Scripture Union USA Annual Report Fiscal Year 2010-11

8/6/2019 Scripture Union USA Annual Report Fiscal Year 2010-11

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A NNUAL R EPORTFor Fiscal Year July 1, 2010–June 30, 2011

BBIBLEIBLE EENGAGEMENTNGAGEMENT



Dear Friend of Scripture Union,

With gratitude to God, we offer this report of Scripture Union USA’s ministry for the fiscal year July 1,

2010–June 30, 2011. God has greatly blessed Scripture Union and we can only say, in humility, “Not to

us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness” (Psa. 115:1).

Bible Engagement, helping people of all ages take in and live out God’s Word, is the core of SU’s

ministry. Scripture Union’s Bible Engagement Ministry for adults is centered on publication of daily

Bible reading guides ( Discovery and Encounter with God ) and the Essential programs (Essential 100

and Essential Jesus). This ministry continues to engage more and more people in God’s Word each day,

especially through the E100 and now the Essential Jesus Bible reading programs.

Bible engagement for children takes place primarily through the PrimeTime after-school outreach and

SuperKids, SU’s summer outreach program. Both minister primarily to urban, at-risk children and, as this

report shows, are continuing to grow in scope and impact. In addition, the new Pittsburgh/Great Lakes

regional office will soon expand SU’s Bible engagement ministry to both children and adults even more.

Although the economic climate is still challenging, the Financial Overview will show that God has blessed

Scripture Union financially in the past year. An audited financial statement is available on request.

As we look back over God’s blessings this past year, we can only affirm again what the psalmist said:

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness.”

Roger Sonstroem Whitney T. Kuniholm

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Executive Committee:

Roger Sonstroem, Chairman

Frank Taylor, Vice Chairman

E.J. Rittersbach, Secretary

Steven Ross, Treasurer

Frank Barker

Bradley DeForest

Patricia Dunbar

William T. Ensslen

Paula George

Beverley Grant

Gordon Haresign

D. Christopher Miller

Bruce Poulterer

Betty Purchase

Thomas Riley

Sara Robertson

Ronda Shelton

Allen Swann

David W. Young, III

Roger Sonstroem,

SU USA Board Chairman

Whitney T. Kuniholm,

SU USA President

SU USA Board of Directors

Scripture Union USA • P.O. Box 215 • Valley Forge, PA 19481-0215 • www.ScriptureUnion.org



Bible Engagement Ministry

From its very beginning, Scripture Union’s ministry has focused on“Bible Engagement”: helping people of all ages read and interactwith the Bible so that it shapes their daily lives. That ministry is carriedout through the publication and distribution of daily Bible reading

guides (Discovery and Encounter with God for adults, Snapshots forchildren), programs to introduce people to the Bible and aid them inreading through it (The Essential 100 and The Essential Jesus) andministries to introduce children to God’s Word and Jesus Christ(PrimeTime and SuperKids).

Bible Engagement for Adults

Each quarter during the past fiscal year, SU distributed 34,500 printeddaily Bible reading guides and saw a steady increase in those who re-ceive the guides on-line (to a current total of 15,000 daily).

Recognizing the need to continuously improve andextend the reach of its Bible engagement materials,Scripture Union unveiled, in January, 2010, a completere-design of its flagship daily Bible reading guides,Discovery and Encounter with God . It was the first suchre-design in 25 years. A web-based survey allowedreaders to offer comments on the new format, and thosecomments were incorporated in subsequent publications. The book-lets are now much more appealing to the eye and easier to read—

although the content remains the same in-depth, reliable Bible-centered material as always.

The Global Ministry of the “Essential” Programs

The Essential 100® (E100) is Scripture Union’s popular read-through-the Bible program. Since its introduction, God hasused the Essential 100 (E100) Challenge to help people inthis country and around the world get the “big picture” ofthe Bible and develop the practice of daily Bible reading and prayer.Over 2,000 churches in this country and many more around the worldhave taken the E100 Challenge. In addition, organizations such as theAmerican Bible Society, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Associationand others have printed special editions of the E100 Bible readingschedule to use with their own constituencies.

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In some cases, entire geographical groups of churches took theE100 Challenge together year last year. In Pittsburgh, the entireAnglican Diocese (48 churches and 5000 congregants), at therequest of their Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan , began theE100 last September and will finish it at the end of August, 2011.Similarly, the 120 churches of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, NY,

took the E100 Challenge during the 2010 Lenten season.

In the past year, the E100 was also in use in Australia, New Zealand,Portugal, South Africa, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada,Jamaica, Peru, Argentina and the Solomon Islands. Plans andpreparations are underway to introduce the E100 to China,Norway and France, also.

Momentum began to build this past year for theEssential Jesus Challenge, also. It features 100 Bible pas-sages that take a person through the Bible’s greatest

story, the story of Jesus. It is quickly becoming the pre-ferred follow-up to the E100 and is already in use inmany churches in this country. It began in May in New Zealand (inover 150 churches), which had a very successful nationwide E100campaign in 2009-10, involving over 20% of the nation’s churches.

Children’s E100

The Big Bible Challenge, a children’s version of the E100,was released at the end of the fiscal year and is meeting

with such demand that it is already in itssecond printing. This colorfully illustrated, 128 page bookcan be used by parents, grandparents or other adults work-ing with children ages 6 – 13 and is ideally suited for home-schoolers, Christians schools and Sunday Schools. Work hasalso begun on E100 versions for youth and for couples.These additional resources will enable Scripture Union tohelp many more people here and around the world—especially the next generation—“meet God every day in theBible and prayer.”

New, Expanded Web Ministry

Last Fall, SU unveiled an entirely new, website that provides usersquicker and easier access to SU’s many Bible reading resources—and is more visually appealing, also. All the familiar SU resourceswere still available but some important new ones were added.

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Now, Encounter with God users are able to download theEncounter with GodExtra weekly group discussion questions directlyfrom the site at no charge (DiscoveryExtra has been available for freedownload for over a year). In addition, two seasonal Bible readingguides, Journey to the Cross (for Lent) and Journey to

Bethlehem (for Advent) were made available by daily email. That

so many people chose to receive these guides speaks to theusefulness of these web-based resources in helping people growin faith during special seasons of the year. There are plans tointroduce at least one more of these seasonal guides in the yearahead.

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Bible Engagement for Children

The SuperKids® Outreach Ministry

The SuperKids outreach continued its growth and effective-ness this past year. During the summer of 2010, 90 SuperKids

outreach missions (up from 81 in 2009—a 10% increase) were held inmajor urban areas and beach resorts all across the country. The programsfeature Bible stories, skits, small group Bible studies, games, contests andprizes. Overall, there were more than 30,000 daily participating children.The curriculum, “Good News for You”, was based on the Gospel of Lukeand designed around a lively “Action News” format that explained the“Good News” about Jesus in a fast moving, child-friendly manner. SU’sregional field staff coordinate and provide training for SuperKids

missions.

One of the most significant features of the SuperKids program in 2010

was the survey that was conducted by the Barna Group, a nationally re-spected research firm. Both the children (mostly at-risk, urban children)who attended SuperKids and the adult volunteer staff were surveyed.The results of the program, 85% of the children felt more loved by Godand over 80% said they learned new things about God and Jesus.

Key Barna Finding #1:At-Risk Children Want to Follow Jesus

Other results reported by Barna showed that77% of the children attending learned moreabout the Bible and nearly 80% say theydiscovered that they want to follow Jesus.Three-quarters reported that they learnedright from wrong and how to stay out oftrouble. In fact, the Barna report stated that“without exception, every single beliefabout Jesus that was tested among theprogram participants experienced anincrease from pre-test to post-test results.”

What motivated the children to attend SuperKids? About seven out often “heard that it was a lot of fun.” That positive feeling about theprogram largely remained after it was over, with two-thirds describingSuperKids as a “fun place to hang out” and “a good place to make newfriends.”

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Research affirms that children both learn a lot and

have a lot of fun at SuperKids missions.



Key Barna Finding #2:

Committed Volunteers Make the Difference

The children’s reactions to attendingSuperKids were strongly affirmed bythe adult volunteer staff, also.Barna’s research found that 75% ofadult leaders and volunteer staff feltthat SuperKids makes Bible learningfun for children. Over 80% said thatSuperKids helps children know moreabout Jesus. In fact, Barna concludedthat “The highest rating ofSuperKids attributes…from leadersand volunteers was regarding theprogram’s ability to help childrenlearn more about Jesus.”

In the summer of 2011, the SuperKidscurriculum will be “Who is Jesus?,” based on the Gospel of John.

The PrimeTime Outreach Ministry

PrimeTime is Scripture Union’s Bible-based after school outreach toprimarily urban, at-risk children. It, too, continued a steady growth in scopeand impact. This past school year there were 105 PrimeTime outreachprograms (up from 88 the year before) in 20 states around the country incities from New York City to Philadelphia to Dallas and the Seattle, WA area.Approximately 2200 children were involved in PrimeTime each week.

Each year brings new reports of the significantimpact that PrimeTime has on lives of thechildren who attend. One such exciting reportcame from a Salvation Army sponsoredPrimeTime in Philadelphia. The staff theresaid “We first met Ebony in the summer of 2010.Ebony is eleven years old and came to our sum-mer Vacation Bible School on her own. She was

extremely shy and quiet when we first met her.She would rarely speak or make eyecontact with adults. There was a sadnessreflected in Ebony’s face that caused us towonder about her life outside of our building.

When PrimeTime began this fall, Ebony was among the first to register andhas had very consistent attendance ever since.

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SuperKids volunteers give themselves to children and

make a real difference in many young lives.

These are just some of the children who learn

God’s Word each week in PrimeTime.

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Before long, she began speaking more and smiling more, too. One of thetimes we always hear Ebony speak up is when reciting memory verses. Intime, Ebony accepted Jesus Christ and began attending church services andSunday School. Most recently, Ebony completed six weeks of classes de-signed for junior church membership in The Salvation Army.” God usedthat PrimeTime program to work wonderfully in the life of that young girl!

The comments of young David (seven years old) are another example ofthe impact of PrimeTime on the life of a child. David attends a PrimeTime

in White Plains, NY near New York City.Here’s what he said: “My experience atPrimeTime is real cool and fun because Ilearn a lot about God. SometimesI will help the other kids turn to the rightpassage in the Bible. I like the stories wedo because when we read them I wouldsometimes learn more and more aboutGod. It makes me happy when I see kids

reading the Bible and listening to thestory.” David is not only learning moreabout God and his Word but the joy ofhelping other children learn that, too.

The PrimeTime curriculum provides lessons for a full 40 week school year.A typical PrimeTime program includes not only a Bible lesson, butrecreation, snacks, singing and homework help.

Regional Expansion

During the past year, the ground work was laid for opening the new

Pittsburgh/Great Lakes Region early in fiscal year 2011-12. Pittsburgh willserve as the regional headquarters and hub for future expansionthroughout Southwestern PA and other neighboring states.Pittsburgh/Great Lakes will join the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and SouthCentral regions as bases for spreading the ministry of SU around thecountry. Future plans call for 7-8 regional offices.

The first major effort in the new region isexpected to begin in the latter part of 2011and continue through 2013. Theobjective is to promote and launch a City-

wide Bible Reading Initiative involvinghundreds of churches and helping thou-sands of people experience the Bible’s lifechanging message. This includes a specificfocus to reach the introduce at-riskchildren, who are outside the orbit of thechurch, to the Bible and God's love.Leaders of many of the major area denominationsare expected to participate in this initiative.

PrimeTime staff not only teach God’s love for children

but they demonstrate it, too.

Regional Ministry Strategy

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ÍPittsburgh

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Financial Overview

We thank God for the faithful prayers and support of individualmembers and partners who stand with us to “help people meetGod every day.” Scripture Union is committed to maintain thehighest standards in all areas of our ministry and especially to

demonstrate to a watching world that our financial management isconducted with godly integrity and the highest of ethical conduct.

Our commitment to integrity is demonstrated by:

• Continuous membership in ECFA (Evangelical Councilfor Financial Accountability) since its inception 30years ago.

• An annual independent financial audit. The auditedfinancial statements are available upon request.

We are also committed to using every dollar as effectively aspossible to further the mission and ministry of Scripture Union.

Financial Results

Despite the challenging economic conditions during this period,Scripture Union finished the Fiscal year 2011 with a surplus of$177,056. This is, indeed, a great blessing from God and we canonly say again, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be

the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."

Following are charts and figures which outline SU’s finances forthe recently completed fiscal year. For a copy of the AuditedFinancial Statement, please email [email protected] or call1-800-621-LAMP (5267), ext. 405

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Income For Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2011

$2,525,526

Expenses for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2010

$2,348,470

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34%

22%

31%

7%

6%

Bible Reading Ministry

Children's and RegionalMinistry

International Ministry

Fundraising and Development

General and Administrative

26%

13%

8%

29%

24%

Gifts and Memberships

Sales and other income

Regional Fund Raising andSupportGrants and Special Projects

Gifts for SU Around the World

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About Scripture Union

History and Mission

Scripture Union began in 1867 when a young Englishman named JosiahSpiers took the “radical” step of sharing God’s Word with children on a

beach. A few years later, a volunteer named Annie Marsten printed listsof Bible passages for the children to read after the beach missions.Soon, over 500,000 children around the world were reading the Bible inScripture Union groups.

From that small beginning, Scripture Union has expanded to 130 na-tional movements worldwide, each with indigenous leadership and thesame two-fold mission: a) To encourage people of all ages to meet Goddaily through the Bible and prayer, and b) To make God’s Good Newsknown to children, young people and their families.

In the United States

Scripture Union/USA began in 1959 and is located in Valley Forge, PA.Over the years, in addition to publishing Bible reading guides for allages, Scripture Union/USA has developed an innovative set of outreachprograms designed to reach the uniquemission field in the United States.

• SuperKids®. A program for creatively presenting the

Good News of Jesus and God’s Word to un-churchedchildren, wherever they are.

• PrimeTime®. A Bible-based after school program for

at-risk children, developed in partnership with

The Salvation Army.

• The Essential 100 Challenge™. A church-wide Bible

reading program using 100 selected passages to

give the Bible’s “big picture.”

• The Essential Jesus Challenge™. A church-wide Bible

reading program telling the story of Jesus from both

Old and New Testaments.

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P.O. Box 215

Valley Forge, PA 19481-0215

www.ScriptureUnion.org

1-800-621-LAMP (5267)

W W HATHAT CCHRISTIANHRISTIAN LLEADERSEADERS A A RERE SS AYING AYING

About…Scripture Union

• Billy Graham – “I am totally, completely and forever a Scripture Union man.”

• Luis Palau – “Scripture Union made me realize the importance of the word of God.”

• John Stott – “Scripture Union taught me the discipline of daily Bible reading.”

• N. T. Wright – “I wouldn’t be the person I am today without…Scripture Union.”

• Jill Briscoe – “I heartily endorse this ministry”

About…The Essential 100 Challenge

• Christianity Today – “E100 provides an excellent overview of God’s big picture.”

• Charles W. Colson – “I am encouraged by E100. Many will be helped by the choice of texts.”

• John Guest – “Spectacular introduction to the great passages and characters of the Bible.”

• Eugene Habecker – “E100 helps you enjoy going through the entire message of the Bible.”

Scripture Union USA Annual Report Fiscal Year 2010-11

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