Discipleship Archives - Jump Into The Word

Research indicates that the primary factors helping people connect with the Bible are:

being a committed Christian
accessibility and availability of a Bible
attending church
reading books that aid Bible reading

Simply stated, people are more likely to engage the Bible when they are committed to Christ, linked up with other people (go to church, attend a Bible study or youth group, speak to friends and family about what they read in the Bible) and use easy to read or contemporary versions of the Bible together with devotional books, reading guides, or commentaries.

Conversely, the main reasons why people don’t connect with the Bible are:

they are not relationally connected to the Christian community
they do not read books or don’t own a Bible
they say they are too busy or have other priorities

Slick advertising campaigns or just handing a stranger a Bible are unlikely to have much success in helping connect people with the Bible. Relationships are crucial. We must facilitate and nurture vertical (with God) and horizontal (with God’s people) relationships. For this to happen we must share the good news (evangelize), teach people how to live for Christ (make disciples), and foster authentic Christ centred communities of faith.

What we say and what we do, don’t always seem to line up. While 66% of churchgoers say they want to “honour Jesus in all I do” only 11% read the Bible daily – this according to the October 2011 LifeWay Research, Transformational Discipleship Study, of more than 4,000 American and Canadian churchgoers (Evangelical and mainline English, French and Spanish Protestants).

Bible engagement should be intrinsic to being a disciple. “There would be no sense in saying you trusted Jesus if you would not take his advice” C.S. Lewis. In order to learn from Christ and do what He commands, one has to read the Bible. “Faith is good only when it engages truth . . .” A. W. Tozer. Yet 34% of churchgoers rarely or never read the Bible outside of church and just 27% say they read it a few times a week or once a month.

How do we make disciples if people aren’t reading and reflecting on the Scriptures? Alarmingly, most churchgoers don’t feel bad about not connecting with the Bible. A whopping 62% say they don’t feel “unfulfilled” if they “go several days without reading the Bible”.

New Testament disciples were people who increasingly, and with growing intentionality, reflected the character and ministry of Christ. The first century disciples aligned their hearts and lives with Christ, over time looked more and more like Him, and most importantly, reproduced disciples who in turn learnt to be like Christ and do what He did.

In the Western church we seem to be content with calling a person a disciple if they pitch up to church, occasionally volunteer, put something in the offering plate, and do some good things . . . a far cry from the lives and ministries of the first century disciples.

LifeWay’s research reveals that only 3% of churchgoers do Bible study on a daily basis and 53% rarely or never study the Bible. This is hugely disconcerting. If Christians aren’t learning about the life of Christ, how can they become like Christ?

Something’s lost that needs to be found. Do we want to see disciples forged in the character of Christ, exercising the power/authority of Christ, and exuding the grace of Christ? If we do, then our first priority must be to equip and encourage churchgoers to regularly read and reflect on the Scriptures.

Jump Into The Word

Bible Engagement Blog

Tag Archives: Discipleship

What Helps People Connect With the Bible?

Discipleship and Bible Engagement