Bible in a Year
READ THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Did you know that over 80% of Christians have never read the Bible all the way through? Let that sink in for a minute. If the Bible is our sacred, God-breathed GPS, if you will, for doing life as a follower of Jesus. why wouldn’t we read all of the directions rather than just a few steps?
Reading the Bible from cover to cover offers countless benefits to us as believers, regardless of whether it’s your first time or your tenth time reading it through. That’s why we’ve set out to read the entire Bible as a church in 2023.
In order to help everyone accomplish this, we’ve chosen a reading plan that everyone who attends Journey Church (and even those in other states) can follow. This plan is called The Bible Recap, and it’s a program that consists of a daily Scripture reading accompanied by a short podcast summarizing that day’s reading (or, if you’d rather, you can follow along with The Bible Recap’s study guide).
HERE'S HOW TO JOIN US:
STEP 1
Download the YouVersion Bible App to your mobile device. Create an account if you don’t already have one.
STEP 2
Set Journey as your church in your YouVersion account. To do this, in the Discover area, search for “Journey Church International.” Select our church’s profile (hint: look for our JCI logo), then click “Set As My Church.” Choose who you want to see this update, and you’re done!
STEP 3
Once you’ve set Journey as your church, you’ll need to join our featured reading plan. To do this, navigate to our church’s profile, if you aren’t already on it, and scroll down to see our Featured Plan. Click on The Bible Recap’s logo and then click on “Start Plan” from the plan overview page. You can choose whether you want to complete the plan alone (as part of our church, of course!) or with a friend. If you choose to read it alone, select the appropriate option and skip to Step 5.
STEP 4
Invite some friends! We believe accountability is a great way to set yourself up for success. Our entire staff team will be completing the plan with a small group of three to four people, and we encourage you to do the same. If you’ve already connected with friends on YouVersion, you can select them directly from the app. If your friends aren’t in YouVersion, you can click on the share icon to text, email, or message the link to anyone in your phone’s contacts.
WHERE SHOULD I START?
If you missed our January 1st start date, no worries! Any time is a good time to start reading your Bible, so you can join in any time. Just jump into the plan wherever we are. Either way, you’ll probably be reading more of your Bible than you ever have before!
Check out our FAQs to learn more about starting in the middle of the year.
NOW LET'S KEEP IT GOING!
Once you’ve set Journey as your church and have joined the plan, be sure to subscribe to The Bible Recap podcast. This is a critical step, as the podcast will be the study that accompanies our daily Scripture readings.
Pro Tip: Before you start, we recommend listening to The Bible Recap’s prep podcast episodes to set yourself up for success. Links to each of those episodes can be found in our FAQs below.
Available on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Podbean | Google | Google Play | YouTube
NOT A FAN OF TECHNOLOGY?
No worries! You can print the entire plan and purchase The Bible Recap’s study guide book. This will keep you on track with our church’s daily readings, and also gives you the benefits of the podcast in book form.
HAVE KIDS? THEY CAN JOIN, TOO!
For Journey Jr. (birth through kindergarten):
Download the Bible App for Kids by YouVersion. This will take your child through 41 key stories of the Bible in a fun, easy-to-understand format. You can also purchase the accompanying story Bible to use with your children. Note that since there are 41 stories, your child will not be reading content every day. We recommend focusing on one story for a week or two before having your child move on to the next story.
For JKids (1st grade through 5th grade):
JKids can follow along with you in YouVersion’s Bible App! Follow the steps above to download the Bible App and create an account. Once that’s set up, navigate to “More ☰” on the bottom right of the app. Scroll down and click on “⚙︎ Settings.” Under the Account section, select “Kids Bible Experience.” Make sure it’s toggled to the on position.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll see the kids’ verse of the day by scrolling to the bottom of the YouVersion home screen.
For Students (6th grade through 12th grade):
Our Students will spend 2023 reading through the entire New Testament. You can find the digital version of that on our Students page, or your child can ask their small group leader for a printed copy at any time throughout the year.
The plan uses the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible; however, you can use whichever translation you prefer. Reference and study Bibles are great options as well. The only type of Bible we recommend not using is a chronological Bible because it will likely be laid out differently than the plan we’re following. You can also always use your Bible App.
Don’t worry! Any time is a great time to start reading your Bible. Simply jump into the plan wherever we are at the time. Even if you missed some months, you’ll probably be reading more of your Bible than ever before!
Nope! No study guide is required for this study. All you need is the podcast. With that being said, if you prefer to have a tangible book to follow along with, you can purchase The Bible Recap’s physical study on their website.
Absolutely! Encourage anyone and everyone around you to join the plan. You can share the plan with them via text, email, direct message, and more. They’re not required to join our church in the YouVersion app, nor are they required to attend our church. Of course, they’re welcome to join us at any time!
Nothing is required for you to start the plan. However, The Bible Recap does have several podcast episodes that can help set you up for success:
Prep Ep 1: Let’s Read the Bible in a Year (Chronological Plan)!
Prep Ep 2: How I Learned to Love (Reading) the Bible
Prep Ep 3: Why Reading the Whole Bible is Important (interview with Lee McDerment)
Prep Ep 4: Preparing to Read the Bible
Prep Ep 5: Avoiding Common Mistakes: What to Look for When You Read the Bible
Prep Ep 6: Reading the Bible in Community
Absolutely. You can download and print our daily reading calendar here.
If you’re using the YouVersion app, you can invite people when you join The Bible Recap plan. Once you click “Start Plan,” you’ll be asked if you want to complete it individually or with friends. Choose “With Friends.” You’ll then be prompted to invite friends you’ve already connected with on YouVersion. To invite people who aren’t using YouVersion, scroll to the bottom of that screen and click the share icon next to the plan link. You can then choose to send the link to anyone via text, email, direct message, and more.
If someone wants to follow along as part of our church on the YouVersion app, have them search for our church using the same steps outlined above, or send them our church profile’s direct link.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
No problem! Reading your Bible should be simple. If you have questions about any of the processes above, send us an email and we’ll help you get all set up.