Community Bible Experience… Exploring CBE

Community Bible Experience involves:

  • A new format of NIV Bible, stripped of verses and chapter numbers.
    It reads as a flowing narrative, much as it was intended to be read.
  • Daily Bible reading:
    Read Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday to catch up.
  • Community:
    Meeting weekly, groups feel more like a book group than a Bible study, with conversation, discovery and learning all springing from the flow of the text.
  • Five simple questions:
    The first of which is always, ‘What did you notice for the first time?

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Many Christians struggle to read the whole of the Bible, their reading being disjointed and split into fragments. CBE allows the reader to become immersed in the greater story, grasping the big picture and context while enjoying the events of history unfold.

Scotland and the Bible

Our Context: Scotland and the Bible

As Christians, the Bible is central to our faith. Yet around Scotland, many Christians struggle to read the Bible regularly for themselves.

According to Transforming Scotland research (2015), this is what personal Bible reading looks like amongst Christians in Scotland who regularly go to church:

  • 1 in 7 read the Bible daily
  • 2 in 7 read the Bible weekly
  • 2 in 7 read the Bible monthly-yearly
  • 1 in 7 read the Bible less than yearly
  • 1 in 7 never read the Bible

Interestingly, surveys demonstrate an eagerness amongst Christians in Scotland to read the Bible: there is a gap between the number of people who would like to read the Bible regularly, and those who actually do. This is where CBE is making a huge difference in Scotland: it provides a way for people to get reading the Bible every day for themselves, with the encouragement of meeting regularly with others to discuss what they have read.

Why CBE works

Encouraging daily reading
It encourages daily Bible reading.
Helps participants to understand the big picture
It gives a sense of the “Big Picture” of the Bible as folk read large amounts of Scripture each day.
Reading the Bible in context
It enables the Bible to be read in context, with introductions at the beginning of each book enabling people to understand who each book was written to and why.
Helps build community around the Bible
It builds community around the Word of God through getting people together to discuss what God is saying through his Word.

CBE: The Range

CBE Covenant History
CBE The Prophets
CBE The Writings
CBE New Testament
CBE The Story
CBE Colouring Book for Kids

There are four different volumes of CBE: New Testament, Covenant History, The Prophets and The Writings. Daily reading plans of 8 and 16 weeks are available for all four volumes. Each volume costs £5.Audio and eBook versions of each volume are available.

A smaller “taster” CBE is also offered, covering Luke and Acts. Called The Story, this costs £1 per copy.

There is also a CBE resource for children, My Bible Colouring Book, which contains five stories from each of the four CBE volumes. It features the very easy to read NIrV text, alongside pictures to colour in. This is a great way to explore the Bible with children and it costs only £4 per copy.

Order information

Currently, CBE cannot be ordered online. We hope to launch a new order process shortly. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more, please see the contact information on this page.

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please contact Adrian Armstrong, Head of Bible Engagement. Telephone 0131 347 9827 or email adrian.armstrong@scottishbiblesociety.org

Community Bible Experience is an initiative of Biblica – information and resources are reproduced by kind permission of Biblica Europe.