Exhibitions of rare Bibles, dedication ceremony at 'Giant Bible' convention
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Romania organized 10 days of Bible-related events last month, hosted by 20 cities and featuring displays of rare Bibles and presentations on the role of the Bible throughout history and in everyday life. The events were part of the Adventist Church’s Follow the Bible initiative, which will run through August 2010.
“The main message of the event[s] is that the daily reading of the Bible brings moral healing, gives spiritual power and improve[s] the quality of life,” said Viorel Dima, Follow the Bible coordinator for Romania.
The initiative, sponsored by the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its world divisions, features an oversized Bible written in 66 different languages traveling around the globe to promote Bible study. The Adventist Church in Romania has been actively working since 2007 to foster Bible study in the country through a national ad campaign and reading clubs called Sola Scriptura. The clubs have hundreds of attendees and focus on conversation rather than seminar formats.
The Adventist Church in Romania partnered with the Conscience and Liberty Association and the Romanian Interconfessional Biblical Society to borrow the hundreds of rare Bibles on display from personal collections, church officials said. Some locations offered visitors free mobile phone downloads of the Bible, including a yearly reading plan.
The Romanian events ran January 21 to 31 and concluded with the presentation of the traveling Bible and a dedication ceremony for those who committed to daily Bible study, church leaders said.
The traveling Bible will be touring Europe and northern Africa through March 2009.
