Cooks and waiters given special
New Testament

LEIPZIG, Germany — More than a thousand copies of a special edition of the New Testament were distributed last month to cooks attending a church service in Leipzig on the day when they remember their patron saint.

The book contains not only the Good News version of the New Testament but 32 pages of Christian testimonies by cooks and other workers in the restaurant trade and Bible texts highlighting the importance of eating, drinking and hospitality.

The project was the brainchild of an organisation which provides a Christian ministry to the restaurant trade. It arose from a concern that cooks, waiters and others have difficulty taking part in church life and fellowship because services clash with their working hours, and festivals such as Christmas and Easter are for many of them their busiest time.

The ministry worked in close co-operation on the project with the German Bible Society. The latter provided the New Testament text, organised the printing and provided an editor – Christian Prüfer – who worked for the Society in its information and fundraising department from 1989 until 1996. Now a freelance journalist, he edits a magazine for the ministry called Der Bote (‘The Messenger’).

The day chosen for the distribution of the first copies of the new publication was August 10, St Lawrence’s Day. St Lawrence was a deacon said to have been martyred in Rome in AD 258 by being slowly roasted to death on a gridiron. He is therefore the patron saint of cooks, and the industry chose to start its annual three-day conference on the day dedicated to him.