Happy New Year, Bible Reading Edition

Happy New Year, Bible Reading Edition | [View online]( [Give Now]( Advertisement [Local Church Outreach]( [CT Pastors]( [Subscribe]( [More on Outreach]( Wednesday, January 2, 2019 Happy New Year, Bible Reading Edition Welcome to 2019! Undoubtedly as you are reading this, you are putting finishing touches on your opening New Year’s sermon. Are you starting out with a book series? Are you doing a yearly vision-casting sermon? What goals do you have for your church this year? One of the goals you likely have for your people is increased Bible reading. I always saw this time of year as a great opportunity to help my congregants get into the Word on a consistent basis. I made plenty of guides and resources available. This year my pastor asked me to write a [blog]( post to help our folks get started well. I hope it helps you too. [Low Bible Engagement Going into the New Year]( Recently Lifeway [studied]( Americans’ Bible reading habits and . . . things aren’t looking good (though you probably already knew that): Americans have a positive view of the Bible. And many say the Christian scriptures are filled with moral lessons for today. However, more than half of Americans have read little or none of the Bible. Less than a quarter of those who have ever read a Bible have a systematic plan for reading the Christian scriptures each day. And a third of Americans never pick it up on their own. However there seems to be a correlation between those who go to church and more Bible reading. Thirty-nine percent of those who attend worship services at least once a month read a bit every day, while only 13 percent of those who attend services less than once month pick up a Bible daily. [Why You Should Emphasize Bible Reading]( So how do we encourage our people to read their Bibles every day? Ed Stetzer, [interacting]( with the research data, makes a biblical case for why Bible reading is important and pastors should emphasize it: God used fallible, fallen, imperfect people to write the Bible—it’s true. But these people wrote the Bible without error under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Second Timothy 3:16 tells us that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” The contents of Scripture were not arbitrarily created and constructed by random men—they were the very words of God written directly to us, his followers. It is because of this that Scripture is so powerful in affecting such dramatic change in the lives of people centuries later. [How to Improve Bible Engagement]( In a piece for CT Pastors, J. R. Briggs [offers]( some practical help. He suggests seven practices to foster deeper engagement, and they’re worth checking out. The digital age has made it easier to measure Bible engagement. Griffin Paul Jackson [takes a look]( at the most read or most searched Bible verses on popular Bible apps and websites: - Youversion’s most popular verse of 2018 is Isaiah 41:10. - Bible Gateway’s most popular verse is Jeremiah 29:11. Finally, Crossway’s survey findings about people who read Scripture every day as a regular practice are [interesting](: - Early morning is the most popular time of the day to read the Bible. Bible readers spent, on average, 24 days of the past 30 days reading Scripture in the early morning. The second most popular time was late morning (21.59 days), and the third most popular time early afternoon (20.75 days). Late evening (19.02 days) was the least popular time. - “Women are more likely than men to journal and use devotional resources” while reading Scripture. Men use commentaries more frequently than do women. - The Old Testament Prophets (Isaiah through Malachi) are the hardest section of Scripture to understand. - Nahum is the book least likely to have been read in the past month. Matthew and Psalms are the books most likely to have been read during that time. - The Old Testament is far less likely to have been read in the past month than the New Testament. Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah are the Old Testament books most likely to have been read. - The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans are the most popular books to read in the New Testament. Perhaps this data can help shape the way we shepherd our people to engage the Word of God. Here’s to a 2019 of engaging the Word of God and letting the Spirit use the Bible to shape his people. [Daniel Darling] [Daniel Darling] [Daniel Darling](mailto:krohane@christianitytoday.com) Advertisement More from CT Pastors [CT’s Top 15 Articles for Pastors in 2018]( [CT’s Top 15 Articles for Pastors in 2018]( Eugene Cho explains why he stepped down from Quest Church, ministers reflect on Eugene Peterson’s influence, and Noe Garcia reveals the challenges of hosting John McCain’s memorial service. CT Editors [Read More]( [Losing the Weight of New Year’s Resolutions]( [Losing the Weight of New Year’s Resolutions]( This year, I’m letting God write my resolutions. Lee Eclov [Read More]( [3 Strategies to Avoid Time Wasters in the New Year]( [3 Strategies to Avoid Time Wasters in the New Year]( An inventory to stay focused and on task. Richard Doebler [Read More]( Related Newsletters [CT Pastors Newsletter]( Each weekly CT Pastors issue equips you with the best wisdom and practical tools for church ministry. 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