My suggestions for church leadership to increase biblical literacy would be to take Dr. Johnson’s suggestion of starting by answering the tough, burning questions. Practically, this could mean a pastor preaching a sermon series breaking down frequently asked tough questions about scripture (or perhaps questions that he has struggled with himself in the past, and wants to explain to his congregation how he ended up at the conclusions he did.) It could mean a Bible study series focused on answering a specific tough question that a group in the congregation is asking: maybe women specifically are asking questions about abortion or immigration–a women’s ministry could take on a hard-hitting Bible study to answer these tough questions. I would encourage church leadership to frequently engage in conversation with congregants, asking them what tough questions they struggle with in scripture, and to listen to wide-ranging cultural discussions online to be ready to tackle those questions using a Hebraic lens.
