A half-million copies of the New Testament in Danish were given away in September — one each to about 98 percent of the households in Copenhagen, Denmark. The massive ecumenical project was timed to coincide with the celebration of the Danish capital’s role as a 1996 European Cultural Capital.Morten Aagaard, general secretary of the Danish Bible Society, told Ecumenical News International that project planners predicted that 10-20 percent of Copenhagen’s households would refuse a free copy of the New Testament.
“In fact, we have just found out that only one or two percent of the households said no thanks,'” he said. “Because of that, we had to print an extra 30,000 copies.”Non-Danish households were told how they could receive a New Testament in their own language at no cost.
The project attracted wide cross-denominational support. Households accepting Bibles were also given a letter listing 600 follow-up events, ranging from concerts to Bible studies. The entire project cost about $500,000.
— E.P. News
