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life. But discovering your take faith on your part. Whether forgotten, afraid, or uninspired, give you the tools you need custom-made dream God outlines from Rick Warren

How do you approach prayer? Do you see it as an obligation to check off a to-do list? Do you think of it as a last resort—a kind of supernatural SOS when you need help? Pray First is a revolutionary study for anyone who wants to experience a dynamic, intimate prayer life with God.

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Bible engagement is at an all-time low…but we can do something about it!

POINT YOUR PHONE CAMERA HERE to shop Bible engagement tools to help your people

Dear Pastor,

The passion of every pastor I know is to help people to be like Jesus. The question becomes “How?” What is the most effective approach to make this a reality in people’s lives?

I have the privilege to involved in the largest body of research ever done on this very topic.1 It simply asked people what has moved them forward in their spiritual journey. Instead of guessing, we now know the answer:

The #1 catalyst for spiritual growth is Bible engagement with no close second.

No matter where on the spiritual continuum people identified themselves, they all cited engagement in God’s Word as the key experience that moved them closer to becoming like Jesus. Nothing else comes close. With this kind of intel, we need to put the majority of our energy in this space.

Here is the second major takeaway from the research:

The #1 thing people want from their church is to help them understand the Bible. For years I have tried to be clever and creative with sermon series and titles. There was one season where I developed all my teaching from popular TV shows. Turns out, the people just want what I was trained to give them—practical teaching from the Bible that will help them live out the life God intended for them.

American Bible Society concludes in their State of the Bible USA 2023 report, “When people engage deeply with the Bible, their lives are better, their relationships are better, and they flourish.” They note that while “Scripture engagement among American adults fell by 4 percent from 49 million to only 47 million,” those who are Bible friendly and open to reading the Bible—the Moveable Middle—has grown by 15 percent, to nearly 76 million.2

We can choose to be discouraged by the declines in Bible engagement or we can let this motivate us to action, to equip our church members and reach the Moveable Middle in our communities.

This is our time in history to be leaders and shepherds. Let’s declare together, “Not on our watch!” Let’s give the people what they most need and what they most want—to engage God’s Word so they can be like Jesus!

Your partner in ministry,

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