Get ready for Christmas!

It's time to start getting ready for Christmas! Not only by doing your Christmas shopping, or sending out cards, or planning your Christmas dinner. Don't forget this December to spend some time with the One who made Christmas possible in the first place. It's His birthday, after all.

Christmas booklets in English: click here

Libros de Navidad en español: haz clic aquí

Spend November with young people in the Bible

The Bible is full of true stories about children and teenagers who knew and followed God. Their adventures and experiences can be a real example and encouragement for us. You can read about three of them in this month's Bible reading booklets.

Click here for the booklet in English: Challenge 2013 November

Haz clic aquí para descargar el libro en español: Reto 2013 noviembre

Meet the minor prophets!!

Libro de octubre en español: haz clic aquí

October booklet in English: click here

Following Jesus in 2013...

It's September! If you've been using Challenge 2013 for the past eight months, you have already completed the "twenty" part: you have read from 20 different books in the Bible. Only four months remain for you to continue with the "thirteen" part: committing to spend personal time with God and read your Bible at least 13 times a month.

The September booklets take us back to the New Testament, mostly to Luke's Gospel, where we'll be looking at some of the interesting and amazing things that Jesus said and did when He lived here on earth.

Click here to download September Challenge 2013 in English.

Haz clic aquí para descargar el libro Reto 2013 de septiembre en español.

August with Joshua and Gideon

It's August, and the 8th Bible reading booklet for Challenge 2013 is now available for downloading. This month we'll be back in the Old Testament, reading about things that happened in the lives of Joshua and Gideon. You can download the books by clicking the links below: 

Español: 
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93435162/Reto%202013%20agosto.pdf

English:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/93435162/Challenge%202013%20August.pdf

See the previous post if you're wanting to download one of the previous booklets from the past six months. Enjoy your reading!

We've passed the half way point!

If you've been reading with Challenge 2013 since the beginning of the year, you've already passed the half way point: you've been reading your Bible regularly for more than six months. You've been reading at least 13 times a month, and by the end of next month, you'll already have read in 20 different books of the Bible.

If you're new to Challenge 2013 and missed out on some of the earlier booklets, you can download any of them by clicking on the links below:

January booklet in English : things Jesus said about Himself

Libro de enero en español : cosas que dijo Jesús sobre si mismo 

February booklet in English : letters in the New Testament

Libro de febrero en español : cartas del Nuevo Testamento

Easter booklet in English : the last week of Jesus' life on earth, and the first Easter

Libro de Pascua en español : la primera Pascua

April booklet in English : Old Testament heroes, Moses and Jeremiah

Libro de abril en español : heroes del Antiguo Testamento, Moisés y Jeremías

May booklet in English : practical tips for daily life, from a letter written by James

Libro de mayo en español : Santiago  - consejos prácticos para la vida cotidiana

June booklet in English : adventures with Daniel and his friends

Libro de junio en español : aventuras con Daniel y sus amigos

July booklet in English : the letter to the Ephesians - identity and life in Christ

Libro de julio en español : Efesios - nuestra identidad y caminar en Cristo

Looking ahead, with the August booklet we'll be reading in the Old Testament and being challenged by things that happened in the lives of Joshua and Gideon. And the September booklet will see us returning to the New Testament and reading in the book of Luke about things that Jesus said and did when He was here on earth.

July booklets now available for reading in Ephesians

If you've been using the Challenge 2013 booklets for June, you'll have read about the life of Daniel, and learned more of what the Bible teaches about spiritual warfare. You'll have read in Ephesians chapter 6 about the "armour" God gives us for our protection, and about how we can fight on the winning side.

The Challenge booklets for July have readings in the other five chapters of Ephesians, and we hope you enjoy them. Some people have asked for the books to be available early, so that you can download them and take them with you during the school holidays this summer. (Or the winter holidays, if you're one of our readers in South Africa, Australia or South America.)

To download the July booklet in English, please click here.

Para descargar el libro de julio en español, haz clic aquí.

Dare to be different

Dare to be different! That's the theme of the Challenge 2013 booklets for June. We're going to be reading in the Old Testament, looking at the lives of Daniel and his friends. From the early chapters of the book (when Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego were still teenagers) through to the later chapters where Daniel was probably in his eighties (if you count up the number of kings who have come to the throne during those years),  these Hebrew believers stand out as people who were willing to go against the flow, willing to live godly lives in an ungodly society, daring to be different even when taking a stand might mean facing challenges or opposition.

You'll learn more about living a godly life, about prayer and about spiritual warfare as you read over the coming months in Daniel and in Ephesians. Just click on the links below to download the next Bible reading booklet.

Click here to download the Challenge 2013 booklet for June (in English)

Haz clic aquí para descargar el libro Reto 2013 para junio (en español)

Thanks, by the way for leaving your comments and answering the questionnaire (see previous posting.) It seems that the Challenge 2013 booklets are being used in some thirteen countries around the world.

Counting the countries

If you've come here to get the Challenge Bible reading booklets for me, just keep scrolling down and you'll find them in the previous post (26th April)

If you've come here because you're helping us find out how many people, in how many countries of the world, are using Challenge 2013 to read their Bible this year, you can help us count the numbers by clicking this link (below), and answering the four simple questions that you'll find there. Or, if you prefer, you can simply leave a comment at the end of this blog. We don't need any of your personal information - just your country or city, and how many of you are using the monthly booklets.

Click here to answer the four questions.  Click below to leave a comment.

Thanks for your help!

Practical tips for everyday life... the booklets for May

We're almost at the end of April, and so it's time to download the Challenge 2013 Bible reading booklets for May. May's readings are all in the New Testament book of James, and you'll find lots of practical tips for living a Christian life in the 21st Century.

Click here to download the booklet in English.

Haz clic aquí para descarger el libro en español.

Where in the world are you?

We're trying to find out how many people, in how many countries of the world, are using Challenge 2013 to read their Bible this year. You can help us count the numbers by clicking this link, and answering the four simple questions that you'll find there. Or, if you prefer, you can simply leave a comment at the end of this blog. We don't need any of your personal information - just your country or city, and how many of you are using the monthly booklets.

Click here to answer the four questions.  Click below to leave a comment.

Thanks for your help!

Old Testament Heroes

If you've been part of the Reto 2013 Bible reading challenge, I hope that you enjoyed the Easter readings in the March booklet and found that they strengthened your own communication with God. In recent weeks, I've been asked to send the Challenge 2013 booklets to Mali, Togo and Lebanon... which may mean that they're now being used in eleven or twelve different countries, and in five or six different languages. That's encouraging! You can download the April booklets (Old Testament readings from the lives of Moses and Jeremiah) by clicking on the links below.

To download the English booklet, click here.

Para descargar el libro en español. haz clic aquí.

Understanding Easter

Easter was early this year, and so the March booklet for the Reto 2013 Bible reading challenge included readings about what happened during the very first Ester. As March began, I was encouraged to hear of twenty two teenagers here in Spain, and thirty young people in South Africa who were waiting for the new booklet to come out.  You can get your copy by clicking the links below. As always, print double sided in landscape orientation, and then fold in half to form an A5 booklet. May God bless you as you read this story of the days leading up to Easter.

For the English booklet, click here.

Para el libro en español, haz clic aquí.

Second month of Challenge Twenty Thirteen

 Knowing how to ask ourselves good questions is one of the ways that we can also help ourselves keep growing in our relationship with God. That's why the use of simple questions forms the foundation of the 2013 Bible Reading Challenge that I've launched for some of our Spanish speaking young people here in Alhaurin.

When I first had the vision to write these little "quiet time journals" for young people, I was seeking to serve a dozen or so pre-teens and young teens that I have contact with here in Spain. I could never have foreseen that such a simple idea (read your Bible 13 times a month... and read from 20 different Bible books in the course of the year) would gain momentum so quickly. Since writing about Challenge 2013 in my January newsletter, I've had emails from nine different countries, from people asking if they could download the booklets for use with their children or young people. And yet the concept is incredibly simple: read a few verses in the Bible, and prayerfully consider a question that will help you draw out God's truth and apply it to your everyday life.

The February booklets are ready now, and you can download them by clicking either of these links. The March/Easter booklet will be available at the end of February.

Challenge 2013 for February: click here for the booklet in English

Reto 2013 para febrero: haz clic aquí para descargar el libro en español

The pages should be printed double sided in landscape orientation, and folded to form an A5 booklet. Hope you enjoy it.

What is Reto 2013?

Whenever a new year begins, some people turn their thoughts to new year resolutions. Perhaps they plan to lose weight or give up smoking, or get out of debt. Others don't bother making promises to themselves, as previous experience has shown them that they'll probably have failed before the end of January.

Talking with some young people in my church in Spain, I discovered that there were a number of teens who really wanted to make new year resolutions about reading the Bible more.... but they weren't really very sure about how to spend personal time with God. I was astonished to discover that some of the young people only ever read in the psalms or proverbs, leaving the rest of the Bible totally undiscovered.

I contacted Scripture Union and similar organisations in Spain to find out about what kind of Bible reading notes are available for children and teenagers... and I was amazed to discover that no such resource seems to exist in Spain. That's when I decided that I would need to write something myself. I spoke with some of the young teens and we launched Challenge 2013 (or Reto 2013 in Spanish) for the new year that lay ahead.

The concept behind Challenge Twenty Thirteen is very simple and very do-able: young people who sign up for the challenge will commit to reading their Bible at least 13 times a month... and by the end of the year, they will have read from 20 different books in the Bible.

As for me, my challenge is that I have committed to writing and printing twelve Bible reading journals - one for each month of the year. Each little booklet explains how to spend personal time with God, and includes 13 short Bible readings, with a question to think and pray about, and a challenge to apply the Bible's teaching to your everyday life. At the start of the year, I was aware of young people in five different nations who were taking on the challenge of reading the Bible thirteen times a month during 2013.

I'm producing the booklets both in Spanish (Reto 2013) and English (Challenge 2013) and the January booklet is available here in PDF format for downloading and printing. If you or a young person you know would like to take on the challenge, you can get your copy of the January booklet by clicking on the link below. (Print it double sided on A4 paper, landscape orientation, and then fold it in half to form an A5 booklet.)

Challenge 2013 booklet for January (in English)

Reto 2013 para enero (libro en español)