Welcome to SPCK, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Thomas Bray
On 8th March 1698 a group of five friends met at Lincoln’s Inn to prepare for the departure of one of their number for America. Thomas Bray, an Anglican priest, was to visit the colony of Maryland on behalf of the Bishop of London. Not knowing how long he would be away, the friends resolved to form a society to ensure that the many good works with which he was involved could continue in his absence.
The primary concern of the Society's founders was to “counteract the growth of vice and immorality”, which they ascribed to “gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian religion”. The main ways in which they felt the situation could be tackled were through encouraging education and the production and distribution of Christian literature. Through the work of SPCK, they hoped to build up a more learned clergy and to find ways of communicating the basic principles of the Christian faith to a wider audience, both in Britain and overseas.
In the event Bray only stayed in Maryland for a few months, but the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge which was formed that day is still active over three hundred years later. Over the years, SPCK has distributed over 30 million books and has provided the means for translating the Book of Common Prayer into more than 200 languages. SPCK sent the first printing presses to India, opened the first British schools for poor children, gave equal education to girls, sent the first printed books to Australia, established libraries for clergy and missionaries in many countries, and published the first Braille books.
An early SPCK publication
Thomas Bray believed passionately in the power of the printed word. At the Society’s second meeting, it was decided to print and distribute “Mr Keith’s Narrative and Catechism”. Since then SPCK has been continuously active as a publisher, making it the third oldest. English publishing house still operating today. Throughout the eighteenth century SPCK was by far the largest producer of Christian literature in Britain. The range of its output was considerable - from pamphlets aimed at specific groups such as farmers, prisoners, soldiers, seamen, servants and slave-owners, exhorting them to improve their way of life, to more general works on subjects such as baptism, confirmation, Holy Communion, the Prayer Book and private devotion.
Throughout the eighteenth century SPCK was also the catalyst for the spectacular growth of the charity school movement. The Society provided advice and encouragement to local groups to help them set up, finance and run many hundreds of schools. Although it had no formal authority, SPCK was widely regarded as the chief point of reference for all charity schools, producing model sets of rules, and providing a curriculum and examples of good practice for teachers and trustees establishing new schools. It was also responsible for setting up similar schools in America.
SPCK was forward-thinking, and it provided equal education for boys and girls. Although laying a basic knowledge of the Bible and Christian doctrine was its initial aim, the Society encouraged the development of a broadly based curriculum to equip children for their lives. As well as basic literacy, numeracy and Biblical knowledge, some schools therefore taught needlework, woodwork and other working skills.
In 1811, at a meeting of the Society, the National Society was established to take over SPCK’s responsibilities in this area. A more formal structure of authority and leadership, dedicated solely to educational matters, was needed to provide further impetus to the expansion of education on a national basis.
SPCK remained active in the educational sphere as a publisher and supplier of school text books and also through grants to establish teacher training colleges, new church schools, and a schools inspectorate. Today, the Society's publications include many books for students, and in the area of education also operates the Assemblies Website, which continues to provide both primary and secondary schools with valuable resources for daily assemblies, available as free downloads from the internet.
