Noteworthy Articles -

Make This the Year

Reading through the Bible in 12 months, or even 12 weeks, is not just a good idea

Sam, a retired missionary, was planting a church on the coast of British Columbia north of Vancouver, and two of us on a summer mission were helping with the building construction.

Sam’s Bible knowledge amazed me. His Scripture awareness had penetrated all aspects of his life, not in a rote fashion, but in a way that seemed accessible and functional. When I asked how he gained it, he laughed. “I just read my Bible.”

“How much reading—how do you approach it?”

“I try to get through it at least two or three times a year.”

I almost dropped my coffee. He had been reading at that pace for most of his Christian life, about 50 years!

The challenge captured me. Within two months I finished my first Bible read-through. I was in awe of God’s greatness, holiness, and redemptive love. I recognized the vast and singular strength of his personality projecting through the broad range of writers and books of the two testaments. It was as if I had truly felt the beginnings of knowing God intimately.

Some years later I discovered that such intensive Bible reading would work as strongly with others as it had with me. John was my Army roommate. He was a believer, but lacked any muscle in his faith. One morning, before I went on duty, he complained that he was being badgered for his faith while I was somehow exempt.

I asked him why he scarcely read his Bible. In fact, had he ever read the Bible through?

When I came back for lunch at noon, he was finishing Genesis; by that evening he had almost made it through Exodus. Soon he was carrying his Bible to work. At breaks he would read segments to his amazed military police friends. He finished reading the whole Bible by the end of the second month.

John not only gained new credibility with his friends (and ended the badgering), but also helped to stimulate the young adults fellowship we attended. John decided to attend Bible college after the Army; encouraged by his example, six others did also. I later asked him about the impact of his Bible reading. “I fell in love with the Lord,” he said.

I’ve since adopted a team-reading approach and have read through the Bible with almost a dozen partners. A few years ago in a church in Boise, Idaho, I suggested to a young man, Wayne, that we do a read-through. Within a month his life changed so much that others began to follow our model even though it was never promoted as a ministry activity.

The rules are simple. We selected a date for completing the project (in this case, four months from our commencement). We meet Tuesday morning for an hour. We chat for about 15 minutes and then begin to read verses that we’ve underlined in our reading for the week. Each of us has 15 minutes to review as much as he can—there’s never enough time for all the verses. Then we share requests and pray. It may not sound dramatic, but it is the highlight of my week.

The Dynamics

The purpose is to read the Bible for flow in the same way we might read any good book: whenever time offers itself. That way we look at a free evening or Saturday morning as a “chance” to read, not as a requirement in order to meet the weekly increment. This past Thursday, for example, Chris read for five hours.

We read at a personal pace, so we scarcely ever read the same sections at the same time. This has never been a problem; in fact, it’s useful because it gives a double exposure to every section of the Bible.

Underlining is essential. It helps our concentration and demonstrates our “homework” to each other. Thus, in our meetings we just read our selected passages to each other—there isn’t any obligation to teach.

We pick a completion date that will challenge us. A fast pace gives a better overview. It also helps us make better use of our discretionary time.

I encourage my first-time participants to skim sections that are repetitive or exceptionally technical, particularly in the Old Testament. They can pay closer attention the next time through.

What I call “Bible discipleship” can also be adapted. On occasions I’ve given new Christians a New Testament “sampler” (a Gospel, Acts, and epistles, from each of the New Testament writers) to read through in their first months of faith. The principal concern is to train new believers who are in the hungry stage of new growth to read whole books of Scripture.

Some Questions

No, especially if a young Christian has a more mature believer to answer some of the basic questions that may arise. In our first exposures to learning anything, in school or on the job, we’re usually confronted with complexity. Nevertheless, we begin to find principles that become points of reference for further understanding. The task of a teacher or helper is to direct the learner toward principles that give order to the complexity. These kinds of principles or doctrines emerge naturally in the talks between partners.

One junior-high youth pastor used this method to help 24 of his youth read the New Testament during the summer. He reserved a 20-minute “report” period during each Wednesday meeting when the students would share what they had underlined. Everyone finished on time and with enthusiasm.

I once had a partner with a reading disorder. I bought audiotapes of the Bible for him to listen to while he marked the verses that caught his attention on a printed text.

Another youth pastor is using Bible discipleship with his core high-schoolers. In 15 years as a youth pastor, he says it has proven to be the most effective means to move young people toward greater spiritual maturity.

Bible discipleship works because, I believe, it’s Christ’s preferred approach. Jesus gave clear directions for his followers to “abide” in his word (John 8:31). To accept his instruction at face value and to apply it through intensive Bible reading assures that Christians are given a direct exposure to Scripture, which is necessary for spiritual growth.

Nick and his family left for Asia as missionaries this past August. Years earlier Nick had become a Christian just when Wayne and I were starting our read-through, so he and Wayne began to meet also. Nick assumed that all Christians read through the Bible in this way. His continued appetite for Scripture led to formal theological training. He still has this avid appetite, and it’s now overflowing to others.

Bible discipleship also demonstrates the love of Christ. We need to show new believers how our bonding into the body of Christ works. This happens when two people are joined in high-commitment fellowship through the shared, vigorous pursuit of God. When the partners meet together after having read substantial sections of the Bible in a week—realizing that the Spirit has been present to do his own “underlining” in their lives—there will be real growth in biblical love that expresses itself in personal vulnerability and accountability, prayer, and friendship.

Paul assured the Ephesian elders that they had been given the “whole will of God” (Acts 20:27) in his ministry to them. The Bible now serves as our access to God’s will. In a survey of the Bible, the Christian begins to gain an overview that aids his study of any given text. In most instances the writers of the New Testament assumed that their readers had a knowledge of the Old Testament. It’s important for contemporary Christians to be equipped to respond to that assumption.

Sam’s mark on my life is eternal, not because of any exceptional wisdom, but because he was a channel of the living Word of God. Jesus told the woman at the well about the very principle that Sam shared with me: “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13). Isn’t it time for us to read the Bible vigorously, steadily, and fully?

Ronald Frost is an instructor in Bible and Theology in Portland, Oregon.
First published in Moody Monthly/January 1988
Note: This material has recently been expanded into book form, Discover the Power of the Bible by Ron Frost (Harvest House Publishers, 2000).

We Must Read Our Bibles!

Leszek, my translator, startled me. I was in the middle of telling the story of my Army roommate, Johnny, when he told me that he had come to love God through reading the Bible. Just then Leszek, took off on his own, obviously preaching his own enthusiastic sermon in Polish while I watched! Finally he paused and looked over at me. "Ron, I was just telling them how important it is that we read our Bibles. We must read our Bibles, or we will never fall in love with God! How can we love someone we don't even know?"

Our setting was a seminary in Radosch, near Warsaw, where 35 key Polish youth leaders from three evangelical denominations had gathered for a weekend of training. My role was to share about "Bible Discipleship," a high-impact approach to partnership Bible reading that developed years earlier between Johnny and me. The youth leaders had all been given a Polish translation of my Moody magazine article "Make this the Year" (January 1988) that outlined the approach. Some of the missionaries who sponsored the conference were using the approach themselves and were anxious to pass it along to the Polish church. Leszek caught the point instantly during my talk: The power of the Bible is unleashed as we discover God through reading the Bible "relationally." The God who loves us discloses himself there and invites us to respond to him in love and faith.

More recently I discovered the same impact of the Bible in the lives of Oregonians. "Did you hear what's been happening out here?!" Alan asked. This was just a week ago as Alan, a pastor in a large Portland church, called me about another matter.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Our growth group ministry will be forming fifteen 'read-through' groups this fall. The interest here in doing serious Bible reading has just taken off!"

I was amazed, but I knew the context. A year ago Alan preached a sermon that promoted the importance of serious Bible reading in order to grow closer to God. To give a tangible strategy he had included copies of the 1988 Moody article as an insert in 2500 bulletins.

At the same time one of the growth groups was pioneering a new format to use the approach. In that group each member read the Bible during the week and then used the weekly meeting for pairing up to read selections to each other from among the many verses they underlined, and then to pray together. The pairs then gathered as a full group to share how God was at work in their lives as they enjoyed a dessert. As I was writing the introduction to my book, Discover the Power of the Bible (which expands the story offered in the Moody article) I received an email about the first meeting: "At growth group last night we did our first read-through lesson. The small-group sharing and prayer time that I had planned for about 30 minutes lasted for over an hour. Only the call for food cut things off. Everyone was very enthusiastic. One of the men commented that he's learned more in the past three weeks doing this reading than he has in past three years filling out answers to questions. That may be an overstatement, but it seems that God's Word is already having an impact on some lives." The multiplication of the approach to an additional fourteen groups this fall told me that the impact had continued during the rest of the year!

Reports such as these are not rare exceptions among those who have adopted Bible discipleship. But rather than tell more stories it would be better to share some of the key insights that have crystallized since writing the article in 1988—insights others might want to apply!

The Prow Effect

Bible discipleship also avoids the "lowest common denominator" approach to ministry, where teaching content has to be adjusted to those who aren't yet so ambitious. To press the boat analogy, many churches are more like the great barges the plow down the Columbia River in our region. They have great, flat fronts, that force massive amounts of water out of the way all at once. Thirty knots are only a fantasy in the dreams of the tugboat operators! The example of Alan's church in offering the "read-through" growth groups as an option—but not the standard approach for everyone—is a good model of allowing the bow-wave to lead the wake. It also allows the bold participants to fulfill Leszek's admonition to read the Bible "or we will never fall in love with God!"