Christian leaders have envisioned 2020 as the ‘Year of the Bible’ for millions of people around the world. Nick Hall is the founder of #YearoftheBible. He has said it is the most influential and misunderstood book in history and the movement simply would ask people, “Look to the Bible for yourself, and what if this was your year to be inspired?”
“Everything about our faith is built on Scripture but so many of our lives aren’t,” he said. “We live our lives based off of good ideas or good talks; even going to church isn’t enough. If you go to church and all you do is listen to podcasts, you’re missing out. You need daily bread. God wants to speak to you. Nick is also the founder of PULSE, the CEO of Table Coalition, and the visionary of Together 2020.
He has joined forces with Frances Chan. He said he was inspired by a conversation he had with Chan about how the reading of Scripture could unite the church in America and solve a lot of issues plaguing the country.
Frances Chan has said “What if we had a year where all the believers in America, even unbelievers read this book? This is the most-read book in all of human history. Don’t you want to read it through before you die? Read this, and let’s talk about it. What if we could get everyone on board if all the Christians were reading it, so that any believer I came up to, I could have the same conversation about the book rather than the weather or sports. That’s where we would get unity.”
A Bible reading plan through YouVersion has been launched on the Bible App called “Together in Scripture.” The goal is to read through shorter books of the Bible with other people. YouVersion is partnering with the Bible Project, which is a group that makes videos to help people understand what they’re reading. “Together in Scripture” already has over 1,000 completions.
The Bible Recap is for people who want to chronologically read the Bible in a year. Approximately 20,000 churches have already joined, which includes a podcast to help with reading. The Public Reading of Scripture facilitates a way for people to gather for public readings. For the Millennials, a ministry called Streetlights offers books of the Bible with spoken word and hip-hop music.
Alabaster, the company that redesigned the Bible for millennials has been partnering with the Year of the Bible. It’s personal for co-founder Brian Chung, who has said he became a Christian his freshman year in college. Chung has said “I remember reading and having the words relate to me on a deep level. It was a powerful moment I never knew was possible. As I applied the teachings, I started seeing a positive transformation in myself and the people around me,”
These Christian leaders have been joining resources to help believers and nonbelievers engage with scripture more. The movement has gained support from Ravi Zacharias, Pope Francis and over 20,000 churches and ministry organizations in more than 100 nations.
The Move Closer App has also been launched with content from many world leaders which include Hall, Chan, and Zacharias. The aim is to produce peer-to-peer discipleship.
In Partnership with Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., and concluding at Together 2020 at the Lincoln Memorial in June of 2020, the hope is to gather 200,000 people and bring a revival back to God’s Word.
