Reading the Whole Bible With Friends Using the YouVersion App
I've been reading through the Bible with a small group of friends using an app called YouVersion. It's been a great way to read this book that I probably wouldn't read on my own.
What is YouVersion?
YouVersion is a Bible reading app that has a bunch of different reading plans you can do. Most of them are like little devotionals with Bible readings added. You can do them on your own or you can invite friends to do them together with you.
There are other parts to the app, but this is the part that I use.
How do the reading plans work?
A reading plan will go for a certain set number of days where each day there's a short reading and then a small space to share a thought about it. In our case, a reading plan breaks up a particular book of the Bible so that we read it through one chapter a day.
The comments section is where we can share some of our thoughts on the chapter. It's not for debates or essay-length answers. Mostly we write short posts about the things that we're noticing as we read, parts we liked or didn't like, questions it raised for us, that kind of thing.
This way it's not a huge investment in time either. I'm not spending hours reading through everyone's opinions, but there's enough there to create the experience of reading something together. The whole process takes only about 3-5 minutes per day. Though we also get together in-person every once in a while for longer discussions, too.
Reading books with friends online
The Bible can be a challenge to read all the way through, but reading it this way, with a group of friends you can share your reactions with, actually makes it pretty fun.
I really doubt I'd be able to read through a book like this all on my own. Though the Bible does have some really fascinating stories, it's also really long, there's a lot of weird parts in it that don't make a lot of sense, and there's a lot of boring lists of names and antiquated rules, too. Without having other people to read it with the way we are, I think most of the book would pass over me without having much of an impact, which would also increase the chances that I would give up.
But reading it with friends like this makes it easier. Even if the chapter that day is boring or confusing or whatever, knowing that my other friends are reading the same thing at the same time makes it more exciting and interesting. I look forward to hearing how they're responding to it and I look forward to sharing what I think about it with them.
It makes the readings more memorable, too. Building in a small amount of dialog around what we're reading helps me to absorb and retain it more, much more than I would if I were reading it on my own. And it motivates me to pay closer attention to what I'm reading so I can be part of the conversation about it.
Picking the right group
This isn't a discussion group with hundreds of anonymous strangers. It's by invite only, and the group of us have built a level of trust and familiarity with each other over the years which has been a great thing to be a part of.
The Bible has some controversial stuff in it and it raises some uncomfortable questions sometimes. But we all respect each other and everyone has the space to respond in whatever way we choose. No one is interested in starting an argument or signaling about how morally virtuous their opinions are. It's a small, private space and doesn't have the perverse incentives that are built into other social media apps.
Comparison with other book clubs
This type of book club is a bit lighter and more casual than others, which I like. Though I do enjoy being part of more formal book clubs where you meet with the group in person to discuss the book, it's nice to have an option like this where you still get to enjoy the experience of reading a book with other people, but you're not having to spend so much time coordinating schedules and going to meetings. Sometimes it's nice to just be able to share a few thoughts with a couple other people as you're reading, and that's it.
I think it would be great to be able to read other books this way. A little book club where you can read together with other people and share some ideas and reactions as you go.
A similar book club for the history book reading list?
I'm particularly interested in doing something like this with the history book list I'm reading. I'm not too sure yet if there's a good platform that already exists for something like that. The YouVersion app is only for reading the Bible. Plus with other books you would probably want to schedule the readings differently. Maybe a chapter or two per week, not a chapter a day.
Anyway, it's been a great way to read the Bible, for those who are interested in doing that. I will keep exploring ideas of how to do something similar with other books, too.