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Kember Scripture Prints
Updated
9/23
I
first posted this page around 2008 (I can't recall the
date). Since that time every few months I get an email
with photos from someone who found a Kember print and
googled it and came across this page. Thanks for sending
them and continue to do so.
Walter
Kember was a Canadian who prepared prints of Scripture
verses, had them framed and distributed them all over
the world. Some of our readers have seen these prints.
I have several of them and have seen them in churches
and businesses wherever I have lived, although I
suppose they are most common in Canada and the
northeast USA. They are framed in simple pine with
this stamped inscription on a piece of cardboard
from a salvaged box on the back. (In fact this
inscription proves their authenticity!)
Walter Kember saw it as his ministry to
freely prepare and distribute these Scriptures as a
witness and blessing to others. Several years ago I
received an email from his grandson with this very
interesting note: "He
made over 4 million of those Bible verse texts, they
are still available today. I am working on writing a
paper on his ministry. The amount of glass panes he
used for the texts is 3.9 million Square Feet!
Equivalent to the area of 80 football fields! The
amount of framing wood he used stretches over 3,000
miles!"
In November 2014 I received this note from his son: "I just happened to put my father's name into search and was a little surprised to actually come across as much information as you have disclosed about the near lifelong work that he was engaged in. In reading it, many memories were brought to me. For instance if we ever wanted to find my father we could always find him in the shop were the texts were made. Also as children (he had 9) we always knew that it was important to keep busy at something and not be caught idle or we would end in the text factory for the rest of the day. Actually as I look back at it he did something that he was specially gifted to do. I thought that you might be interested in hearing from one who knew him personally. Yours by God's grace" - Dan Kember, South West Fence & Decks Lt
I received this note with more info about Walter Kember's ministry: "I read with great interest the article about Walter Kember. I used to be friends with his daughter, Karen! We attended the Plymouth Brethren for a period of five years, while I was age 13-18, and helped make the plaques he was making at that time for the people attending. They were made of plaster of paris and he needed help painting the letters of the verse white so they would show up on the colored background. That's what I did. He was also making the simple framed plaques that you spoke of, but mailed those out to people outside the Sarnia group because they were much cheaper to mail out that way. Wow! Small world huh!"
I found this note in an article on the history of Gospel Preaching in Canada. "A weekly Gospel meeting has been held in the home of one of the believers for the past twelve years until now. "Kember texts" are being assembled there. This great work has been used of God to spread the message through many parts of the world and the brethren in Neguac had the privilege to be part of that work which began with our late brother, Mr. Walter Kember from Sarnia, Ontario."
In November 2014 I received this note from his son: "I just happened to put my father's name into search and was a little surprised to actually come across as much information as you have disclosed about the near lifelong work that he was engaged in. In reading it, many memories were brought to me. For instance if we ever wanted to find my father we could always find him in the shop were the texts were made. Also as children (he had 9) we always knew that it was important to keep busy at something and not be caught idle or we would end in the text factory for the rest of the day. Actually as I look back at it he did something that he was specially gifted to do. I thought that you might be interested in hearing from one who knew him personally. Yours by God's grace" - Dan Kember, South West Fence & Decks Lt
I received this note with more info about Walter Kember's ministry: "I read with great interest the article about Walter Kember. I used to be friends with his daughter, Karen! We attended the Plymouth Brethren for a period of five years, while I was age 13-18, and helped make the plaques he was making at that time for the people attending. They were made of plaster of paris and he needed help painting the letters of the verse white so they would show up on the colored background. That's what I did. He was also making the simple framed plaques that you spoke of, but mailed those out to people outside the Sarnia group because they were much cheaper to mail out that way. Wow! Small world huh!"
I found this note in an article on the history of Gospel Preaching in Canada. "A weekly Gospel meeting has been held in the home of one of the believers for the past twelve years until now. "Kember texts" are being assembled there. This great work has been used of God to spread the message through many parts of the world and the brethren in Neguac had the privilege to be part of that work which began with our late brother, Mr. Walter Kember from Sarnia, Ontario."
I've had this Kember print practically since I began my ministry in the seventies.
What a solemn reminder from our Lord!
This Kember print hangs in my brother's office in the Lehigh Valley.
Another print I have
I received this photo on July 1, 2014 from Zion Illinois (near Chicago) that had hung in a Christian school.
This Kember print was received 6/18/14 with this note: "I recently purchased this print at my local Goodwill store and I absolutely had to get it!! I researched the name on the back of the print to know more about it and came across your website.
This print was found at a local thrift store here in Chattanooga, TN. "I've attached a copy of the front & back of the print so you know it's a Kember. I love vintage & even more, I love the Word of God. This verse is actually one of my life verses, so I was all the more excited to find it! Grace, it's all God's grand grace & this verse encapsulates the Word & God's provision for us. Blessed man to print these out & share His message with the world! I would love any updates to the montage."
I received the above photo from Phil who grew up in the Chicago land area. He sent me this on April 18, 2014. "This hung in my father's office as long as I can remember. It has been in my office now for 5 years. A reminder at what price we were bought, and also that we are covered by His blood and able to withstand the trials of this world."
Received 7/21/14 with this note: "I came across this print at my local Goodwill today. I was thinking if repurposing it until I read your article. To know the story behind it makes it irreplaceable. Thank you for the information. I will definitely cherish it for many years to come."
Received in March 2016 (location unknown)
Found at a thrift shop in Burlington Ontario and received 8/19/17
"I found these prints together at a bazaar sale of a Christian organization in Burlington, Ontario about three years ago. I loved the printed Scriptures and appreciated their simplicity. I knew they were special then and I hope I come across another one someday. They both hang on a wall as you enter our family room."
Found at a thrift shop in Burlington Ontario and received 8/19/17
A Deb sent this to me in September 2017 taken in the Tendercrop Farm bathroom in Newbury Massachusetts. (Sent very low resolution but used since it's the first John 14:6 Kember print I have seen.)
I have another print of this Scripture above but found the placement rather interesting! (Another photo from the Tendercrop Farm bathroom.)
Received February 2018 from Brian from Lebanon, PA who writes, "My father has numerous Scripture mottos that he got from Walter Kember (he stopped at Walter's home in Ontario in the 1990’s and visited, very encouraging testimony and work)."
Received May 2018 from Natalie which see found at a Goodwill in Central Kentucky.
Received
12/31/18
Hi there
found the attached Kember print hanging over the front
door of a wee old house we had purchased to knock down
and build our new home on. The house had been
unoccupied for nearly 20 years and as Christians we
wanted to retain something from the old house and this
was worth saving. On reading the print on the back we
came upon your web page. We live in Northern Ireland.
Received
5/22/19
"I bought
these at the Salvation Army in Bracebridge, ON for $1
each."
Received
5/22/19
"I bought these at the Salvation Army in Bracebridge, ON for $1 each."
"I bought these at the Salvation Army in Bracebridge, ON for $1 each."
In
September 2023 I received the following photos of these
three Kember prints I hadn't seen before.
Thank you
for your family's work with these verses. We were in a
Bible study with Mike and Karen Dickman in St Louis in
the 1980s when I heard of this ministry. I have six and
these three were not on your website.
I had them on the wall in every room of my house in St Louis. I remember a visit from my brother who said, "You don't need a Bible because you can walk around the house and read it on the wall."
I had them on the wall in every room of my house in St Louis. I remember a visit from my brother who said, "You don't need a Bible because you can walk around the house and read it on the wall."
Tom from
Anderson, Indiana 9/21/23
Please send an email to this address with the photo as a .jpg attachment. In subject line put "Kember print" and specify where you are from and if you want to tell the story behind it or how it has been meaningful to you. I am especially looking for prints of Scripture verses I don't have above.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
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