For more than 85 years, Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODBM) has created and distributed resources to help people worldwide dig into Scripture. However, last year ODBM wanted to take its mission a step further and fuel a Bible engagement movement across the globe.
To achieve this, we knew we’d need to understand the habits and hearts of Christians today.
That’s why in July of 2023, we acquired the Center for Bible Engagement (CBE), a research organization dedicated to developing methods, studies, and resources to help people engage with the Bible.
“This partnership will help us achieve our goal of creating meaningful spiritual growth journeys as we seek to fuel a global Bible engagement movement,” said ODBM President and CEO Matt Lucas.
Since its inception in 2003, CBE has surveyed more than 650,000 people worldwide about their spiritual lives.
Much of their research attempts to explain the truth about Bible reading in America: although nearly 9 out of 10 Americans own a Bible, most aren’t actually reading it.
CBE found from surveying 8,665 research participants that a variety of factors can prevent someone from digging into Scripture, including the absence of daily routine, lack of social support, and boredom.
“I think one of the main issues is that I don’t always know the best way to go about reading the Bible and having it apply/affect my life,” responded one participant. “This along with time and energy. However, none of these are good, just excuses.”
However, CBE has also identified factors associated with frequent and consistent Bible reading, including following a reading plan, reading Scripture as a family, and studying God’s Word in a group.
The CBE team consists of Senior Vice President of Global Content Tim Laniak, Senior Director of Bible Engagement J.R. Hudberg, Researcher Abigail Doolen, Senior Director of Learning Innovation Darryl Meekins, Project Manager Emma Bruursema, and Research Copywriting Specialist Marianne Davis. Together, they use findings like these to assist ODBM global offices.
“We want to help ODBM’s offices better understand opportunities to reach their communities,” they said. “We can make specific topic recommendations based on our research to help ODBM break down spiritual barriers.”
They’ve already been able to collaborate with ODBM offices in the United Kingdom, India, and Brazil, and they’re also currently building a Spiritual Journey Accelerator tool that will help churches better understand their members’ spiritual makeup and encourage evangelism, discipleship, and Bible reading. It will also direct people to personalized ODBM resources to support spiritual growth.
“CBE is at the heart of ODBM’s mission: to fuel Bible engagement,” the team said. “Our role is to assist the ministry in its desire to become more research-based in its efforts to fulfill this mission.”
To learn more about the Center for Bible Engagement and check out more of its research, check out the link below.
