AUSTRIA, April 23, 2007 — “God’s Word is the bread of life!” This is the message that the Austrian Bible Society conveyed in a very practical way to people who visited a fair recently at the Stadthalle, a large public building in central Vienna.
More than 270 companies and organisations presented their goods and services this year at Senior Aktuell, a four-day fair held at the end of March and aimed at older people. Among the stands was one run by representatives of various Churches and Christian organisations. For many years, this stand has been organised by the arm of the Roman Catholic Church that ministers to the elderly. The Bible Society has only been involved once before, in 2003, but this year it was invited to play a leading role in developing new ideas. Rising to the challenge, a team of three young staff members – Claudia Weber, Barbara Lehner and Rudi Kaisler – decided to take visitors back to biblical times by baking bread in the way that Jesus would have known.
The delicious smell of freshly-baked bread attracted large crowds to the partners’ stand. While they tasted the bread and accompanying biblical foods, such as olives and cheese, visitors were offered a range of printed materials. These included Bible stories with related recipes, a Bible quiz and flyers advertising forthcoming events. Prompted by this very visual presentation of the Bible, many enthusiastic conversations arose between visitors and those running the stand.
“This event was a great success both publicly and behind the scenes,” writes Ms Lehner. “Protestants and Catholics worked together, planning and carrying out the activity to achieve a common goal: to bring people into contact with the Word of God.”
Encouraged by their success, the partners are now planning to stage an exhibition about the Bible’s message for older people.
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