I've seen this work well, and lose steam two months in. Here are some of the things High Desert Church did to make it an incredible year.

The theme of the entire year was Route 66 - The Journey of a Lifetime. Because Route 66 runs near where the church is located, that terminology implies "road trip" and made a ton of sense to the people in the church. It also gave them a degree of perspective–this is a long journey, not a day trip.

Tip: Your theme sets the tone for the entire year. It doesn't matter if you focus on "a year of building discipline" or "a year of reading the Bible for the first time", but you'll want your theme to reflect your focus.

The entire year was broken up into 6 different series, generally breaking up along the major divisions of scripture (Books of the Law, Books of Poetry, Gospels, etc). There were general concepts elevated for each series, but each weekend dealt with either a specific story from that week's Bible reading or a concept that was fairly prominent in the passages.

Tip: How you break up your series can be a way to teach about Scripture. By identifying things like "books of the law, books of poetry, etc", some in the congregation were introduced to those concepts for the first time.

In order to equip the congregation with as many tools as possible, I created a brochure that was handed out at the beginning of the series. This included the entire reading plan with checkboxes for people to track their progress throughout the entire year. The piece helped the congregation get a birds eye view of the challenge they were embracing to read the Bible in a year. In addition to the annual plan brochure, I created smaller versions covering only the reading for each series. This provided people with an easy onramp to jump into the reading plan even if they hadn’t started in the beginning.

Tip: Spend some time thinking of various ways you can equip your congregation to stay engaged. Print pieces with the whole year to check off, daily text messages, social posts, or anything else you can think of. Be willing to do whatever you can to knock down barriers for your congregation.

Because this was such a big value for leadership, we also put together a journal that people could follow along with and write notes in. It included the references for each day’s reading and lined sections for people to write their observations. Each page offered some very general direction (the same prompts were on every page), so those who needed some help to get thinking had a guide. We received really good feedback from those who bought a journal (they were $5 each to cover costs). Because we didn't put days on the pages (only dates), the journals could still work regardless of year.

Tip: Physical journal might not be the best option for your congregation. If you aren't sure what most people would prefer, consider asking through a survey. This let's you get the answer you need to make the best decision while building excitement for the upcoming campaign.

Because I’ve seen an annual reading campaign go well and go poorly, I’ve been able to identify some of the reasons why through contrast. These are the keys I’ve seen that can help make a church wide read through the Bible plan successful.

All-In

Where I’ve seen reading plans fail in the past is when they are a secondary focus for the congregation. The end up coming across as a “you should do this” rather than “we will do this together”. There is great power in the all-in nature of everyone reading the Bible together. It provides accountability, encourages unity, and welcomes young believers into something in a way that is much less intimidating.

I get it!

By covering a passage that was read by the congregation the previous week, we could lean into some of the more complex ideas in the Bible because we knew where everyone was. One of the things that intimidates a lot of people about reading the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, is the fear of not understanding what is going on. We knew when we would encounter those passages, so we could either elevate them on the weekend, or cover them in a midweek video series we called “Roadside Assistance” where we addressed some of the crazy stuff you find in the Bible. We talked a lot about “descriptive vs. prescriptive” early on in the series.

I forgot, but I’ll get back on track

It’s really complicated to hold people accountable for reading their Bible. When everyone is doing this–congregation, staff, leadership, senior pastor, board, etc–and you are talking about it everywhere–small groups, weekends, midweek on social media–it becomes really difficult to forget to read your Bible. And even if you do, you’ll be offered another on ramp the next weekend you attend.

Why did it work?

The major difference I saw with the approach at High Desert Church is that weekend series were built around what everyone was reading. That focus emphasized the importance of this reading plan to the congregation.