American Bible Society: Scripture Reading Has Fallen during the Pandemic

An American Bible Society report shows that Scripture engagement has fallen during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the 10^th annual State of the Bible report, Scripture engagement is directly tied to in-person church participation.

“Faith communities have demonstrated incredible resilience, innovation and empathy through the pandemic. But this survey reveals that a big opportunity still remains for Christian organizations to make an impact on Scripture engagement,” said American Bible Society president and CEO, Robert Briggs.

“Despite nearly every individual in the U.S. having access to the Bible, engagement has decreased. That’s been a consistent trend over the past few years, and the trend has accelerated since January 2020throughout the pandemic. The Church must transition from ‘survival’ mode back into ‘discipleship’ mode, and, yes, that’s going to take even more innovation.”

A 2019 report found that about 35 percent of American adults said they never used the Bible outside of a large church service or mass. In January, that number stayed about the same, but by June 2020, that same number dropped to 31 percent.

Respondents said they found it hard to maintain a study with the Bible during the pandemic as stay-at-home orders and other restrictions closed churches across the nation.

Americans who said they use the Bible daily fell to just one in 10, the lowest number on record…