Popular church-wide campaign helps people of all ages understand the big ideas of the Bible
In less than a year, more than 1,000 churches in the US have decided to BELIEVE. This book-turned-church-wide experience has engaged congregations in every state and in every denomination to better understand the Bible’s key beliefs, practices, and virtues. BELIEVE: Living the Story of the Bible to Become Like Jesus (Zondervan, 2015) takes all 66 books of the Bible and breaks them down into 30 big ideas, for all ages to easily understand and apply their faith.
“The number one thing people want from their church is help understanding the Bible,” said Randy Frazee (@RandyFrazee), senior minister of Oak Hill Church in San Antonio, TX and general editor of BELIEVE (website). “We designed the BELIEVE experience to help Christians dig into Scripture to answer three significant questions: What do I believe? What should I do? And, Who am I becoming?”
“Christians want to think, act, and be more like Jesus,” Frazee added. “That’s why BELIEVE has caught on the way it has. Christians are experiencing the unifying, clarifying, energizing, transforming effect of reading God’s Word and truly understanding and applying it. It’s so exciting!”
[Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, ‘The Story’ is Improving Bible Literacy in Churches: An Interview with Shelley Leith]
BELIEVE is published by Zondervan, whose 2005 abridged, chronological Bible The Story (Zondervan, 2011) (website) (@TheStoryLives) has sold more than 6 million copies of its church campaign resources. The Story uses Scripture to chronicle the Bible in 31 short chapters, all of which point to its main theme: the story of God’s love. More than 5,000 churches around the world have experienced The Story together, bringing people to a deeper understanding of the Bible’s broader themes.
“With The Story, we knew engaging everyone from toddlers to seniors with the one grand love story of God would be life changing,” said Frazee. “But what we didn’t expect was the church congregations’ growth. At Oak Hills Church, our attendance grew 23 percent that year!”
Like The Story, the BELIEVE experience includes books of carefully selected Scripture for adults, students, and kids, and curriculum for every age group. All editions of BELIEVE are designed to be read together as a family, study group, or entire church.
“I am humbled by the response to BELIEVE,” said Beth Murphy, senior director of ChurchSource for HarperCollins Christian Publishing. “So often, Christians are defined by what we’re against. It’s wonderful to see churches from around the world and across denominations, unified in this vision of declaring what we’re for; knowing what the Bible teaches, what we as Christians believe, and how living out of our beliefs transforms not just our actions, but our character. What I love about BELIEVE is that gives every ministry in the church the tools for deep discipleship, and lives are being changed.”
If you’re interested in requesting a Church Resource Kit for review, please call ChurchSource at 800-727-3480, or visit BelieveTheStory.com/KitTrial.