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| ‘Business’ Bible helps Bible work abroad AUSTRALIA — A project which linked the Bible Society in Australia (Victoria) with members of the business community has brought a totally unexpected spin-off: a large donation towards Bible work far outside the state of Victoria. Some time ago the Bible Society approached a few business people to establish whether there would be demand for a Bible edition designed for business outreach. But it was not until a Franklin Graham Festival was held in Melbourne in March 2005 that the Business Bible project began to take off. As part of the festival, more than 1,100 business people attended a breakfast at the city’s Telstra Stadium. Over 100 people expressed serious interest in finding out more about Christianity. However, there were no appropriate materials available for the Australian business context. Convinced With some Christians in the business community now passionately convinced of the need for a targeted publication, the Bible Society was able to seize the opportunity. By partnering with key members of the business community and with the Bible Society in Australia’s National Scriptures Division, a compact, soft-cover Business Bible containing the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs was developed. It also contains significant articles on leadership, ethics and related topics and testimonies from well-known Christians including musician and author Roma Waterman and George Savvides, Managing Director of Medibank Private, Australia’s largest health insurance company. Outreach “Because the business community helped us
develop the Bible, they have shown a lot of interest
in using it for outreach to friends and colleagues,”
explains Bible Society Executive
Director Tony Crook. “We launched the Business
Bible [in October] at the offices of Macquarie
Bank, whose Executive Chairman in Melbourne
provided one of the testimonies. The ‘who’s who’
of the Christian business community in Melbourne
attended, bringing enthusiasm for outreach with
this Bible.” Over a third of the initial print run
was sold in the first two months.
Mr Crook goes on to explain one totally unexpected
outcome of this project: the largest single
donation to the Bible Society in Australia (over
US$680,000). “An additional benefit has been a
relationship with a new donor keen to provide
Bible paper in China. He is much more passionate
about China than about the Business Bible … but
it was as a result of Business Bible contacts that
we were introduced to him.”
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