At some point, congregations around the US and much of Europe got bored with their first love, the Bible, and started looking for media and provocative preaching methods to take her place. When we used the Bible, we abused her—through proof texting and de-contextualizing—because she just wasn't fun enough to stand on her own. We never said it outright or signed any divorce papers; we just refocused, quietly dismissing her in the name of relevance or being friendly to those who didn't know her.
We'd like to believe our congregation stopped reading the Bible on their own, and that it isn't our fault. But often we start cheating on the Bible long before our listeners do, even out of good intentions. It's always the right time to reignite your love for the Scriptures and teach your congregation to fall back in love with the Holy Text. Think of the following as an Eight-Step Recovery Program.
1. Start with You
If your congregation isn't in love with the Bible, then your church is in an emergency situation. Maybe your congregation is not in dire straits right now, but if you don't hear discussions about the Bible around every corner in your church, and your Sunday school classes aren't overflowing, then your congregation could need a reintroduction to their old gal.
Putting the Bible in their hands or preaching passage by passage may not be the solution. Nothing can replace authentic passion, and it begins with you, the pastor. Our love for the Bible should flow right into our congregation. When it does, you won't be able to get out the back door of the sanctuary without an onslaught of questions about Jesus, Moses, Elijah and the twelve Minor Prophets.
Sometimes a pastor's fiery passion that blazed hot in Seminary grows cold over the years. It happens to the best of them. If this is happening to you, pray every chance you get that God would help you fall in love with the Bible again. Consider joining a Bible study with people you respect for their biblical knowledge and enthusiasm for studying God's Word. Try going to a Bible-centered conference, not a leadership or prayer conference, but one focused on the Bible and theology. The speakers' zeal will likely excite yours. You might also change up the way you study the Bible: Pick up some handbooks on exegesis or hermeneutics (e.g., Gordon Fee's How to Read the Bible Book by Book or Grant Osborne's The Hermeneutical Spiral), or get some Bible software with a large digital library of resources on everything from the Areopagus to Zerubbabel. Handbooks and Bible software will not only help you study the Bible, but change the way you do it. Every relationship needs variety, and your relationship with the Bible is no exception. Once that fire is rekindled, you will be ready and able to help your congregation.
2. Remember the Past, Prepare for the Future
Remember the story of Hilkiah the priest finding the "Book of the Law" in the temple during the reign of Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:14–33)? The people during Josiah's reign, and several generations prior to it, forgot about God's Word. Here they were, hypocrites who followed after other gods, worshiping the Lord and making sacrifices in His house, while His very convicting words were in the next room collecting dust. The people didn't wake up one morning and think, "I am divorcing God's Word,"—they just went their way, and before they knew it, they had completely forgotten about the divine words spoken to Moses.
