Guide to Creating Bible Reading Plans for Church Bulletins

Church Bulletins Effectively Reach Your Congregation

A church bulletin has always been a powerful way for a church to directly communicate with its congregation. A well-designed, informative church bulletin handed out by your greeters can help new members feel immediately welcomed, as well as to follow along with your service and immediately learn about your church community. It also helps regular members stay up-to-date.

But a church bulletin insert can also include information that your congregation can use as a reference between worship services. Prayer lists, events calendars and weekly readings can all help your members stay in touch with the Word of God throughout the week, not just on Sunday mornings. A church bulletin is an ideal medium to share a weekly Bible reading plan with your entire congregation. Including a weekly Bible reading plan in your church bulletin helps your members immerse themselves in the Bible each day through the week, learn important scripture lessons and even memorize verses together as a unified body. A weekly Bible reading plan insert can be a powerful addition to your church bulletin, and it's easy to implement with a little pre-planning and organization.

Organizing Your Readings

You have many options for weekly scripture readings, depending on the needs of your ministry and the immediate needs of your congregation. Some of the approaches you can take are outlined below.

• You can read the entire Bible from beginning to end with your congregation by dividing the Bible into 52 equal parts - one for each week of the year. Then, set aside each part sequentially for each week of the church calendar year to print in your church bulletin.
• You can read a portion of both the New and Old Testament each day, dividing each into 52 weekly readings, so that your members can read a portion of each every day.
• Read through just the New Testament, and include one Proverb and one Psalm reading each day. There are 31 chapters of Proverbs and roughly 3 times as many Psalms, so choosing what Proverbs and Psalms to include each day is a pretty straightforward matter. Many people correspond the day of the month to the Proverb they read. For example, you'd read Proverbs 5 on March 5, Proverbs 6 on March 6, and so on.
• Use a chronological reading plan, which you can find online, to immerse your members in the rich historical picture of Biblical events by reading the entire Bible in the approximate order that each chapter was written.
• Correspond your readings to the seasons and church holidays as an alternative to a whole-Bible approach. These holidays include Easter, Lent, Advent, Thanksgiving, Christmas and any other occasions that are spiritually significant to your church and ministry. Select relevant themes and corresponding passages, then divide the selections into equal parts to cover the entire holiday season.
  

Once you've chosen the type of reading plan you'd like to use, and you've selected the passages you'll include in your bulletin for the week, divide each portion into daily readings. Some people like a five- or six-day reading plan with one or two days off to catch up, and others prefer a seven-day daily Bible plan. Choose which course you'd like for your congregation's Bible reading plan, and divide the selected readings accordingly.

Then, divide the number of verses in your selection by the number of days in your reading plan. For example, if your selected passage has 40 verses and you've chosen a five-day reading plan, you will end up with five readings of roughly eight verses each. These five readings of eight verses each will comprise your weekly Bible reading plan.

Creating Your Plan

Once you know what your weekly Bible reading plan will look like, you'll need to decide how you're going to share it with your congregation. Here are a few basic ways you can share your reading plan with the members of your church.

1. Create a separate document with your entire reading plan for the year or season. This has the advantage of doubling as a publication for your church members to hand out to visitors throughout the week, not just on Sundays, independent of your bulletin. However, this approach may be somewhat wasteful, in that your returning members are sure to get multiple copies.
   
   
2. Make space in the current bulletin layout for the week's reading plan. You may need to add an additional page, make the fonts smaller or remove or reword the existing sections. The best place to put your reading plan is on the back of the bulletin, so that it's easily accessible to its readers and they don't have to fumble and flip through any pages to find it.
   
   
3. Create an insert in a word-processing program to tuck into the church bulletin if there is no room on your regular bulletin layout for so much new information. Use a free template available on the Internet, or create your own by creating columns in a word processing document to fit your bulletin. Include the insert as a regular part of your printing and compilation process for your bulletin.
   
   
4. Include the reading plan in a bookmark. Create a bookmark in narrow columns on a Word processing program, include a bullet-point list of the week's readings. Print the insert on colored paper, then cut each column into strips. This is an especially fun option, as your congregation can use the inserts as bookmarks for their Bibles, which will help them keep track of the readings all week long.
   

Be sure to tell your congregation about the new Bible reading plans included in the bulletin by mentioning them in your service's morning announcements, and actively mention and include the reading plan in your ministry. Reading the Bible together as a congregation can be powerfully unifying for a church community. With a little creativity, you can provide your church members with some straightforward guidance and leadership in this area through your church bulletin. Please feel free to share some of your favorite ways to encourage your fellow believers to regularly read the Bible together in the comments!