Year of the Bible goes into top gear

EUROPE — Thousands of people across French- and German-speaking Europe are participating in initiatives designed to encourage them to discover the Bible as modern and relevant to their lives. Under the slogan “Seek. And Find”, the Year of the Bible 2003 is going into top gear as it brings the Bible into the heart of local communities in innovative and challenging ways.

The organisers of the ecumenical Year of the Bible project, which include national Bible Societies, are targeting individuals, local congregations and the general public as a whole with cross-border, national and local events.

Targets

In France, the national management committee for the Year of the Bible began the year by providing the churches with a range of resources to assist them in reaching ambitious targets for distributing Bibles, New Testaments and Gospels. Year of the Bible activities in the second half of 2003 are planned to reach a wider audience, and will include exhibitions, press advertising and a national poster campaign. Some of the materials used in these initiatives are being supplied by the French Bible Society in collaboration with Scripture Gift Mission.

One of the key events will be a Bible Festival on 10, 11 and 12 October in France, Switzerland and Belgium. Church congregations are being encouraged to leave the confines of their own building during the Bible Festival and go into town centres to place the Bible at the heart of local life. The Year of the Bible’s organisers have made many suggestions for possible Bible Festival events, ranging in scale from small, such as reading the Bible on street corners, handing out Scripture Portions to people passing by or setting up stands and displays in supermarkets, to large, such as staging a Christian rock concert or inviting people to participate in producing a hand-written Bible. It is hoped that individual congregations will develop their own ideas too and that, in total, Bible Festival events will take place in at least 1,000 communities across French-speaking Europe.

Influential people

Among the Year of the Bible initiatives planned for French-speaking Switzerland is ‘A Bible for Everyone’, involving the distribution of a 2003. Year of the Bible Bible. This special edition, which has features including an introduction to the Bible and Bible reading tips, will be distributed to 1,000 influential people in politics and business. Local churches are being encouraged to both raise funds to pay for these Bibles and to purchase further copies for distribution to leading people in their own communities.

Christians from across Switzerland have been participating enthusiastically in an ambitious hand-written Bible project, writing out their favourite verse or verses in their mother tongue individually or as a group. This Bible, which will run to at least five volumes, will be presented to the Swiss Parliament as a gift from the country’s Christians.

‘Bibel-box’

In Germany too, Year of the Bible activity is running at very high levels and has included special walks, cycle rides, Bible reading marathons, radio and television programmes, talks and church services. Nationally, one of the highest-profile events has been the ‘Bibel-Box’ exhibition, which presents interactively the “Seek. And Find” stories of 10 biblical characters. This attraction, contained within a two-storey 10x10m blue cube, began a tour of 10 cities in April and by June had already attracted more than 50,000 visitors.

One of the people who acted as a guide when the Bibel-Box visited Berlin has recounted how God worked through the attraction to save a woman’s life. The woman had become suicidal after experiencing personal problems, and was wandering through the city in deep despair. She found herself near the square where the Bibel-Box was located, and when she was handed a leaflet advertising it she felt strangely drawn towards it. Once there, she talked and prayed at length with the guide and came away committed to allowing God back into her life.