BIBLE banks have been set up in five churches in the West Midlands, to enable anyone who wants his or her own Bible or New Testament to have one for free.

The project was the initiative of the Black Country Mission, an ecumenical and voluntary organisation based in Cradley Heath Baptist Church, which appointed Britain’s first recorded black West Indian pastor, the Revd George Cosens, in 1837.

The Mission has so far given away 20,000 Bibles to homes, schools, and residential homes around Halesowen, and plans to distribute Bibles to everyone in the region by the end of 2021. It also hosts monthly open-air evangelism campaigns and healing services.