Bible course at home: plan, reading, notes and review

A step-by-step plan for studying the Bible methodically at home, in the time your week leaves free.

Anyone who works and studies knows the problem well: free time comes in bits and pieces, and Bible study ends up being left for “when there's time”. An organised plan can help: you decide in advance what to read, in what order and when to stop and review. And this plan can be put together at home, with no enrolment and without going anywhere.

This guide shows you how to do it in four stages, as if they were the modules of a course: the plan, the reading order, the notes and the review. All you need is a Bible, printed or on your phone, a notebook and a few hours a week. There is no diploma or certificate at the end: the aim is to get to know the biblical text better.

Before you start: the size of your course

Plan your home course around the time you really have each week. Answer honestly:

1. On how many days a week can I stop, even in exam weeks or very busy weeks at work?
2. How long can each stop last without my having to steal hours from sleep?
3. For how many weeks do I want to keep going before assessing whether the pace has worked?

A measure that usually fits the routine of people with little time: three 25-minute sessions during the week and a short review on Saturday or Sunday, for eight weeks. If that's too much, cut it down; what matters is finishing.

Module 1: the plan on paper

On the first page of your notebook, write your “course programme”. It doesn't need to look nice, just to be clear:

• Aim: one sentence about what you want to understand, for example “to know the life of Jesus, told from beginning to end”.
• Days and times: the three fixed moments in your week, such as before work, on the way home from university or after the evening meal.
• Books: the list of what you will read, in the order given in module 2.
• Assessment date: the day, eight weeks later, when you will look back and decide on the next step.

Then put the three times in your phone's calendar, with an alert. Writing the commitment down can help you remember it in a busy week.

Module 2: a reading order for eight weeks

Reading the Bible from the first page to the last often stalls early on, in the books of laws and genealogies. For a first course, one option is to start with the Gospels and move on to other texts, following the sequence below:

1. Weeks 1 and 2, Mark: the shortest Gospel, with 16 chapters. About three chapters per session.
2. Weeks 3 to 5, Acts: 28 chapters that show how the first Christian communities were formed. About three chapters per session.
3. Week 6, Ruth and Jonah: two Old Testament narratives with four chapters each, good for seeing how a story is built.
4. Week 7, Philippians and James: two short, practical letters, with four and five chapters.
5. Week 8, general review: no new text. Reread your notes and choose the book for your next course.

If you prefer, swap a book for another of similar length. What matters is keeping to the sequence and not jumping aimlessly from one place to another.

Module 3: notes that help you remember

In each session, start a new page with the date and the passage you read. When you finish reading, answer three questions, in a few lines each:

• What happened? A summary of the passage in one or two sentences, in your own words.
• What does it show? What the text reveals about God, about people and about the way they react.
• What do I take away? A sentence or a verse to remember during the week.

Keep the last pages of your notebook for the questions that remain unanswered. Some may become clear as you read on; write down the answers you find. If you read on your phone, the highlights and notes in the Bible app can take the place of the notebook.

Module 4: the weekend review

Use the review to go back over what you have read and check your notes. On the day you have set, do three things, in about 20 minutes:

1. Reread the week's notes without opening the Bible.
2. Write a summary of the week in no more than five lines.
3. Tell this summary out loud to someone at home or, if you are on your own, record a short voice note for yourself.

Every two weeks, give yourself a home “test”: on a blank sheet of paper, write down everything you remember from the chapters you have read. Then compare it with the text and mark what you had missed. Those are the parts worth going back to.

When the week gets out of hand

• Missed a session? Move on to the next one. Trying to make up for everything at once can be tiring; adjust the workload to the time you have available.
• Have a minimum version of the session: ten minutes, one chapter and one line in your notebook. It can help you keep doing a little reading during the hardest weeks.
• If the pace doesn't fit for two weeks in a row, redo the plan with fewer sessions rather than giving up the course.

One option: having a study partner

Studying in pairs can help you keep your commitment. Agree with a friend, a colleague or a family member on the same reading plan and a short meeting each week, in person or on a call. Each of you brings a question and a discovery. You can start with fifteen minutes and adjust the length as the conversation develops.

Common questions

Do I need any material besides the Bible?

No. A Bible, a notebook and a pen are enough for the eight weeks.

Which translation should I use?

For study, it helps to have a translation in contemporary language that you can understand without effort. In difficult passages, comparing it with a second translation often clarifies the meaning.

Does this study count as a theology course?

No. It is a personal study, with no certificate and no link to any school. It helps you get to know the Bible better and build the habit of studying.

In closing

A plan on paper, a reading order, three questions per session and one review a week: these four parts can help you set aside time for study. Start small, finish the eight weeks and only then decide how big your next course will be.

Back to the guide to the Bible on your phone