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)