If you are just starting out learning about the Bible and Christianity or trying to help someone get a good start, it can get overwhelming pretty fast.

Not only is the Bible big, it’s not actually just one book.  The Bible contains sixty-six different books that are written by different people, from different perspectives, in different times and circumstances, for different purposes.  It contains almost every type of writing you can think of – histories, allegories, parables, songs, proverbs, poetry, letters, genealogies, and even this very strange one called apocalyptic literature.

It can be pretty intimidating and overwhelming for some people.  This is unfortunate, because it is a wonderful gift from God to teach us how life works best, to show us how much God loves us, and what life is really all about.

So, after years of trial and error on helping people get a good start on understanding the Bible, here is the advice we give people.

Start with The Song: The Story of our Hope & Rescue and then read The Jesus Story Book Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.  The first book is a children’s book I wrote to communicate the Christian message in a way that everyone could understand.  The Jesus Story Book Bible is amazing!  Yes, I know it is a children’s Bible with pictures (really great ones), but it is so much more than that.  It does an amazing job of telling not only the stories in the Bible but THE STORY of the Bible.  We give these books to people and encourage them to read it through a couple of times before they move onto something else.

There are so many great things about starting out this way.  It isn’t intimidating at all.  It helps people approach the Bible later on with a better understanding of where what they are reading fits into the overarching story and what it could mean about God and their life.  Also, this is absolutely something that a parent can begin reading with their kids.  A whole family could start the journey together.

After that we encourage people to get a study Bible (or we just get them one).  There are a ton of great ones out there but we really like the The Learning Bible in the Contemporary English Version.  Starting with a Bible that is in a translation that is easy to understand like CEV is huge.  There are no extra points given for reading the Bible in a more challenging translation like the King James Version.  Getting a Bible that is a good study Bible that provides good insight, questions, and commentary as you read along is a huge help as well.

We encourage people to start reading a chapter a day in the book of Matthew or Luke.  I’m sure someone could make an argument for starting out in Genesis or Exodus, or Romans, but Jesus is the center of our faith.  We read all the rest of the Bible through the lens of his life and teachings.  When we are learning to live the Way of Jesus and live the Christian Life, it just makes a lot of sense to start out learning more about Jesus.

Getting started with the Bible is an exciting and life changing journey to either embark on or help someone embark on.

Wherever you are on your journey, I hope this is helpful!

[Also check out – How To Read The Bible Like a Christian]