About twelve people from our church gathered on Friday night to read the Book of Acts out loud. We all were not completely sure what to expect. As the facilitator, even I wasn’t sure how it would come off since it was the first time I had led a Bible read through. By the end of the night, people would say things like, “Let’s do this more often.”

The people who came learned more in that three hours by simply reading the Bible together then I could ever have taught them in three hours. As we read, we were all continually impressed that the story of Acts is true, and the God we believe in authored and willed the events to happen.

I have heard from my professors that “the Bible is meant to be read.” After Friday, I would add that the Bible is meant to be heard. It struck me as I realized that in ancient times the high cost of producing a Bible generally meant that there was only one Bible in a congregration, and I realized that the the authors of Scripture wrote to an audience where they expected the Bible to be read out loud. It’s no wonder that Scripture is written so concisely and that it repeats its message over and over again. The authors of Scripture repeated themselves so their message would be memorable for those who listened.

I’m grateful that twelve people sacrificed their Friday night to spend quality time reading the Bible with a group of people. I’m grateful that God harvested an idea in my head that became such a huge blessing for other people. I pray there will be more opportunities to read the Bible out loud in a community.