I was teaching a group of Ugandan seminary students online when the class coordinator asked me a question that I have often considered in an American context, but had not considered for Christian brothers and sisters in other countries––what about the Old Testament?
He expressed that Christians in Uganda often avoid it, and he wanted to know how he could explain its relevance to believers in his care. He asked me how he and his fellow ministers could foster interest and passion in their church members for reading the Old Testament.
It is tragic that both pastors and lay Christians all over the world have often neglected a section which comprises three-fourths of the Bible. A 2019 Lifeway Research study found that only a third of Protestant church attenders read the Bible every day, with 12% of respondents saying they rarely or never read the Bible. In a 2016 Lifeway Research study, less than half of evangelicals said they had read the entire Bible at least once. As bad as these statistics are, it’s a safe assumption that the numbers would be significantly worse if we specifically asked respondents about their engagement with the Old Testament. Read More
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