Reading God’s word to God’s people is a privilege and is also an important activity for our growth and development in Christ.
Paul writes:
‘Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching’ – 1 Timothy 4:13
Reading the bible to each other when we gather as God’s people is central to our purpose, we want to hear God speak to us! In order for this to happen well preparation and planning is needed.
As the person being entrusted to bring God's word to the ears of the church family, it’s important that you are familiar with the passage. Here are some tips to help you to communicate well.
If you are rostered on to read the bible in church, and you’re aware that you’re not going to be available to be there to deliver it, please make a swap with another reader as early in the week as possible, and email the church office to make this known to us (office@stjohns.org.au). We will pass this information on to the relevant people (service leader etc).
Pray for yourself and your hearers, that God may help you to read clearly and passionately, so that the passage is easily heard and understood, and that God might be at work in our lives.
Practice reading the passage you’ve been allocated aloud at home before the service. This will allow you to identify things you might be unfamiliar with in the passage (like tricky names) and practice them before reading it aloud publicly. If you’d like some further training, see ‘further resources’ at the end of this document, and listen to the training audio link by Clifford Warne for ways you can best use your voice to convey the meaning of God’s word. Some people find it helpful to print off the bible reading from the computer so they can enlarge the font, and underline or highlight words they wish to emphasise. If you do print off the passage, please use the NIV 2011 edition which is the version we use at church (https://www.biblegateway.com).
Please consider your personal presentation. We don’t want to distract others from listening to God’s word by drawing attention to ourselves. If you’re presentation is somehow conspicuous, chances are people will be contemplating your fashion sense, rather than God’s word.
Arrive at church 15 minutes early to meet with the service leader, check when they would like you to come up the front, and join the service team in prayer before the service. Please choose a seat near the front of the church (front two rows) so you move quickly to the lectern.
Once you come to the lectern to read, make sure the microphone is on!! Please also don’t adjust the microphone, just speak clearly, and the sound desk team can adjust the sound as required.
Please only read the bible passage you’ve been allocated and do not add your own reflections or introduction to the reading unless the preacher requests you to. It can be confusing if the reader says one thing, and the preacher says another. Occasionally the preacher might send you a blurb and request you read it before the reading to introduce the passage.
Realise that many people in church will be unfamiliar with the bible. It’s now common at St John’s to have people in church who have never read the bible. This means it’s helpful to give clear guidance to people before you start reading by:
Telling them the passage you’re going to be reading from. E.g. ‘Tonight I am reading from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8’.
Because not many people will know where to find Ecclesiastes in their bible, you need to give them a bit of time to find their way. Please direct people to the screen behind you and make sure they know the reading will also appear there. Pause until people seem settled, and those using bibles have finished flipping.
If you are reading a Psalm please read the superscript heading of the Psalm if it has one (eg. Psalm 3 – ‘A Psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom’). These titles ARE original to the Psalms, and are part of God’s word, and should be read.
Please finish the passage either by stepping down from the lectern at the end of the reading, or by saying ‘This is the word of the Lord’, which the congregation will corporately respond to by saying ‘thanks be to God’.
Please only read from the NIV 2011 version which we keep as our pew bible. This ensures there is not a conflict between what you read and what is displayed on the screen. We don’t want to confuse or distract in this way.
Thank you for serving us as a church family in this important ministry. By reading to us clearly you have spurred us on in our love and knowledge of Jesus, and you have spoken to any unbeliever’s present words that have the power to make an eternal difference in their life.
Your brother in Christ, Tom.
Want to talk through pronunciations of tricky words? Give Rhys Williams a call – he will always be happy to hear from you and help you with this.