TikTok vicar sends out Bibles for free

A vicar has sent out more than 3,140 free Bibles on request after an impromptu offer he made on TikTok blew up his inbox.

In May last year, the Reverend David Sims from St Thomas Church in Aldridge, Walsall, put out "a ridiculous video" offering free Bibles to anyone who asked.

"I made up a little song which was, if you want a Bible, message me for a free one," he said.

He woke up the next morning to find himself inundated by requests. "I think I had about 500 messages overnight," he said. "It had tens of thousands of views. It just went on like that for a good few weeks."

Keen to not turn anyone away, his church sprang into action.

"We started doing a weekly Bible packing party every Monday morning," Sims said, adding the books are blessed as they are packed.

Volunteers dispatch them with a handwritten note and a booklet pointing recipients towards their closest Alpha or introduction to Christianity course.

While the church paid for some of the books, the volume of requests made it necessary to start a crowdfunding page, which has raised more than £10,500 in just under a year.

The vicar has had requests from as far afield as Africa and Asia, and although finances do not allow to him to respond to requests from abroad, he will try and link those users to local churches.

While each Bible costs around £3-£4 to source, it is important to him that they are of good quality.

"If this is the first Bible someone gets, we want them to feel valued and we want them to have a good gift from us," he said.

Sims receives scores of messages of thanks, with some particularly memorable.

"One I had was saying, 'my Bible arrived on the day of my mother's funeral and that means so much to me'. This person was really searching in the midst of grief."

He believes something is "stirring", and more people are becoming interested in faith and spirituality.

"I just think it's really exciting. I think the assumption is that the bible is outdated and Christianity is dusty and church is boring," he said.

"But that's just not what I'm seeing."

The vicar started using TikTok during lockdown and has since seen his account praised by MPs, but said he did not start with a clear strategy.

"I just did it because a friend of mine said you'll be good on TikTok as you're good at doing silly things," he said.

He now does a TikTok church each Sunday, "ask me anything" sessions, and enjoys clerical debates with other users.

"To begin with, I didn't really know what I was doing," he said. "I think now my aim on TikTok is just really to tell people about Jesus and if they end up at a church that's great.

"I'm not going on there to advertise St Thomas's church ministry. It's not about that.

"I go on there shamelessly to plug Jesus."

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