Candace Cameron Bure took to Instagram to encourage her followers to read the whole Bible. “Who’s reading and listening to The Bible Recap with me?” she wrote. She told her followers it’s “never too late.” In her video message, she told her followers not to worry about falling behind and that “you’re right where God wants you to be.” “You’ll be so encouraged to read the entire Bible chronologically with Tara-Leigh Cobble because she’s fun and helps us see who God is in the Bible,” she went on. She then referred her followers to the site for The Bible Recap, one of the most popular sources for Christians reading through their Bible. Their tagline is “You can read, understand and love Scripture! We offer tools that equip millions around the world to know and love God in a way that informs their entire lives.”

Tara-Leigh Cobble, the creator of The Bible Recap, was recently on an episode of Bure’s podcast where the two discussed the importance of Scripture reading and how archaeology has backed up the Scriptures. “I love that archaeology continues to prove the Bible true. Because for a long time, people would read Scripture, and it says Jesus taught in all the synagogues around the Galilee. And all these people who are scientists and people who are digging in the earth…are saying, ‘There are no synagogues in the Galilee. So…scripture’s lying because there aren’t any synagogues for him to teach in.’ They have since discovered seven synagogues from the first century in that region. And it just keeps proving scripture true,” she said. 

Bure joins actress Patricia Heaton in a list of celebrities who are encouraging followers to read their whole Bible. Last December, the “Everybody Loves Raymond” star revealed she had read the entire Bible for the first time at the age of 64. “I finished it today,” she posted to Twitter. “Some days were just revelatory. I saw things I’d never seen before,” she said. She also stated her intention to read through the whole Bible again in 2023. She credited a reading plan from The Gospel Coalition for helping her along the way. 

The need for Bible reading is great among Christians. A Lifeway Research poll in 2019 found that only 32 percent of Protestant churchgoers read their Bible daily. Twelve percent said they rarely or never read their Bible. The American Bible Society’s Annual State of the Bible found that some 26 million people had mostly or completely stopped reading the Bible regularly during COVID-19. The report showed that in 2021, 50 percent of Americans read their Bible at least three or four times per year. By 2022, that number had dropped 11 points to 39 percent. “We reviewed our calculations. We double-checked our math and ran the numbers again … and again. What we discovered was startling, disheartening, and disruptive,” said John Plake, lead researcher for the American Bible Society. Another Lifeway Research poll found that despite 87 percent of American households owning a Bible, only 20 percent had read all of it. About 53 percent had read less than half. Lifeway Research executive director Scott McConnell summed up Scripture, saying, “Scripture describes itself as ‘living and effective,’ according to the book of Hebrews. Those who have a habit of reading through the Bible a little each day say they have experienced this helpful, life-changing quality.”