Most churches have a small contingent of people who faithfully read the Bible every day or two. These are the “Bible engaged.” Then there’s a larger crowd of those who never get around to it, despite their best intentions. As leaders, there’s only so much we can do. At some point, they need to decide to engage with Scripture for themselves. But are there any unnecessary obstacles that keep them from fully engaging? What can we do to clear the way?

Do people have a translation they understand?

For many churchgoers, the Bible they have at home is written in language 400 years old. As a leader, you may need to give them explicit permission to update. But some 20th-century versions are also hard to get through, especially for those with low reading skills. Maybe English is a second language for some folks in your church; they can follow it, but it’s a chore. Do they have the Scriptures in their heart-language? As you seek to improve the Bible engagement in your congregation, don’t overlook this basic issue. Do all you can to ensure that, when people do open the Word, they know what they’re reading.

Does the Bible fit the technology of their lives?

People drive by GPS, read magazines on Kindle, play games on the Internet, and watch movies on their phones. But when it’s time to read the Bible, we still generally expect them to take a book off the shelf. Maybe your congregation has already discovered some of the many electronic Bible-reading resources available—but maybe not. Could this be a research project for the whole church, or maybe for your tech team (or the teenage hacker slouching on the back pew)? Find what’s available and share the knowledge.

How does Bible reading sync with their schedules, personalities, and families?

A lot of church leaders are “morning people.” They trumpet the blessings of rising before the sun does and reading five Bible chapters before breakfast. But setting that as a standard might just make others feel guilty, especially if they like sleeping late. Instead of imposing a certain structure on people’s lives, can we help them find the times in their schedule when they could spend quality moments with the Word? Over coffee when the baby’s napping, through headphones during a post-lunch walk, from a Bible-on-CD or MP3 during a long car commute, or in a quiet review after the nightly news—we can push the intentionality and discipline it takes to devote these times to the Lord while allowing for the uniqueness of each schedule.

What motivates people most effectively?

Guilt? A desire for self-improvement? Delight? Curiosity? Or maybe our culture’s newly minted FOMO—the Fear of Missing Out? All of these can be powerful drivers, and some of them have drawbacks. What do your people respond to? Have you overused one method and sapped its strength? Is it time to try a new tack? Could you teach about the most delightful passages in Scripture, or the most curious? Could you create a buzz about certain Bible verses on social media that activates the FOMO impulse?

How do you deal with questions?

Questions can frustrate some Bible readers. When reading Jonah, it helps to know where—and what—Nineveh was. Why did Jesus tell people not to talk about what he did for them? How could Paul tell women to keep silent in church when in the same letter he tells female speakers to cover their heads? Do we need to follow any of those directions today? Sometimes Bible reading can seem like you’re starting halfway through a TV serial—who are all these people and what got them here? Sometimes it feels like you’re reading other people’s mail (which you are). Whether factual or philosophical, questions can stop a reader cold, but good responses can energize and equip.

Part of your job as a Bible engagement leader might be to provide adequate resources to address the questions people have—study Bibles, Bible dictionaries, helpful websites, and the like. People will look to you to recommend trustworthy material. You might also want to create a system for answering theological and interpretive queries, whether through a grid of small-group leaders, assistant pastors, or your own accessibility. You don’t need to have all the answers, but you want to guide readers through swamps. You don’t ever want to hear, “I tried reading the Bible. I didn’t get it. So I stopped.”