Many resolutions fail by February, but not for Bible App community

YouVersion shares tips to stick with Bible-reading resolutions throughout 2020

OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 7, 2020)—Every January, as people look to the year ahead, many focus their New Year’s resolutions on the Bible. For the second year in a row, YouVersion saw more than 1 million Bible Plan subscriptions on Jan. 1, 2020. And while U.S. News & World Report states that 80% of resolutions fail by February, YouVersion actually sees an increase in Bible engagement with the support of a 21-Day Challenge that happens each February. In fact, YouVersion saw Bible engagement increase by 11% from January to February in 2019.

“The best way to build a habit of reading the Bible is to incorporate it into daily life,” said Brian Russell, Director of YouVersion. “The choices people make now will determine how successful they are in keeping their resolutions, and we’ve shaped much of our app experience to help people make choices that will lead to stronger Bible engagement.”

YouVersion suggests using one or more of these Bible App features to help make daily Bible engagement a habit:

  • Set small daily goals. Increase your likelihood of succeeding by intentionally setting an easy-to-achieve goal. If you’ve never consistently read Scripture, try starting with the Verse of the Day. You can subscribe to push notifications that will send the Verse of the Day at the time of your choosing each day. Once you form this habit, you can build on it as the year progresses.
  • Plan to be consistent. One of the app’s most popular ways to get into a daily rhythm is to start a Bible Plan. YouVersion has thousands of Bible Plans in over 50 languages to provide people with daily passages of Scripture paired with written, audio, or video devotional content. They span various lengths, from three days to one year, and cover a variety of topics, including marriage, dating, leadership, addiction, depression, healing, and hope. You can also invite friends to do any Bible Plan with you through the Plans with Friends feature.
  • Celebrate each win. The Streaks feature tracks your number of consecutive days in the app, and Perfect Weeks tracks how many times you’re consistently in the app between Sundays. Both features celebrate when significant milestones are reached. You’ll also earn badges for activities like creating highlights, bookmarks, and notes or completing Bible Plans.
  • Make it part of your routine. With YouVersion’s voice features, you can ask Alexa or Google Assistant to read the Verse of the Day to you. Alexa users can add the Verse of the Day as a daily Flash Briefing, while Google Assistant users can add the YouVersion Verse of the Day as a Good Morning routine to start their day off with Scripture. The latest voice offering called YouVersion Rest gives people a new way to meditate on Scripture. Just by saying “Open YouVersion Rest,” you’ll hear a calming voice read the Bible as one of four soothing background sounds plays, including rain, thunderstorm, ocean, and soft piano.
  • Rise to the challenge. At different points in the year, YouVersion encourages its community to complete Bible challenges. Participants earn celebratory badges for each challenge completed. But more than that, it’s also a simple way to renew your habit of reading or listening to the Bible and jumpstart your Daily Streak and Perfect Weeks again. Last February, more than 1.5 million people earned badges for being active in the app for 21 consecutive days. The next 21-Day Challenge begins February 1.

“This year, we’ll be adding even more features to help our YouVersion community develop a deeper, more intimate relationship with God by engaging in His Word every day,” said Russell.

About YouVersion

Created by Life.Church, YouVersion is on a mission to help people know God more intimately through a daily rhythm of Bible engagement. The team designs and builds experiences that make it easy for people to integrate the Bible into their everyday lives. Since 2008, the Bible App has offered a free Bible experience that has been installed on more than 400 million unique devices. The Bible App for Kids launched in 2013 and engages children with Bible stories on an age-appropriate level. The newest app, Bible Lens, analyzes objects in photos, finds the most relevant Bible verse to match, and automatically creates beautiful, shareable artwork. For more information about YouVersion, visit www.youversion.com.