The Power of Bible Engagement
Engage Discipleship is about getting people engaged with the scriptures in a relational and intergenerational way. We train people in a Bible-centered model because the primary way we encounter God and grow in our relationship with Him is through His word. We know that once people learn to study the Bible with someone else, they are better equipped to read it on their own and gain greater value from it.
Studies show that Christians who engage with the Bible four times or more a week are significantly different from those who are less engaged with scripture. The research bears this out in many areas. Here are just three.
Church attendance
Gallup (2024): Among people who are official members of a congregation, about 42% attend weekly or almost weekly.
Pew Research Center (2023–2024): Among self-identified Christians who are members of a congregation, 39% attend at least once a week.
Most church members attend Sunday services 2–3 times a month at best; only about 1 in 3 are true weekly attenders. Obviously, we want to see the majority of our people attending church every Sunday.
How can we increase the frequency of our members' Sunday attendance? According to research, one way is to increase scripture engagement among our people. Why would that impact church attendance? Higher levels of Bible engagement correlate with more regular attendance; Lifeway Research notes that scripture-engaged adults attend 2–3x more frequently than the average church member. The State of the Bible report (2025) indicates that those who are very engaged with scripture have a much higher level of engagement with their church, not only in attendance but across several measures.
Giving
Chapter 8 of the State of the Bible 2025 emphasizes how Scripture engagement fosters generosity in time, energy, and finances. Scripture-engaged donors give a median of 4x more than disengaged donors. 86% of Bible-engaged people donate to charity/church vs. 51% of disengaged people.
The research suggests that to increase giving in our congregations, we ought to get more people into regular Bible engagement. We can try to persuade people to read their Bibles more regularly, or we can help them engage with scripture through relational, generational discipleship. Both are worthy of our energy but the latter will be more appealing to many due to the relational aspect.
Mental Health
Chapter 4 of the State of the Bible 2025 positions Bible engagement as a superior tool for mental resilience, outperforming meditation, socializing, or exercise in reducing stress, anxiety, and loneliness. Weekly engagement links to lower anxiety and stronger resilience, with Bible-connected individuals 20–30% less likely to report high stress. Bible study in a relational context reduces loneliness by over 50%, according to a 2024 Baptist Press study integrating SOTB data.
The idea that we can help people improve their mental and emotional well-being while also aiding their personal spiritual growth is fantastic. It is a win-win situation! Engage Discipleship would love to help you train your church members to read scripture together and become disciples who make disciples.