Pastor Phil English, Bethel Evangelical Missionary Church, writes:

Scripture is the backbone of Christian worship, or at least it should be!  I continue to be amazed at how few Scripture texts and readings there are in contemporary worship services and how little time Christians spend reading Scripture.  My concern for the contemporary church is two-fold: that Scripture be what shapes and holds a service together, and be the main tool believers use to gain an understanding of God and His love for the world.

One of my goals has been to challenge my congregation to dig into the Scriptures and get to know the Bible better.  When I heard about the E100 Challenge I was intrigued.  Here was a tool I could use to plan and give shape to our worship services and at the same time challenge my congregation to spend more time reading God’s Word for themselves.

We’re well into the 100 essential Bible readings now and positive feedback continues to increase.  I use one of the passages from the Bible Reading Guide for the Sunday morning message.  God’s using the readings and my messages to speak into people’s lives in a more dynamic way.  Somehow when we read and meditate on the Scriptures together and follow it up with a sermon on a passage we’ve all read, God does amazing things.  He brings unity and where there’s unity, things start to change.

The E100 Challenge is a must for any congregation.  As a pastor I’m more focused in my preaching and able to connect with my congregation in a more personal way.  It’s been a resource that’s given structure to our worship services, launched us into the Scriptures, and given us a deeper understanding of God’s story.  God is using the E100 Challenge to breathe fresh air into our congregation.