Bible engagement in Canada: confidence, conversation, and community

By Sandra Reimer and ChristianWeek | June 25, 2014

A mob of hundreds pressed close to Paul Richardson as he handed out Bibles on a hillside in Ethiopia. “Normally quiet people were pushing and shoving to get a copy of the Scriptures,” says Richardson, executive director of Bible League Canada.

Contrast this desperation with a recent finding, in a 2013 study commissioned by the Canadian Bible Forum and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, that the majority of Canadians either never or seldom read the Bible. This general decline in Bible reading corresponds with a plummet in church attendance. But most concerning, in the survey of 4,500 Canadians, only 14 per cent of Christians report reading their Bibles at least once per week—down from 27 per cent in 1996.

The three factors found to have the greatest positive impact on a person’s engagement with the Bible include: confidence that the Scriptures are divinely inspired, conversations about the Bible outside of worship services, and belonging to a community of believers.

Only 18 per cent of Canadians consider the Bible to be a message from God—down from 35 per cent in 1996. Those who believe the Bible is God’s Word are 10 times as likely to read it frequently.

Maaike (pronounced Make-uh) Anderson, a nurse in her mid-60’s, reads her Bible almost every day. She chose to follow Christ at age 10, but it wasn’t until her mid 20’s that she became convinced the Bible was an important source of truth.

“I went to a doctor because I was depressed,” says Maaike. Through a book the Christian doctor recommended, Maaike realized that the lies she told herself were making her miserable. To keep from becoming disoriented she says she decided to replace these lies with truth from the Bible. “Even though I knew the Bible stories, I needed a reminder of God’s truth daily.”

According to the study, age does not impact the frequency of Bible reading among believers as much as belonging to a Christian community and discussing the Bible outside of worship services.

Jacob Chandler, a 26-year-old engineering graduate who now works as an administrator with a mission organization, reads his Bible several times per week if not daily. Jacob belongs to a church and also lives in community with other Christians in an impoverished neighbourhood in Kitchener, Ontario. “[The Bible] gives me direction and a grounding in what I believe. I use it to connect with God and it guides my prayer life,” says Jacob. He also regularly talks to his fiancée, his roommate, and his neighbours about the Bible.

The Canadian Bible Forum, is a consortium of nine Bible organizations, including Bible League Canada. “The fact that the Bible agencies are working together on this gives me hope,” says Richardson. Each organization will develop their own strategies to increase Bible engagement in Canada but will also collaborate together and with churches.

Bible Engagement Study Highlights

Only 14 per cent of Canadian Christians read their Bibles at least once per week.
Evangelicals account for 43 per cent of all regular Bible readers; mainline Protestants account for 13 per cent; English Catholics 11per cent and French Catholics four per cent.
Sixty nine per cent of Canadians and 50 per cent of Christians believe the Bible contains irreconcilable differences.
Sixty four per cent of Canadians and 60 per cent of Christians believe that the sacred texts of all major religions teach the same principles.

Download the study, Bible apps, ebooks, study guides, and Bible engagement assessments for free at www.bibleengagementstudy.ca.