribing to our mailings, and following Banner on social media. It is people like you, who over the years, have prayed for the ongoing work of the Banner. It is your work every bit as much as it is the work of our staff – you are a part of this story.

As we look to the future, we pray that the Lord will keep us faithful, keep us ever mindful that it is his work and not ours; as the psalmist says, we may labour but he is the one who builds the house. And our prayer is that our children, our grandchildren and, if the Lord tarries, future generations when we are long forgotten will know a Christian life with the Banner of Truth present.

It is our prayer that new generations of Christians will have their lives shaped by the biblical wisdom and practical theology of the Reformers and Puritans – those truths that are contained in Banner of Truth literature – whether that be books from the sixteenth century or the twenty-first century – and preached at our conferences. It is those truths that are the heartbeat of the Banner work and are the things that people like you have grown to appreciate and value.

The Present Need

The hope for the future that we have just described, presents us with a challenge in the present.

We have been in our current premises for over fifty years, and they have been a God-given provision. But now, as the work of the Banner has grown, and as we look forward to the next chapter of the work and ministry of the Banner, we have recognised that the current facilities are no longer suitable; indeed, they have become a limiting factor on the growth of the work. A new facility has been designed to address these problems.

The current office is no longer suitable for a twenty-first century publishing operation, and it cannot be modified to address that. Some of the facilities that we need to operate, we just don’t have, and lack of office space for daily activities has become a limiting factor in our work.