Reading Plans and Suggestions for group use

Here at the Bible OverBrew we want to help you get into Scripture in a way that works for you. You don’t need to do the whole Bible in a year, we have some other suggested plans, or make up your own. Some people enjoy doing this on their own, but it also works really well to do in a group - see below for some suggestions. So pop the kettle on and get reading…!

Image of coffee cup and Bible

  • Maybe you’ve always wanted to read the whole Bible in a year. With 52 episodes in The Bible OverBrew, we’d love to join you in this journey, doing one episode per week.

    You could do this on your own, or with a group, see below for suggestions.

  • If you aim to do episodes fortnightly, you’ll get through the whole Bible in 2 years. Also, on this plan, after year 1 you’ll have done the whole of the Law and the Prophets, leaving the Writings and the New Testament for the next year. You could carry straight on, or take a break for a bit if you want before starting year 2.

  • If you do just one episode per month, you’ll get through the whole Bible in 4 years. This approach doesn’t require that much time (around 30min per week) but as it will take longer, it would be ideal to commit to doing this with friends or a group from church

  • If you read just 3 minutes per day, you can read the New Testament in a year! We’ve split it into 14 chunks, so that would work out at roughly an episode every 3 weeks or so. Maybe aim for 5 per term? This would be a lovely thing to do with friends or a group from church.

  • The Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) is foundational to the whole Bible story, and you can read it in just 9 ‘weeks’ (i.e. we’ve broken it into 9 sections, but you can read them at your own pace). You could aim to do this over one term, or you could spread this out over the whole year, doing one per month (apart from Dec and July/Aug).

  • Perhaps you’re studying Isaiah in small group, or you’re doing Sunday School in 1 Samuel, or you’ve just always wanted to get into Revelation. Why not just take one book, and using the questions read it slowly and carefully, enjoying letting God’s word dwell in you richly!

  • Reading God’s word is a delight, and a privilege for all Christians. It’s a wonderful thing to be reading the Bible for ourselves, spending time sitting at the feet of Jesus our wonderful saviour. You can find questions and notes to get you into each section of the Bible on the episodes page.

    But it can sometimes be hard if there are parts we don’t understand, or if we don’t know how different sections fit with the overall story. The purpose of our podcast episodes is to be sort of a virtual book group for you, so you can read on your own, but then listen to the podcast as we seek to point to some of the main features each week.

  • We’ve seen it work well for people to commit to read as a group. Using the prep questions and notes, they do the reading in their own time, using one of the plans above, or just setting whatever quantity and frequency works best - weekly? fortnightly? monthly?

    You can choose to listen to the podcast episode in your own time, or you could listen to this when you get together as a group. This might give some structure: you could share some of your own general thoughts and reflections first, then listen to the episode. Then you could come back with further discussion.

    Some groups have used the prep questions as a basis for discussion, others have been more informal, just chatting about whatever you have found most striking.

    Our goal is to be a friend alongside and help and encourage you get into God’s word - so please use these resources in whatever way will help you the most, as together we enjoy the astounding privilege of hearing the voice of our creator and redeemer!