A Bible-reading plan for Ministers and theological students

It’s the time of year when people start to re-think their Bible-reading plan, and as ever there are lots of great ones available (like this one right here at Kuyperian.com from my friend Brian Nolder). I’ve been chewing over this old chestnut, and for the following year I’m planning (Lord willing) to work through a slightly unusual plan – one designed specifically for Ministers and Theological Students.

You might ask why Ministers and Theological Students need a different Bible-reading plan from anyone else. The simple reason is that Ministers (and everything that follows applies equally to trainee Ministers) should have slightly different aims in our Bible reading from everyone else.

To begin with, we have a responsibility to be reading the Bible more than others in our congregations. Everyone else has to hold down a day job, but full-time Ministers are supported by their congregations precisely so that they can devote ourselves to the ministry of the word and prayer.* It doesn’t seem unreasonable for a Minister of the word to spend an hour or so each day in personal reading and study of the Scriptures – besides the time required for specific preparation. The greatest of our forefathers in the faith would hardly have settled for less; many of them aspired to much more.

For the same reason, we should be in the habit of studying the Scriptures in greater depth than those we serve. This calls for slow, patient study – sometimes many hours on just a few chapters of Scripture, accompanied by a decent commentary or two – and it’s hard to factor this in if our plan simply just gives us half a dozen chapters a day. We may not be able to study every chapter of the Bible on the same detail, but it’d be wise to have some kind of plan for chipping away at it. So alongside the “Reading”, I’d suggest an element of “Study” too.

I’m also inclined to say that a regular dose of Psalms and Proverbs would be a good idea.

Naturally, the time that we have available for reading and studying the Scriptures may not be spread evenly throughout the week. Sometimes a pastoral crisis will erupt at just the wrong moment (is there ever a right moment?), and we all know that once we’ve fallen behind with a daily plan it’s perilously difficult to get back on track. So a daily plan might not be the most helpful; perhaps a weekly plan (with implied daily targets?) may allow us to use the time we have available in the best way.

With all that in mind, here’s the math:

There are 929 chapters in the OT, and 260 in the NT. Subtract the 150 Psalms and chapters 10 to 31 of Proverbs (we’ll be doing them separately – see below), and that leaves 857 in the OT. So 17 chapters of OT and 10 chapters of NT per week will get us comfortably through the whole of the OT once and the NT twice in a year.

Along with this, 7 Psalms a week and 15 verses of Proverbs 10-31 per week will get us easily through the Psalms twice in the year (even once we’ve fiddled around a little with Psalm 119), and gives us plenty of time to chew over those thought-provoking nuggets from the pen of Solomon.

This, then, is the “Reading” element: 17 chs of OT; 10 chs of NT, 7 Psalms and 15 verses of Proverbs each week. If we spread this out evenly throughout the week, we’d easily be able to fit it into 30 minutes per day. I’m planning to use an audio Bible to make sure I keep moving and don’t get bogged down. You can find one from my friend and Fellow-Elder David Field here (get the Android app here).

The “Study” element is simple. Take a chapter of the Bible each week, and spend a few hours reading it, translating it from the original languages if you can, studying it, reading commentaries on it, chasing up intertextual connections, etc. I’m inclined to aim for another 30 minutes or so each day of this.

So then, here’s the plan for Week 1 (you can easily alter the details to suit yourself):

Reading: Gen 1-17; Mt 1-10; Ps 1-7; Prov 10:1-15

Study: 2 Cor 1

I’ll post updates each Friday for the forthcoming week at northlondonchurch.org.

* Of course, some Ministers need to work part-time to earn money to support themselves, alongside serving in their churches. This plan may not be quite so useful to you guys; you have my deepest admiration as you labour in both your callings.

Rev Dr Steve Jeffery is Minister at Emmanuel Evangelical Church, London, England (Blog, Facebook, Twitter)