For those in your church wanting to develop personal Bible reading habits, having a plan is a critical starting point.
By Olivia Thames
Year after year, one common New Year’s resolution among Christians is to spend more time—or even any time at all—in God’s Word. However, for many, it’s hard to know where to start.
Pastors want to help, encouraging those in their congregations to read the Bible on their own. According to a recent Lifeway Research study, pastors say they use an average of around five methods for encouraging their congregations to read the Bible.
These methods include providing free Bibles to those who need one (93%), reminding them during sermons (92%), having Bible readings during worship services in addition to the passages used in the sermon (73%), providing a printed Bible reading plan (59%), sending reminders on social media (56%), using email reminders (49%), and providing a digital or online Bible reading plan (37%).
Bible reading plans
For those in your church wanting to develop personal Bible reading habits, having a plan is a critical starting point. We all know loosely flipping around in Scripture without a plan can leave us without context and without a deep understanding of what the text means and how it applies to our lives. This is why we’ve rounded up some Bibles that include daily reading plans, allowing your congregation to read both the Scripture and the plan for how to read it each day all in one spot.
Each of the suggestions below is from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). Highly accurate for serious study and highly readable for the newest and youngest readers, the CSB meets those in your congregation where they are, engaging them in any phase of their discipleship journey.
Whether you’re planning to lead your congregation through a Bible reading plan, looking to have some on-hand suggestions for those in your congregation who want to spend daily time in Scripture, or considering a new Bible reading plan for yourself, here are four CSB Bibles that help us open God’s Word, day after day.
CSB Jesus Daily Bible
The new CSB Jesus Daily Bible, edited by Dwayne Milioni, features a 52-week, Christ-focused, guided reading plan you can begin at any point during the year. Each week’s reading is structured thematically in a five-day reading format with a weekly introduction, helpful articles and infographics, and a weekly summary to help readers better understand Jesus’s central role in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Every page of God’s Word points to the bigger story of Jesus. And every day, the CSB Jesus Daily Bible will help readers see how.
CSB Oswald Chambers Bible
This Bible allows readers to experience the life-changing truth of Scripture and the best-selling work of Oswald Chambers all in one place. The new CSB Oswald Chambers Bible, created in partnership with Our Daily Bread, uniquely combines the full Modern Classic Edition of Chambers’ best-selling devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, within the pages of Scripture through a reading plan, giving readers a comprehensive Bible reading and devotional resource. This is an excellent resource to help those in your ministry grow in their understanding of God’s Word this year through the timeless and thought-provoking wisdom found in these pages.
CSB Men’s Daily Bible
Encourage men in your congregation from all walks of life to step into a daily conversation with God’s Word through the CSB Men’s Daily Bible. Guided by general editor and best-selling author, Robert Wolgemuth, alongside the wise counsel of his friends, this Bible is designed to equip men to live boldly and courageously in the face of everyday challenges unique to them, including relevant topics such as marriage, parenting, family, work, and more. It’s filled with useful tools, such as devotionals, articles, callouts, and questions and answers. Through these resources, the CSB Men’s Daily Bible invites men in your congregation to turn to the pages of Scripture, day by day, for lasting change in their homes, workplaces, and lives.
CSB Every Day with Jesus Bible
This is another resource to help those in your congregation spend every day with Jesus as they read through the Bible in one year. The CSB Every Day with Jesus Daily Bible provides a rich variety of bite-size readings for each day of the week, with guided devotions from beloved pastor, Selwyn Hughes. From day one, each of the 365 daily readings includes a selection from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. Encountering the four Scripture selections together alongside the corresponding devotion will yield new insights for those reading through God’s Word in one year. The daily reading arrangement is not date specific, so you and your congregation can jump into the plan at any point in the calendar year.
You can find Lifeway’s full lineup of options for daily reading Bibles and devotional Bibles here. It’s our hope and prayer this guide helps you lead those around you to open their Bibles more and more this year. May we all seek to spend more time in the most important book of all in the year ahead—to “meditate on it day and night” (Joshua 1:8, CSB).
For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.
