Gideons International
Gideons International is the common German term for "The Gideons International ". The Gideons are an international association predominantly Protestant businessmen, founded in 1898 in the U.S.. End of August 2011, in 193 countries worldwide through 290,000 Gideons volunteers.
The headquarters of the International Gideon Federal is located in Nashville (Tennessee, USA), for Germany in Wetzlar.
Objectives
The aim of the association is to win people to Jesus Christ. This they are trying to achieve through the laying of Bibles and Bible sharing in hotels and guest houses, hospitals, schools, nursing homes and correctional facilities as well as through the free distribution of pocket Bibles to students, police officers, military personnel and nurses. The systems designed or passed Bibles to encourage people to read the Bible and arouse the curiosity of the " book of books ".
The cost of getting free passed Gideon Bibles are covered by donations from its members, from collections in churches and private patrons. The Gideons used claims to be 100 % of donated funds earmarked for the procurement and printing of Bibles; all administrative costs will fall by the volunteer Gideon himself.
In 2009 alone, over 80 million Bibles have been distributed in 84 languages of the world Gideons. The sixteen millionth Bible distributed in Germany received the 2006 Federal President Horst Köhler. By July 2011, 1.6 billion of which about 20 million Bibles in Germany have been distributed worldwide.
There are different variations of color and format of the Gideon Bible. The standard version is the green or blue pocket edition, and there are in Germany even a brown "Testimony Bible ," by Gideon members as a personal gift outside an official Bible disclosure (for example, in schools or the police, etc. ) is used ( private purchase by the respective member, not financed from donations ). Pocket Bibles in white cover are passed on to employees in the medical field. Then there is also a large format edition with blue cover - these are either the three - or four -language edition ( German, English, French, Italian ), which can be found in hotels, or to the output in large print, in doctors' surgeries, hospitals and nursing homes is designed. In the German-speaking the most widespread in Germany Bible translation is used, namely the revised Luther Bible of 1984 in the new German spelling rules.
The logo on the cover - a pitcher with a flame - is reminiscent of an episode from the victory of Gideon against the Midianites (Judges 7): His fighters are only armed with ram horns and empty pitchers, where are torches.
History
In 1898, look for the businessman John H. Nicholson of Janesville, Wisconsin ( USA), on a business trip a hotel room. In a hotel it with another guest ( Samuel E. Hill ) is offered due to overcrowding of the house to share a double room. Nicholson agrees. From the first conversation the two discover that they share a common Christian belief. Looking back on this encounter both later write that already this evening, the idea was born to start an association of Christian business.
On May 31, 1899 Nicholson and Hill found together with the merchant Will J. Knights an association of Christian commercial traveler, the nucleus of the later Federal Gideon. As namesake of the Old Testament Judge Gideon is chosen (see The Bible, the Book of Judges, chapters 6 and 7).
The mid-50s of the 20th century created a German and an Austrian branch of the Federal Gideon. In 1982, the German Gideon 's thesis is constituted as a self-employed National Association. Thus, the German Gideons of the American parent organization is both financially and organizationally largely independent.
Members
The members of the International Gideons are Christian businessmen, professionals, self-employed, civil servants, academics and their wives. Requirement is membership in a Protestant church, free church, community or congregation. You accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God and verbalinspiriertes as their sole basis of faith. The Gideons itself is not a separate church or ecclesial community and no publishing house, but only a common instrument of the mission.
There are basically men - if possible together with their wives, if they are committed to the same spiritual principles - Members called Gideon, the Gideons International. The wives of Gideons are under the umbrella of the international Gideon federal position in your own branch, referred to Gideon woman service, united, whose purpose is to support the Gideons in their service and Bibles in medical offices, dialysis centers, hospitals, nursing homes, the Red Cross to interpret or share in women's prisons, and shelters.
Common to the Gideon's and the women in the Gideon - woman service the inner willingness to be available to God, praying thoughtfulness of the work and testimony exemplary life and sharing of God's Word a concern.
Number of members