How to Lead Your Church to Deeply Engage with God’s Word

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 NIV 

The Bible is alive and active! As a pastor and church leader, one of your greatest responsibilities is to help your attenders not only hear the Word during a weekend message, but also to engage with it in their daily lives. 

How engaged is your church with reading the Bible? Do they depend on the sermon to be their “Bible reading” for the week? Or do they have the desire to dive in for themselves?

If you want to lead a church that is spiritually strong and growing, you must challenge and equip your attenders to encounter God’s Word every day. 

Let’s look at a few ways you can lead your church to deeper engagement with Scripture:

Start With the Heart

Reading Scripture isn’t about just checking a box; it’s about hearing the voice of God, understanding His character, and being transformed by His truth. It’s an incredible way to have a fruitful and deep relationship with God.

Model this by sharing your own journey with God’s Word. In your sermons, share stories of how God has spoken to you through Scripture recently. 

As you talk about your own journey with the Bible, it can lead others to have that deep intimacy with God’s Word. 

Lead a Bible Reading Challenge

Lead your church to engage with God’s Word by reading it together. Consider launching a 21-day or 30-day Bible reading challenge where your whole church reads the same passages.

This creates an experience where people can discuss what they’re learning, encourage one another, and build consistency. It moves Bible reading from something that people do alone to something that they do in community. 

Pro tip: Use a YouVersion Bible Plan and invite your church to read it together through the app. Not only does this build accountability, but it also makes engaging with God’s Word simple and accessible.

Make the Bible Visible

This may sound simple, but when you’re preaching, make sure God’s Word is visible. 

This can look like having a physical Bible in your hands as you speak or showing the verses on the screen. Encourage your attenders to open their Bibles or Bible App during the message.

When your church consistently sees the Bible as the focal point of your teaching, it shows that Scripture is not optional—it’s necessary. 

As you do this simple but powerful step, it creates a culture where your community is allowing the Bible to shape their daily lives. 

Share Stories of Transformation

There’s power in hearing someone’s testimony. When attenders hear about how others have been changed by reading Scripture, it inspires them to be changed by it as well. 

Maybe you have a story about how reading through the book of Matthew radically brought someone to Jesus. Or maybe a couple saw their marriage strengthened as they continued to read and pray verses over each other. Or maybe a teenager discovered their identity in Christ through the Gospels.

Whatever these stories are, share them. When people hear about how the Bible is changing lives, it shows them how the Word is active and alive today. 

Leverage the Bible App

The Bible App from YouVersion is an incredible tool for helping your church engage with God’s Word. With thousands of Bible Plans, devotionals, and versions, it puts Scripture at people’s fingertips with the goal of reaching everyone, everywhere, every day. 

Take this a step further by creating a Church Profile inside the Bible App. With this Profile, your attenders can connect directly with your ministry, follow along with Bible Plans, and engage with weekly content. 

This is a simple but powerful way to meet people where they are and encourage them to keep God’s Word at the center of their daily lives.