The Food Bank Arch® Book Program from Concordia Gospel Outreach (CGO) continues to create opportunities for churches to share God’s Word with families in their communities. While each participating location has its own story, a recent conversation with Rev. Dr. Stephen Krenz of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Columbia, Illinois, offered a meaningful glimpse into how these books are making an impact.
St. Paul’s operates a food pantry on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, serving families from the surrounding area. It’s a relatively small operation, with approximately ten to twelve families visiting during each distribution. Through the Food Bank Arch Book Program, the congregation also shares Arch Books with many of those families, typically placing Bible story books into the hands of six to eight households each time the pantry opens.
Recently, Pastor Krenz spoke with a young mother who had been visiting the church with her four-year-old child. The mother is not a member of the congregation and has had little involvement with a church community. Yet she made a point of approaching Pastor Krenz to express how grateful she was for the Arch Books her family had received.
The conversation stayed with him.
As the two talked, Pastor Krenz realized just how important the books had become to this family. Wanting to encourage them further, he went into the church’s storage area and selected three additional Arch Books for the mother and child to take home and read together.
What struck him most was the role those books were playing in the child’s life.
This is the only religious education her child is receiving, and it really is a connecting point to church for her and her child.
That observation highlights something many participating churches have seen through the program. While some families who receive Arch Books are already active in a congregation, others encounter these Bible stories for the first time through a food pantry, community meal program, or other outreach ministry.
For children, the books provide an introduction to key biblical accounts and the message of God’s love in Christ. For parents and grandparents, they create opportunities to read and talk about faith together. And for congregations like St. Paul’s, they often open the door to relationships that might not have formed otherwise.
Pastor Krenz noted that the books frequently serve as a bridge between the church and families who do not currently have a church home. A simple Bible story book can become a reason for a conversation, a return visit, or a growing interest in learning more about the Christian faith.
The story from St. Paul’s is also a reminder that the impact of a ministry isn’t always measured by its size. Their food pantry reaches a relatively small number of families each month, yet the connections formed through those visits can be significant and lasting.
That has been true throughout the Food Bank Arch Book Program.
What began in 2024 as an effort to place Christian children’s books alongside food distributions has continued to grow through the support of congregations, volunteers, and donors. Across the country, churches are finding that families gladly receive these books and often return asking for more. Some children bring the books to school. Some parents read them at bedtime. Others share them with relatives, neighbors, or friends.
While each participating ministry looks different, the goal remains the same: placing God’s Word into homes and communities through simple, accessible Bible story books.
At St. Paul’s, that reality became especially clear through the experience of one mother and her child. What began with a free book distributed through a food pantry became a source of Christian education, family conversation, and connection to a local congregation.
For Pastor Krenz, the significance of that moment wasn’t found in a dramatic event or a large crowd. It was found in the opportunity for a child to hear Bible stories and for a family with little church background to build a relationship with a church community.
Stories like this continue to emerge from participating ministries across the country. Through the faithful work of congregations and volunteers, Arch Books are introducing children to the stories of Scripture, encouraging families to read God’s Word together, and creating connections to local congregations.
At St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Columbia, those connections are being made one family, one conversation, and one Arch Book at a time.
A simple Bible story book became a source of Christian education, family conversation, and connection to a local congregation. Your gift helps make stories like this possible in communities across the country.