Essential 100

As we come to the end of one year and head into the next it is often a time when people feel it is appropriate to make resolutions and set some goals for the coming year. I expect for a lot of Christians this will involve something along the lines of 'to read the Bible and pray more'.


We know these are good things; activities that we will benefit from; and yet each year we struggle to meet the standards and goals that we set ourselves. And I expect for many of us we feel as if we are in the minority in this - that most of the other people in the church are much more disciplined than we are - and this makes us feel even worse about the whole thing and so we end up being motivated by guilt rather than love.

Of course for the majority of the time that the church has been in existence most of the followers of Jesus have not been able to read a Bible, in their own language, or even have access to one. (And in many parts of the world this continues to be the case today.) Therefore any encounters with the Word of God have been done within the context of a group of local disciples.

Doing anything is always easier when we do it with others. Whatever goals we set for 2011 we are more likely to succeed if we do it with other people. Whether it is a diet, a fitness regime, or a desire to read the Bible, we are more likely to succeed with the encouragement and support of others.

This year as a church we are not going to try and read the whole Bible from start to finish. Instead we are going to follow the Essential 100 reading programme - 100 bite sized readings that cover the key stories in the Bible.

We will read five readings a week and then Sunday's message will be based on the previous week's readings. And there are plenty of ways in which you can follow along with others even if you're not part of a church or no one else in your church is involved.

For all the details click here to visit the E100 website.

As well as a list of all the readings (you'll need to download the free 'E100 readings and planner' from the Resources page of the website) and other resources there are links to Twitter, Facebook, blog sites etc. There is also information on how you can access the readings on your mobile phone - and much more. If you want to get involved find a friend somewhere - local church, cell group, online... - and read together.