A new LifeWay Research study showed that the vast majority of churchgoers “desire to please and honor Jesus in they do,” but only 19 percent read the Bible every day, and only a quarter of them even read it a few times per week.
Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, commented on these findings: “Bible engagement has an impact in just about every area of spiritual growth…You can follow Christ and see Christianity as your source of truth, but if that truth does not permeate your thoughts, aspirations and actions, you are not fully engaging the truth.”
Fourteen percent of those surveyed said they read the Bible “once a week” and another 22 percent read it “at least once per month.”
This LifeWay study, according to the report, is the largest discipleship study of its kind, studying eight attributes of spiritual maturity. The results of the study produced LifeWay’s Transformational Discipleship Assessment, designed to measure spiritual growth in each developmental area.
“God’s Word is truth, so it should come as no surprise that reading and studying the Bible are still the activities that have the most impact on growth in this attribute of spiritual maturity,” Stetzer continued. “As basic as that is, there are still numerous churchgoers who are not reading the Bible regularly. You simply won’t grow if you don’t know God and spend time in God’s Word.”
