Jen Wilkin put it plainly on X this week: “Christians don’t know the basics about the book we stake our lives on.”
I read that and winced. Then I read the numbers.
What the survey found
Lifeway Research surveyed 2,012 American Christians who go to church in a typical month. The survey ran August 12–29, 2026 (margin of error ±2.2%). People answered dozens of questions in eight categories: people of the Bible, which book a story is in, putting events in order, filling in verses, which books belong in the Bible, and so on. These weren’t trick questions. The researchers picked well-known material on purpose.
Here is what came back:
- The average score was 51. About 2 in 3 (65%) scored below 60. That’s an F.
- 94% knew Moses received the Ten Commandments. Only 45% could name Saul as Israel’s first king.
- Two out of three thought Hezekiah was a book of the Bible. It isn’t.
- Wilkin reports that only 11% could put four major Old Testament events in order, and only 27% could do it for four New Testament events.
- People who read the Bible every day averaged 66. People who rarely or never read it averaged 36.
- Only 21% say they read Scripture every day, and 22% say they rarely or never do.
These are church people. People in the pews. People like me.
This one stings
This one stings because it’s true of me too.
For a long time I owned Bibles I didn’t read. I knew verses the way you know song lyrics, little pieces floating around with no place to sit. Moses here, David there, Paul somewhere. It was a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces face down on the table.
I didn’t grow by reading more. I grew when someone sat with me and walked through the text in order. That’s discipleship.
Order matters. When you read Genesis before Exodus, you know why Israel is in Egypt in the first place. When you read the sacrifices in Leviticus, the cross stops looking random. The pieces flip over and start fitting together. You could see this coming in the survey too, since putting events in order was where people missed the most.
This isn’t new
Scripture has been showing us this pattern the whole time.
When Israel came back from exile, Ezra read the Law to the people, and the Levites helped. “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading” (Neh 8:8 ESV). It wasn’t just reading. Somebody helped them understand it.
Philip ran up to a chariot and heard an Ethiopian official reading Isaiah. “Do you understand what you are reading?” The man answered honestly: “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:30–31 ESV). So Philip sat with him, and starting from that very Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus (Acts 8:35 ESV).
And on the road to Emmaus, the risen Lord did it Himself. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27 ESV). He started at the beginning and went in order, and it all pointed to Him.
That’s the point of the whole thing. We don’t learn the Bible to win a quiz. We read it so we can meet the One it’s about. Jesus asks every one of us, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15 ESV). You can’t answer that question well if you’ve never met Him on the page.
Not a scolding, a wake-up call
Wilkin calls this a failure of discipleship strategy, and she makes a fair point that the sermon “alone cannot do the heavy lifting.” Listening matters. Preaching matters. But a lot of us have become, in her words, “curators of other people’s opinions about a book we don’t read ourselves.”
I’m not writing this to pile on anyone. I’m writing it because the fix is simple. It isn’t easy, but it is simple: open the Book, start at the beginning, and don’t go alone.
Where to start
A few plain steps:
- Take the quiz yourself. Lifeway put out a 25-question Bible literacy quiz along with the survey. Be honest with yourself. Nobody else has to see your score.
- Read in order. Pick a book and go start to finish. Genesis is a good door.
- Read with someone. A friend, your spouse, your kids, a small group at your church. Ask each other, “What happened here? Why does it matter? Where is Jesus in this?”
- Use a guide that walks with you. That’s why we built the Pruning Shed at NewGrapes. It takes the Bible a book at a time, in order, from Genesis on, so you can see how each piece fits the whole. Start here: newgrapesministries.com/by-the-fire/pruning-shed/
Then take what you learn back to your own church and your own people. Read together there too.
So here’s my question for you, and for me. How many of us would pass that quiz today? And how many of us have ever had someone sit down and walk through the Book with us?
If that hasn’t happened for you yet, it can start this week.
Sources
- Jen Wilkin on X, Nov 3, 2026: https://x.com/jenniferwilkin/status/2117705188966551607
- Jen Wilkin, “Your Church May Know Less Bible Than You Think (And What to Do About It),” The Gospel Coalition, Nov 3, 2026: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/church-know-less-bible-think/
- Aaron Earls, “2 in 3 Churchgoers Fail Bible Literacy Quiz,” Lifeway Research, Nov 3, 2026: https://research.lifeway.com/2026/11/03/2-in-3-churchgoers-fail-bible-literacy-quiz/
- Lifeway Research, Bible Literacy 2026 report (PDF): https://research.lifeway.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Lifeway-Research-Bible-Literacy-Differences-Report-Final.pdf
This article was written with AI assistance, reviewed and approved by Justin Morgan. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.