Year-End Bible Reading Reports

The year 2023 was the pilot year for our women’s Bible reading project.  Stephanie, who lives with me, assumed leadership of the pilot club at her church in our neighborhood.  Under her diligent supervision, after finishing Genesis in 2023, those ladies read Matthew, Proverbs, Ruth, and Esther in 2024.  Their challenge for 2025 is to study Exodus, Daniel, Mark, I Corinthians, and II Corinthians.

The women’s Bible reading project expanded considerably in 2024, with ladies’ groups from 93 congregations signing up to read Genesis.  How many would actually follow through with this commitment?  Many lack literacy, Bibles, money to buy Bibles, jobs to earn money, fluency in the national language, reading comprehension skills, and the mindset that the Bible can be part of their daily lives.

I recruited Francelina, a member of my church, to oversee the project as it expanded.  Throughout 2024, she telephoned the club leaders and visited them occasionally, encouraging the ladies to persevere in borrowing Bibles and finding someone to read to them as necessary.  Most leaders reported that their clubs were going well.  But were they telling the truth?

We scheduled year-end meetings to find out.  Francelina asked the club leaders to bring all their members to joint meetings of all the clubs in each district.  We started in a district where five churches had registered for the project.  Only two were represented at the meeting, and one of those reported that the group had given up.  The four ladies present from the other church affirmed that they had read the whole book of Genesis, and spoke of what they’d learned.  Though we were uncertain if they had really read all 50 chapters, we gave a certificate and a Bible to each of those women.

Based on that experience, we revised our strategy for the second meeting. in a district where 21 churches had registered a year previously.  About seven were represented at the meeting, and some reported that they hadn’t finished Genesis.  For those who said they had, Francelina asked them to tell a certain story from that book, as a way to test whether they had really read it all.  Three ladies from one church succeeded in recounting the specified story, so we gave them certificates and Bibles.

Our third meeting was much bigger.  Of the fifteen churches registered in that district, twelve came to the meeting, with scores of ladies filling the church where we met.  Our explanation that we would request a random story from everyone who affirmed that she read all of Genesis motivated them to be honest.  Those who admitted they hadn’t made it to the end simply shared something they learned.  Of those who said they’d completed the book, a whopping 42 proved it by telling the story Francelina requested, and received certificates and Bibles.  (Francelina assigned one story per club, with each member in turn telling part of it.)

Our last and largest meeting was in a district with 52 churches registered.  Packed into the auditorium, as pictured here, were 122 women from 21 of them.  Following the same procedure as rapidly as possible, we heard snippets of insights from the majoritym who hadn’t finished Genesis.  Of those who said they had, fourteen were able to tell the requested story, so we gave them Bibles and certificates.  As in the other districts, we encouraged everyone to continue on with their reading, with the hope of certificates next year for those who didn’t receive them this time.  However, in contrast to the previous meetings, this group created a vociferous uproar demanding certificates for the others too.  Because the certificates bear Francelina’s signature affirming that the awardee has read the whole book of Genesis, we can’t give them to people who fail to present evidence of this, so we politely but firmly declined and took our leave.

All the clubs represented at the four meetings registered to continue reading the Bible in 2025.  Those who didn’t read much will start again with Genesis 1.  Those who made it partway through the book will continue where they left off.  Those who said they finished Genesis — even if they didn’t convince us by telling the story we requested — will move on to read Matthew, Proverbs, Ruth, and Esther.  We also received registrations from a few new clubs who will begin Genesis.  To each club registered for 2025 — except those in which we awarded individual Bibles to many members — we provided one Bible in the national language and one in the local language for all the women of the club to share.  We also distributed manuals, with instructions on how to use them to track each member’s reading progress.

I’m overjoyed that so many women have read so much more of God’s precious Word than they would have without this project!  Not only have 63 apparently read all of Genesis, but many more have read part of it.  Numerous others have likely been awakened through the clubs’ influence to the value of Bible reading, and those present at our meetings were probably inspired by the example of their comrades who persevered through the whole book.

I marvel at how God has equipped me for the role I play in the women’s Bible reading project.  My Western upbringing inculcated in me a can-do, problem-solving, initiative-taking mentality, with liberal experience in organization and leadership from the earliest years of my life.  The relationships I developed over the years with generous Americans fostered the trust necessary for them to fund this project.  My Texas background prepared me to handle the stifling heat, and my physical constitution permits the exhausting ventures into the African countryside.  My mastery of the national language secures my communication with Francelina, and my grasp of the local language allows me to understand the ladies as they report on their reading.  And of course my love for Scripture and its Author impells me to make the sacrifices required to encourage African women to read it.