News from our field
An Impressive Milestone: One Million Completed Bible Reading Plans!
Five years ago, GlobalRize started providing Bible reading plans for the YouVersion Bible app. And now, a wonderful milestone has been reached: after five years, the counter stands at two million reading plans started by subscribers, and one million reading plans completed! Grietje Commelin, writer of reading plans: “God’s love is so amazing that I can easily write about it for several days.”
Reading plans are an excellent tool for your daily Bible reading. And Bible reading is important: “I am convinced that God’s word is more powerful than our own words. That’s why I want people to read the Bible for themselves. Ultimately, that’s the best way to learn more about God and be spiritually nourished,” Grietje explains.
“The reality, however, is that reading the Bible regularly is quite a step for people who are not used to doing so,” the author continues. “Even experienced readers often appreciate having some structure around a particular theme or book of the Bible, with a brief explanation and application. We, and by ‘we’ I mean the team of writers for GlobalRize, always try to add a question or comment that makes people think.”
Topics such as ‘forgiveness’ or ‘eternal life’ and Christian holidays often serve as inspiration for reading plans. In addition, many reading plans deal with life questions. Grietje: “We are convinced that the Bible can provide guidance in this regard. Faith is not only about dogmatic topics such as ‘sin’ and ‘grace,’ but also about everyday life.”
A popular reading plan is “How to survive the storms of life”. The other two plans in the top three are “The Armor of God” and “What is God’s View on Marriage?”
How does a reading plan come about? Where does Grietje get her inspiration? Grietje: “It often happens that I hear a beautiful sermon or read something inspiring that I want to pass on. The plan ‘Boundless Love’, for example. Such a plan is not thought out in detail in advance, but arises almost spontaneously because God’s love is so wonderful that you can easily write about it for several days :). I hope that our readers will also sense something of the wonder and gratitude that I myself experience when writing.”
YouVersion itself is also celebrating a special milestone this year: the app is expected to have been installed one billion times worldwide in November of this year. To mark this occasion, YouVersion has declared November to be Bible Month. And especially for that month, GlobalRize has written two reading plans: ‘30 Days with the Psalms’ and ‘30 Days on Jesus’ Life, Miracles, and Words.’
Would you like to follow a reading plan to make Bible reading part of your daily routine? Download the YouVersion app on your phone. In the app, you can easily find GlobalRize reading plans by typing GlobalRize in the search bar.