Overview
Welcome to Read the Bible, a flexible Bible reading plan.
Typical Reading Plan Challenges this Plan Seeks to Address
Even with thousands of Bible reading plans out there, Read the Bible was designed to address some common challenges of Bible reading plans in general:
- Catching up on missed days can be incredibly daunting.
- Many find it difficult to understand the Bible as they read it.
- Reading plans are typically targeted to individuals while at the same time many individuals struggle with self-motivation.
- One year Bible plans have you reading the Bible at a pace not accessible to everyone.
- Few options for groups to read together, other than simply using the plan together.
- Not accessible to younger children.
Features of Read the Bible
Read the Bible has attempted to address these challenges by including the following features:
- Designed with both individuals and groups in mind.
- Broken into 7 units to allow for more accessible goal setting (i.e., committing to read one unit is way less daunting than committing to read the whole Bible).
- Each unit contains both a non-scheduled and a scheduled reading sequence, allowing people to choose based on their preference.
- The scheduled reading sequences are only 10 weeks long, which is much easier to commit to than a year.
- Teaching videos by the Bible Project™ are included to help people understand what they are reading.
- Catch up passages are included in the 10-week reading plans to encourage people to stick with it even after missing days.
- A parallel Kids Edition is offered to encourage families to read together.
Using This Plan as an Individual
Even when used individually, we trust you will find this plan has been crafted with support and flexibility in mind for the reader. Note the following features to help keep you motivated:
- The Bible Project™ videos dispersed throughout will help you understand what you are reading.
- If you struggle staying motivated, try committing to reading one unit at a time rather than committing to reading the entire Bible.
- Help your personal motivation by choosing to read the unit that interests you most rather than forcing yourself to read them in the order presented.
- Use the check boxes provided to check off the items you have completed.
Using this Plan as a Group
Two convictions underlie this reading plan:
- Something is better than nothing.
- Community is a key factor in supporting our spiritual practices.
Thus, one goal of this plan is to enable groups to encourage the practice of scripture reading without having rigid expectations of quantity. Certainly, reading the Bible cover to cover is a worthwhile goal, but why not allow someone to read smaller portions now so that in future years they may be ready to read the whole thing?
Recommended Guidelines
The following are some recommended guidelines for using this plan as a group:
- Indicate to your group that you will be reading unit ____ for the 10 weeks beginning _____ and invite everyone to join.
- Use group time to check in on how everyone’s daily reading is going (no need to make it the main focus of each meeting).
- Encourage everyone to participate by allowing everyone to choose their own completion level (see below).
- Urge everyone to keep with the group, even if that means skipping readings that they fell behind on. Sticking with the group will encourage sustainability better than being stuck behind a backlog of readings.
Completion Levels
Different completion levels allow each individual to participate in the reading plan of the group at a level that is sustainable for their life circumstance and reading capacity. Thus, everyone will benefit from group encouragement, even if they are reading different amounts.
The following is an example of how you might articulate the different completion levels:
Level 1: Watch the videos only
Level 2: Read the weekly catch up passages only
Level 3: Read ~50% of the readings
Level 4: Read 100% of the readings
Scheduling Units
Due to the flexibility of this plan, your group can go through the units at whatever pace works for them. The following is a balanced schedule that allows for periods of rest and brings the group through the entire Bible in 2 years. One advantage of a balanced pace is it can fold into the annual rhythm of your group, thus every 2 years you are gong back to previously read units, possibly giving people another shot at reading the unit at a higher completion level.
Year 1 September-November: Gospels & Acts
Year 1 December: BREAK
Year 1 January-March: Epistles
Year 1 April-June Pentateuch
Year 1 July-August BREAK
Year 2 September-November: Historical Books
Year 2 December BREAK
Year 2 January-March: Wisdom Literature
Year 2 April-June Prophets
Year 2 July Revelation
Year 2 August BREAK
Of course, your group can always choose a different schedule that fits your preference. For example, you can go through each unit’s 10-week reading plan back-to-back, thus reading through entire Bible in just over a year. Alternatively, you can choose to do a 10-week unit in 20 weeks thus making the pacing a little easier.