The Wordless Book is an amazing tool for sharing the gospel. The simple colors help us to remember the vital truths from the Word of God so we can clearly communicate them with others. But where did the Wordless Book come from?

Charles Spurgeon and the 3-Page Wordless Book

Though many have attributed the invention of this little book to Charles Spurgeon, the famous London preacher claims he got it from an elderly pastor. In a sermon titled “The Wordless Book” on January 11, 1866, Spurgeon introduced his message with these words:

“I daresay you have most of you heard of a little book which an old divine used constantly to study, and when his friends wondered what there was in the book, he told them that he hoped they would all know and understand it, but that there was not a single word in it. When they looked at it, they found that it consisted of only three leaves; the first was black, the second was red, and the third was pure white. The old minister used to gaze upon the black leaf to remind himself of his sinful state by nature, upon the red leaf to call to his remembrance the precious blood of Christ, and upon the white leaf to picture to him the perfect righteousness which God has given to believers through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ his Son. I want you, dear friends, to read this book this evening…”1

Spurgeon went on to share the gospel using just the three pages. The Wordless Book grew in popularity as a result of this prominent preacher using it.

D. L. Moody and the 4-Page Wordless Book

About a decade later in 1875, American evangelist Dwight L. Moody added the gold page to the end of the Wordless Book. Gold represented the glory of Heaven and logically provided the conclusion to the preceding black, red, and white pages. Those who admitted their sin and believed on Jesus would go to heaven just as God promised.

Many influential Christian leaders followed Spurgeon’s and Moody’s lead and began using the Wordless Book. Soon, this method of sharing the gospel spread around the world.2 Those who used it included:

  • Hudson Taylor (missionary to China): In his 1892 edition of China’s Millions, Taylor includes the picture above of his Chinese coworkers using a Wordless Book in their street preaching in China.3
  • Amy Carmichael (missionary to India): In the 1890s, Carmichael began using the Wordless Book with Indian women who came to her home in the evenings. On evangelistic journeys, she and her Indian coworkers made a flag using the colors of the Wordless Book for outdoor evangelism.4
  • Lilias Trotter (missionary to Algeria): Trotter used the Wordless Book everywhere from the cities along the Mediterranean to the villages on the edge of the Sahara. She wrote, “As I got nearer, came a helter-skelter rush of children, dancing along the sand; then a woman or two and a few girls; and soon I had a little congregation on the river brink, looking at the wordless book.” On another occasion, she wrote: “At the first notes every one became perfectly quiet while French hymns were sung, and a wordless book was shown which had been improvised out of pieces of calico.”5

CEF and the 5-Page Wordless Book

Though Moody died in 1899, his influence continued into the twentieth century. In Chicago, the bookstore in the Moody Memorial Church sold the Wordless Book. When Ruth Overholtzer visited this bookstore in 1924, she purchased a copy of the Wordless Book. She then introduced it to her husband, Jesse Irvin Overholtzer, the founder of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF).

By 1939, CEF was producing their own version of the Wordless Book. They added a green cover as the fifth page to emphasize spiritual growth for those who believed.6 Over time, they also rearranged the teaching order of the pages, moving the gold page to the beginning though its physical position in the book remained at the end. Thus, the gospel teaching would progress in the following arrangement: gold (God), black (sin), red (Jesus), white (salvation), and green (spiritual growth).7 CEF also renamed the black and white pages, calling them the dark and clean pages.

Conclusion: The Wordless Book Today

The Wordless Book continues to be an excellent tool for remembering the essential details of the gospel and sharing it clearly and effectively. I have used the Wordless Book since I was a teenager. I have taught people on three continents to use it.

In Egypt, I know a young man who recently learned to share the gospel using the Wordless Book. He turned his home into a Wordless Book factory. Then, he explained the gospel to over 100 people and gave each their own Wordless Book.

Though you too could make your own Wordless Books, they are available online through CEF.8 Some are made of stiff paper. Others are a sleek rubbery material. More importantly, all can be used as a tool to spread the good news of eternal life through Jesus Christ.

  1. C. H. Spurgeon, “The Wordless Book,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 57 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1911), 565. ↩︎
  2. Read more about D. L. Moody and his influence on evangelistic methods and missions in my missions devotional, Daring Dependence: A 31-Day Journey with those who Found Their Strength in God. ↩︎
  3. Hudson Taylor, ed., China’s Millions (London: Morgan and Scott, 1892), 7. ↩︎
  4. Elisabeth Elliot, A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1987), 139, 146. ↩︎
  5. Blanche A. F. Piggott, Lilias Trotter: Founder of the Algiers Mission Band (London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1930), 23, 43. You can read more about Lilias Trotter in my missions devotional. ↩︎
  6. https://www.cefonline.com/articles/the-wordless-book-discover-its-rich-heritage/ ↩︎
  7. Some Baptists have added a blue page for baptism. This is not standard. If you are purchasing Wordless Books, be aware that some do include the blue page. I think that as an evangelistic tool, the Wordless Book does not need a blue page. This could cause confusion about baptismal regeneration (the teaching that a person must be baptized in order to be saved). ↩︎
  8. If you are wondering, I do not get any remuneration from CEF. I just want you to know a good source for ordering Wordless Books. ↩︎

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