Though we are in the thick of preparations for Christmas, always a busy time in church life, we should also have an eye on the coming new year. As January approaches, we as church leaders have the opportunity to take advantage of a season in which people are likely making resolutions for their next twelve months and challenge them to a new commitment to Bible reading.

Reading, understanding, memorizing, and living out the truth of the Bible has never been more important. The State of Theology research study, a joint effort between Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research, is conducted every two years in order to report on the theological temperature of the United States. Here are a few of the findings from the last study in 2022:

48% of evangelicals agree that God learns and adapts to different circumstances
65% of evangelicals agree that every one is born innocent in the sight of God
56% of evangelicals agree that God accepts the worship of all religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam
43% of evangelicals agree that Jesus was a great teacher but he was not God (up from 30% in 2020)

These are revealing statistics, and they point to the great need for our people to be committed to God's Word as the source of truth. January provides the unique opportunity to do just that. In order to help your people, you can download two different Bible reading plans in this post to help your equip your people.

The first plan is chronological in nature. It enables a person to read the Bible all the way through in one year from a chronological standpoint. Adopting this plan not only immerses someone in God's Word; it helps reinforce the timeline of the Bible in order to see the historical order in which events occurred. (Download the chronological plan.)

The second plan is also aimed at reading the entire Bible in one year, but in this case, it calls for a person to read from different parts of the Bible each day. Every day a person will have a reading from the Psalms and wisdom literature, a reading from the Pentatuch and the history of Israel, a reading from the Chronicles and Prophets, and a reading from the Gospels and epistles. (Download the genre plan.)

Of course, there are many more plans available with just a quick web search, but whatever you choose, don't miss the January opportunity to challenge people to be in God's Word all year long.

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Michael Kelley
Executive Director