IGNITE
Bible-Reading Retreats
The Vision
Imagine the people in your sphere of influence falling in love with the Word of God. Imagine yourself falling more in love with God through His Word. Think about the potential for changed lives!
Ignite Bible Reading Retreats foster an environment and create opportunity and space to help people fall in love with the Word of God and the God of the Word by reading the Bible aloud in community.
Learning the Bible is a lifelong undertaking. A weekend in the Word will not substitute for sustained Bible reading and study, but can serve as a catalyst into the Word for some and will cultivate a growing love for the Word in others.
Our hope for this weekend is that God’s people will gain confidence in reading their Bibles, understand God’s Word better by reading large chunks with extended context, and ultimately fall more in love with God through His Word.
Hosting a Retreat
While hosting a reading retreat is relatively simple, we’ve outlined some basics to make your retreat even easier to plan!
Before the Retreat — Logistics
Build a Team. Many hands make light work. While this is a simple retreat to host, there are still enough moving parts that you’ll be grateful to have help. And, hey, throwing a gathering of any type is always more fun when you can plan with friends!
Determine Details.
Date. Choose a weekend that works best for you, your family (particularly if hosting in your home), and your team.
Location will determine if people spend the night, commute, or a combination of both.
If hosting overnight guests, make sure each person has their own bed and that they are informed in advance if they will be sharing a room with others.
Cost. Consider food, materials, and lodging (if outside your home).
Food will be your highest cost factor if you host at your church or at home.
Lodging will be the primary cost if you decide on a retreat center or hotel.
Materials are a variable cost. You may decide to purchase Bibles or journals for your group.
You’ll set your own price for the weekend to help offset your costs. Unless you are paying for lodging, a registration fee of between $50 and $100 should be enough to cover the cost of meals, snacks, and materials plus leave a little over should you decide to provide any scholarships.
Before the Retreat — Content
Before you start inviting people to your retreat, you’ll need to choose your content.
Here are some combinations that we’ve used in past retreats:
Kings to Jesus
Your group will binge the life and times of the kings of Israel and Judah and meet the people in the genealogy of King Jesus, as well as diving into Paul’s prison epistles and an optional reading of the prophet Jeremiah.
Books you’ll read . . .
1 Kings
2 Kings
Matthew
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
Optional: Jeremiah
Suggested resource:
ESV Illuminated Scripture Journal 1 and 2 Kings
($7.99 each, current Amazon price)
($5.29 each, current Christian Book price)
($3.99 each, minimum order is case of 25)
Additional Info for 1/2 Kings:
Have participants mark references to the Kings of Judah in one color pen and Kings of Israel in another color.
Beginnings and Endings
Your group will read the foundational book of Genesis and the writings of the Apostle John (John, 1/2/3 John, and Revelation), as well as Daniel and Hebrews, with an optional reading of Isaiah.
Genesis
John
1 John
2 John
3 John
Revelation
Daniel
Hebrews
Optional: Isaiah
Old and New Covenant
Your group will read through the super-accessible books of Matthew and Proverbs before undertaking one of the most difficult treks in the Bible—Leviticus. Instead of reading straight through, you’ll read Leviticus interlaced with the book of Hebrews and see the wonder of Jesus, the once for all sacrifice, who fulfills the Law and puts an end to the daily sacrifices which could never take away sin. The retreat will end in Paul’s pastoral epistles.
Matthew
Proverbs
Leviticus/Hebrews
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Suggested resource:
Leviticus/Hebrews interlaced books. Email Mary Ann for additional information.
Select, Order, Produce Materials
Bibles
If you have participants whose first language is not English and/or those who struggle with attention deficits, you may want to consider having everyone read from the same translation.
Journals and Pens
Journals and pens are a nice touch, but you can also ask people to bring their own. Here are some that we use:
Bookmark Schedules
Download template to print your Bookmark Schedule here. (To follow)
During the Event
Mixing Groups:
Since reading retreats are a great place to build relationships with one another as well as to deepen our own relationship with the Lord, it can be good to have people read in different groups. This is entirely optional. Here are a few suggestions.
The Lego Method
Have participants draw a Lego out of a bag to determine their reading group for each session by color. Make sure the number of blocks match the number of participants and make sure to have a few spare blocks as someone always walks off with one.
Plan a Rotation
You can plan a rotation to make sure everyone has the opportunity to read with everyone else. This can be helpful if you’re team building and want to make sure everyone mixes at some point.
Let the Chips Fall
The wild west can also work. Let people make their own choices. If you choose to do this, you’ll need to keep an eye open for those who may need a little more help fitting in.
Additional Info:
Taking Breaks
The only scheduled breaks are typically between sessions, but most groups will want to take an additional break or two so people can use the washroom, stretch and get snacks. Prompt them to do this at their discretion.
Extra Supplies and Niceties
You may want to have some of these on hand for day guests:
pens, pencils, colored pencils
a basket of reading glasses
extra Bibles – any translation
hand sanitizers
boxes of Kleenex
notecards with wifi access info
If you’re hosting overnight guests, expect that someone will forget shampoo, conditioner, soap, or tootbrush/paste.
Food Wrangling:
Ready Food Items
If having food catered, call nearby places for prices and when to place order.
Best to have delivered or have one person pick up
If preparing food yourself, plan simple menu (ready some ideas and recipes)
Consider what can be made ahead and frozen
Consider inviting someone to do this for you
Consider attendees helping prepare the meal
Consider attendees bringing some components for the meal and everyone helps put it together – ex. salad ingredients.
Make plans to accommodate dietary restrictions. The more gluten-free and vegetarian options you have that are acceptable to the general population, the less headaches you’ll deal with.
Opening Home?
Clean and tidy the home the week before so the week of the retreat the cleaning is light.
Time to Invite:
Consider getting a definite yes/no from attendees so you can continue to invite people until you have reached capacity.
Consider asking
for allergies – food and pet if hosting in your home
for mobility issues – wheelchair or walker accessibility
if English is a second language – so you can plan to read in the same translation if needed
Sometimes this is best left to people attending asking you about allergies and mobility. Most people with these limitations, will plan accordingly.
How It Looks:
Here is a sample schedule that you can adapt as needed.
Friday Night
4:00 to 6:00 p.m. — Arrival and Dinner
Overnight guests arrive between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. in order to get settled in the rooms.
Commuting guests arrive anytime after 5:00 p.m. with dinner being served at 6:00 p.m.
Dinner clean-up by attendees or assigned person.
You’ll begin reading at 7:00 p.m. so consider setting a 6:45 p.m. alarm to remind you to put up food and encourage final restroom breaks. Final kitchen clean up can be done after 9:30 p.m.
7:00 to 9:30 p.m. — Reading Session
Pray as a large group before starting.
Break into groups.
Begin reading at 7:00 p.m.
Take turns reading through the book with each person reading a chapter.
If anyone is uncomfortable with content—for example a long list of names—they can pass and the next person will pick up.
Take short breaks as needed.
Saturday
7:30 to 8:00 a.m. — Continental Breakfast
Breakfast should be light and easy like granola, yogurt, smoothies, egg casserole
If you make this heavy, people are not hungry for lunch
8:00 to 11:30 a.m. — Morning Reading Session
Take turns reading through the book with each person reading a chapter.
Take short breaks as needed.
11:30 to 12:30 p.m. — Lunch
Prepare something simple, cater in, or go out.
12:30 to 2:30 p.m. — Afternoon Reading Session #1 (optional)
2:30 to 4:00 p.m.— Break
People may choose to go for a walk, take a catnap, or simply rest and chat.
4:00 to 6:00 p.m. — Afternoon Reading Session #2 (optional)
NOTE: During the afternoon session, some people need a little more of a break. Let guests know that they can opt out of either the early or later afternoon session if they need a longer break.
6:00 to 7:00 p.m. — Dinner
Prepare something simple, cater in, or go out.
7:00 to 9:00 p.m. — Evening Reading Session
9:00 to 10:00 p.m. — Debrief and Share
This time will not be content focused. It will focus on the experience of reading extended portions of Scripture in context.
For a discussion guide, click here (to follow).
FAQ and Common Concerns
Does everyone have to have the same Bible?
We encourage people to use their favorite translation (NASB, ESV, KJV, CSB, NET, RSV, NIV, NLT, etc.) and to announce what version they are reading every time they switch groups. Please discourage the use of paraphrases (The Passion “Translation,” The Message, The Living Bible, etc.) as they are difficult for other readers to follow along and they introduce too much interpretation into the process.
Won’t people be confused if we don’t stop to “study”?
During a reading weekend, participants will read more than they will fully understand, but because of the power of context paired with the speed of intake, most will understand more than they’d ever expect to! Parts of Scripture that are hard to understand, reading a chapter at a time, often clear up when a work is read in its entirety in one sitting.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer the questions that may come up. What do I do?!
You keep directing people back to the text. You will be amazed at how many questions answer themselves as you keep reading. You are all learning together so explain up front that you are not there to be the answer person.
I’m not a cook. Do I have to provide food?
No, you can have people arrive after breakfast, do a lunch together at a restaurant then take out for dinner.
What if someone wants to attend but has a reading issue?
Invite them to join in by listening!
Will people be frustrated if we don’t stop to “study”?
With simple “set ups” of content, you’ll be providing the basis for further study by reading the full context.
How many should I invite?
Consider:
How much space you have.
People are reading out loud, therefore, the noise should not run over into another’s group so as to be distracting or hard to hear.
Each reading group should be no larger than 4 to 5 people in order to maintain engagement.
I think I can host a couple of groups in my home, but I am concerned that the noise of one group might run over into the other group.
Use some ambient music or nature sounds very low in the background to help block sound carrying from group to group.