Positive Poll on Bible Reading and What It Means

An organization I don’t endorse, but one that does result in some good is the American Bible Society, and it did a study to find out about the frequency of Bible reading, which came out on April 10, 2025. The society has done it before, and they report that in comparison Bible reading in the United States increased. The study found a significant increase in Bible use among Millennials (29% increase from 2024 to 2025) and men (19% increase). Scripture engagement, defined as a deeper exploration of interactions with the Bible, also increased, with younger people leading this shift. Gen Z (born 1997-2012) saw an increase from 11% to 15% in 2025, and Millennials (born 1981-1996) saw a similar shift from 12% to 17%. A significant portion of Americans (51%) express a desire to read the Bible more often.

I report this study to you, because it could encourage you in the work of the Lord. Something is trending upward, doing better, right now. Someone might say that some kind of spiritual effect is occurring for whatever reasons that we might speculate. Perhaps people feel more freedom right now and the stands taken by others have given them permission to step out or step forward. Maybe you sense the same thing happening. One could call it an opportunity and so strike while the iron is hot.

What I’ve noticed personally is that it doesn’t translate right now so much to increased church attendance, even though it should. Instead, it results in people in secular places talking about spiritual things in a more common way. For a decade or so, something call “new atheism” was growing and now that movement seems to have shriveled and died. It’s okay now in a greater way to say you believe and practice the Bible. To do that, you need to read it and know it.