Bible Society Australia’s 2012 Bible reading campaign Live light in 25 words wraps up today, with one in four Australian churches committing to help get their congregations back into the Bible for October.

The campaign encouraging Australian Christians to kickstart a daily Bible reading habit, saw over 9,100 individuals and 2,500 churches commit to reading 25 words (or slightly more) from the Bible every day for 31 days. Over 50,000 Bible reading resources have been downloaded from the campaign website, 25words.biblesociety.org.au.

Bible Society CEO Greg Clarke told Leigh Hatcher on Open House this week he was “absolutely delighted” with the response.

“We knew people wanted to read the Bible, but we knew they were struggling…So what happened here is that we lowered the bar far enough for all of us to say, ‘we can do this, we can do one verse of scripture per day.’”

Bible Society estimates 200,000 Australian Christians have followed along with the campaign in October in some form, either on their own or as part of their committed church.

Radio host from Sydney’s 103.2FM Leigh Hatcher is one of them: “[The verses] have been popping into my inbox each day, and it’s already become a significant part of my day, each day, for me,” he said on air on Sunday night.

“People’s response to the 25 words each day has been that it is ‘heart lightening’, which is exactly what we wanted,” said Clarke.

For those keen to continue to receive 25 words (or roughly 1 verse ) from the Bible every day beyond 31 days, you can opt in to continue by visiting 25words.biblesociety.org.au/Continue.

The Live light in 25 words campaign will be available to any individual or church who would like to kickstart their Bible reading habit for 31 days.

“Any month is a good month to build your Bible habit,” says Greg Clarke.

“You can still sign up past October, and we’ll send the verses out to you every day.”

What’s next?

According to Greg Clarke, Bible Society Australia plans to make every October ‘Bible month’.

“We’d love to keep serving the churches by making a lot of noise about Bible reading around October, so that any church, anywhere can build a program to help their people engage with the Bible. So next October, we’ll back with another campaign.”

Bible Society is also planning a 25 words-style build up to Christmas. “Stay tuned,” says Clarke.