Bible Reading Plan for New Christians: A 50-Day Journey
Updated: Jul 4
I'm a 20-year pastor in Oklahoma City. Many times, I've tried to get a new Christian started on a Bible reading plan, only to see them get lost in Genesis or Leviticus.
That's frustrating!
So I made this free 1 Page PDF Bible reading plan for New Christians:
You can download it or print it by clicking HERE.
Why I think it's the best Bible reading plan for new Christians
1. New Christians need a Bible reading plan that does not get them stuck in the first few chapters of the Bible.
Sure, every single word of the Bible is inspired by God, but not every single word is equally valuable for a given moment of your life, right?
New Christians need to be able to focus on:
reading the Scriptures on the Gospel
reading verses in the Bible that encourage them to discipleship
reading verses that encourage them to love Jesus
reading the highlights of the Bible
Reading the first 12 chapters of Genesis is valuable, but it is more valuable for brand new Christians to be focused on Jesus, their new King, leader, and forgiver of their sin!
This reading plan is better for new Christians because it starts in the New Testament, focuses on Jesus FIRST, then goes and picks up the early stories a few weeks later.
2. New Christians need a Bible reading plan to focus on Jesus first.
When a person becomes a Christian, they usually do so because they believe in Jesus, are convinced he rose again, admire his teachings, and are amazed by his grace and mercy.
So, I think the first thing every new believer Bible reading plan ought to do is spend some time focusing on Jesus instead of food laws in the Old Testament! (No offense to food laws, or to God's Law in general. It's just that what a new Christian needs is to fall in love with Jesus more deeply!)
This Bible reading plan especially designed for new Christians avoids that problem by starting with Jesus -- his birth, life, and his ministry in the Gospels... then his death and Resurrection.
As a disciple-making pastor, that's what I want my new believers focused on first!
3. New Christians need a Bible reading plan that gives the highlights of the Bible.
I enjoy football, but I don't really have time to watch entire games. Instead, I just catch up with 10-12 minute highlights, to see how the game went.
The same is true with new Christians' Bible reading plans!
Again, every word in the Scripture is inspired, but not all the words are equally useful in the phase of spiritual life that new Christians are going through. Even Jesus believed this, remember? He said the Shema was the "greatest commandment." He rebuked the Pharisees for not emphasizing the "weightier matters of the Law." (see Matthew 23:23)
If you had to choose 25 passages in the New Testament that helped show the highlights of the Bible, what would you put in? You can check out the free Bible reading plan below, to see which ones I thought were most valuable.
4. New Christians need a Bible reading plan that is clear.
A lot of new Christians (without a clear discipleship plan) just kind of start trying to read the Bible in a pretty random fashion. You know:
"open and point"
"let's try this big one named Psalms"
"let's google best bible verses"
Sure, Jesus can keep those who are saved through a long time of this kind of floundering. Thank God!
But a clear discipleship strategy is a much more intentional way to disciple new believers.
How to get a free Bible reading plan for new believers:
Here's what I created:
If you want to download it, you can do it free, right here:
Download the FREE New Christian Bible Reading Checklist
And now, the rest of the story...
How to give a new Christian MORE than just a Bible reading Plan:
So what else do new Christians need in order to thrive? What habits, besides just a Bible reading plan?
Then I thought, "What if this Bible reading plan wasn't all there was? What if I included:
a 50 page journal that focused on forming good habits for new Christians?
a 5 minute video to explain the day's Bible reading?
a daily "praying the Psalms" prayer experience?
daily space to practice gratitude?
daily encouragement to contact a mentor?
So, I built all that and more.
It's a comprehensive discipleship strategy for any size church.
If you've got 3 minutes to think about it, Here's what's included in NewStart Discipleship system:
Get Your New believers started right:
If you need to talk to someone about how to create better discipleship strategy at your church, I'd love to share a 30 minute conversation with you via Zoom.
Yours for better discipleship,
Darrell