Beginning on January 1, 2025, pastors and churches throughout New England, many of them connected in one way or another with Small Town Summits, will start a two-year trek through the Bible, reading through the entire Old Testament and New Testament, and through the Psalms and Proverbs four times. We’ll be using a Bible-reading plan that we’re making freely available to anyone who’s interested (see below for how to access it). We invite you and your church to join us!
If you’ve already read all the way through the Bible, you know the treasure found within its pages. We invite you to read it again, and this time experience the joy of reading the same passages each day together with your church family and with other churches throughout New England.
If you’ve never read all the way through the Bible, please join us for the first time. You might think you could never do it. But you can. With two years, you have a manageable pace (and built into this plan are “catch-up days” to help you get back on track if you fall off the pace). With a group of Christian friends doing it together, you have encouragement. We are praying that spouses will read through the Bible together, that parents and children will talk about what they’ve read each day, that Bible study groups in churches throughout New England will encourage each other as they share questions and insights. We’re excited already about the fruit God will produce in our lives.
With this plan, we’ll read one book of the Bible at a time, and we’ll read according to the logical units of Scripture. Sometimes those units will match up with our modern chapter divisions, and sometimes not. Perhaps the most helpful feature of this plan is that it’s geared to Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart’s book, How to Read the Bible Book by Book (Zondervan 2014), which is an accessible and easy-to-use guided tour of the whole Bible, with brief introductions and overviews of each book of the Bible. You’ll benefit the most from this Bible-reading plan if you read it together with Fee and Stuart’s book (it’s easily available wherever you buy books).
Here are eight tips as we begin this two-year journey through God’s Word:
1. Request God’s help. As you come to the Word each morning, ask God to open your eyes to its splendor. Psalm 90:14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Psalm 119:18: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119:36: “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”
2. Look for God. The Bible is mainly a book about God. So, in each passage we read, ask yourself, “What does this tell me about God?” If you ask and seek to answer this question throughout your Bible-reading trek, you’ll come away knowing God better.
3. Slow down. Some readings will be longer and others shorter. Take advantage of the shorter ones. Read meditatively, reflectively, asking questions, praying for answers, engaging. In Psalm 119:48, the psalmist says he meditates on the Lord’s statutes.
4. Read with a pen. Why not keep a notebook of insights from this two-year journey? Write down your best thoughts. Record your questions and prayers. It’ll help you focus and give you a record of what God has taught you.
5. Get specific. As you do the reading for each day, look for a “best thought” – a truth you can meditate on throughout the rest of the day, a verse you can memorize, a phrase that’s particularly memorable. That way, you’re left with more than a vague feeling of what you read in the morning.
6. Pray the passage. Let your prayers for others emerge from what you read. As you read a passage, pray those inspired words for yourself and for those you love.
7. Read on mission. As you read the passage for each day, ask, “Who can I share this with?” Allow your reading to overflow into conversations with others. It’s a natural way to share Jesus with your non-Christian friends. When they ask, “How’s your day going?” tell them, “I saw this encouraging truth in the Bible this morning…” You’re just being yourself and answering their question.
8. Do the Word. Consider how you can live out what you’re reading. James 1:22: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” May the Lord richly bless you and your church as you give yourself to the reading of God’s Word, together.
Printing Help / Instructions:
The reading plan is designed for a double-sided print on legal-sized paper (8.5”x14”). Printing on smaller paper will make the text difficult to read.
We recommend printing on coverstock or cardstock paper for the best experience.
Download The Reading Plan