It is no good just saying that it is this situation that IBS-STL finds itself in that proves his point. That could be because the focus of the business is wrong – or the the focus of the mission is wrong. Not necessarily an off-kilter balance between the two.

And why did things go belly-up? Because of the attempt to create a “Global Enterprise System” for which the UK effectively became the dummy run. Yes, bad timing too and other factors that will no doubt come to light, but it’s Biblica themselves who are saying that the failed SAP implementation was the killer.

Why is it acceptable to prop up STL Distribution USA with the royalties from the NIV but not STL Distribution UK? Because that’s what they’re doing:

The financial health of the US organization is stronger, partly because of the 30+ year success of the NIV Bible which is owned by Biblica US, our parent company.

and whilst STL UK’s finances might not have been rock solid, they were certainly in good health until they were swallowed up into the IBS global mothership.

In my view, then, it most certainly is remiss of Biblica to have allowed things to reach this point. The analogy of a body, as cited by Geoff, is a good one. When one part of the body is injured then you do divert resources that would have otherwise been allocated to other parts to bring about healing.

In the meantime, my prayers — along with everyone else’s — are with those who find themselves to be part of the limb that’s being lopped off; and my prayer is that that limb will not die but survive to grow into something leaner, fitter and stronger…

I am just suggesting that to divert significant funds (a multi-million pound sum I guess) from that pledge is more complex than you are suggesting. It is absolutely a tragedy for all those people (including a lot of my friends) are facing such uncertainty. I know – I am still walking through this myself. But, it isn’t a simple solution to take all the charitable funds of an organisation from one country (where a promise on the spending them has been made) to support a financially struggling commercial enterprise in another, and I don’t think it is fair on the STL employees to insinuate that Biblica are remiss for not doing this.

My view is that an employer has a duty of care towards its employees — and when that employer is a supposedly Christian organisation that duty of care is even greater. A good number of staff at STL in Carlisle aren’t Christians — so what does the way Biblica are now treating them tell them about Christianity? What kind of mission is this that pulls the plug on people’s livelihoods in this way?

OK, so the search is on for a buyer or buyers — but they’ve been told in no uncertain terms that if no buyer is found, that’s it: administration kicks in. Meanwhile STL USA reassures everyone that its finances are secured by the license fees and royalties being paid by other organisations for the privilege of using the NIV …

As Simon says, can’t help thinking the balance between mission and business been lost somewhere along the line…

Absolutely, and I suspect there has been a significant level of support from the US. Although even if the number of Christian bookshops halved in the UK we would still have infinitely more access to scripture than most of the world.

In the US the ‘STL’ side of the business is pretty small compared to the ‘IBS’ side, and I do wonder if the US authorities would take a dim view of a not-for-profit organsiation using their money to sustain a commercial operation in the UK. I think the charity commissioners would feel the same about Biblica UK using profits from the UK to suport the US distrituion business (formerly Appaclachian), rather than for the charitable aims.

I may be wrong, but I think this will be a significant factor.

Also, the tie-up is much more than just the UK – the work of OM/STL in India was probably an important aspect.

I’m not answering that one way or the other, but I think that is the question that will be asked in Colorado Springs.