Lifeway Bible Literacy Study Finds Two in Three Churchgoers Fail

Lifeway Research has given churches a detailed measure of Bible knowledge among people who already attend Christian worship. The national online survey included 2,012 Protestant, nondenominational, Catholic, and Orthodox churchgoers who attend at least once during a typical month. Respondents answered questions across eight areas of biblical literacy. Those areas covered people, books, event order, familiar wording, major biblical divisions, canonical section placement, common sayings, and general knowledge. The average score reached 51. Sixty-five percent scored below 60 and received a failing grade. Nine percent earned a D, another 9 percent earned a C, 8 percent earned a B, and 9 percent earned an A. Familiar material produced stronger results. Ninety-four percent identified Moses as the recipient of the Ten Commandments, and 80 percent supplied the missing word from John 3:16. Less familiar structure and chronology exposed major gaps. Only 11 percent placed four early biblical events in the correct order. Fifty-five percent failed to place Philemon among apostolic writings, and 67 percent incorrectly treated Hezekiah as the name of a biblical book. The survey design focused on meaningful content rather than obscure trivia. Lifeway’s findings point toward a ministry problem with both recall and framework. Many churchgoers recognize isolated names or phrases, yet struggle to place people, books, and events within the Bible’s unified story. Pastors, teachers, and men’s ministry leaders now have useful evidence for strengthening biblical instruction without reducing discipleship to quiz performance. The results also invite churches to assess how clearly regular teaching connects individual stories with biblical history, genre, and doctrine.

The strongest practical finding involved regular personal reading. Twenty-one percent reported daily Bible reading, while 22 percent said they rarely or never read Scripture. Daily readers averaged 66 on the quiz. Those who rarely or never read averaged 36. Lifeway’s statistical model identified daily reading as the largest positive predictor, adding 13.8 points after other factors were considered. Frequent worship attendance also tracked with higher scores. People attending four times monthly averaged 55, compared with 44 among those attending once monthly. Churches should respond with more than another information campaign. Men need a clear reading plan, patient instruction, repeated exposure to the whole biblical story, and relationships where questions receive honest answers. A strong approach would combine personal reading, book-by-book teaching, small-group discussion, memory work, and periodic review of chronology and genre. Leaders should explain why each book matters, where it fits, and how its message relates to Christ and the larger history of redemption. Max Anders’s 30 Days to Understanding the Bible, 30th Anniversary Edition fits this need well. The 2018 Thomas Nelson paperback organizes key people, places, events, and doctrines into a structured overview designed for short daily sessions. Its Arc of Bible History and summary of Scripture from Genesis through Revelation address the exact framework gaps exposed by the survey. A church or men’s group might use the book alongside an open Bible for a focused month of learning. The goal remains faithful knowledge of God, deeper confidence in Scripture, and mature obedience shaped by truth.