How To Fix Biblical Illiteracy
It's Simpler Than You Think
We’ve got a real problem in the American church. Christians don’t know what’s in their Bibles. And they don’t even know how to navigate the Bible, should someone put it in their hands.
Many have pointed out that biblical illiteracy in the pews is a symptom of biblical illiteracy in the pulpit. And I agree that that is at least part of the problem. Back in the day, I attended a denominational pastors retreat. At one point, they asked us to debrief our devotional life together—how we prayed, when we read and meditated on the Bible, and what other spiritual disciplines we engaged in. I was the only one in my group that read and meditated on the Scriptures daily. Most didn’t read it at all.
Pastors admitted this, folks.
I’m biblically literate, and God has called me to make others literate like me. So how do I do this in my church? I am glad you asked.
It’s time to get people looking away from screens—away from phones and projectors and those $90,000 LED super screens some churches buy. And we need to get them looking at an actual Bible in their hands.
We wanted to do this at my church, but I had no Bibles. And no money to buy them. So I called up the Assemblies of God’s Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge (BGMC) offices, and they directed me to their local rep here in Iowa, Pastor Troy Renter. Pastor Troy got me the money to buy enough Bibles for every seat in my church.
And that’s where I put them. In the seats.
During worship every Sunday we read two passages of Scripture together. Generally we read at least one Old and one New Testament. Since they’re all the same Bible, and since so many people don’t know how to navigate the Scriptures, we give people the page number to turn to. It’s also on a miniature printed insert in the Bible so they can show up early and turn to the passages ahead of time. And then I always—always—connect the passages we read in worship with the passage I preach from.
So every Sunday at Resurrection you can hear those delicate pages rustling across the sanctuary. Kids and adults are learning to navigate the Scriptures, and they are learning how the whole story fits together.
When Jesus entered the synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4, he read the Scriptures out loud for the congregation. Pastors, follow me as I follow Christ.
And church, don’t wait for your pastor to ask you to do it. Pick up and read.
We are desperately seeing this need among the children we minister to in Botswana. In the month of July we were with hundreds of children telling them about Jesus, introducing them to His manifest presence, leading them to salvation and baptism in the Holy Spirit. We tell them the 4 things they must do to grow in Christ is read the Bible, pray, worship, go to Sunday school. We, too, were talking this week about partnering with BGMC and/or Gideon’s to make sure there is no child who attends our crusades who does not have their own copy!
Great point! When church’s became so technologically driven it became a problem. I loved “Sword Drills” growing up in the church! Who could be the first to find the passage in the Bible.