The Erosion of Biblical Literacy in the Pew—and the Pulpit.

by Dr. John Hill

Editor & CEO

I have come to believe that one of the most urgent crises in the church today is not cultural hostility, declining attendance, or even pastoral burnout. It is something quieter—and far more dangerous: the steady erosion of biblical literacy in both the pew and the pulpit.

I see it when I ask simple questions and receive blank stares. I hear it in conversations where biblical language is replaced with vague spirituality. But if I am honest, the deeper concern is not what I hear from the congregation—it is what I sometimes hear from the pulpit.

We have more access to Scripture than any generation in history, yet we seem to know it less. That should arrest us. The issue is not availability; it is engagement. Somewhere along the way, we moved from being people shaped by the Word to people who selectively reference it.

Here is the “Ah-ha” moment for me: biblical illiteracy in the pew is often a downstream effect of biblical shallowness in the pulpit.

When preaching becomes primarily topical, motivational, or therapeutic, the congregation learns—week after week—that the Bible is a supporting actor, not the authority. When sermons are built around ideas rather than texts, people may leave inspired, but they are not being formed. Over time, they lose the ability to read Scripture for themselves because they have never been shown how.

I have had to confront this in my own ministry. It is far easier to preach what connects quickly than what forms deeply. It is far easier to summarize a passage than to wrestle with it in front of people. But when I choose ease over depth, I am discipling my people to do the same.

The result is a church that knows phrases but not context, stories but not theology, verses but not the voice of God across the whole canon. And that kind of church is vulnerable. Vulnerable to false teaching, to cultural pressure, to emotional reasoning dressed up as truth.

We should not be surprised when believers struggle to discern error if we have not trained them to handle the Word. But the erosion does not stop with knowledge—it affects confidence. When people are not rooted in Scripture, they begin to rely on personalities instead of truth. They need constant reassurance because they lack internal conviction. In other words, biblical illiteracy creates spiritual dependency, not maturity.

So I have had to ask myself a hard question: am I raising Bible readers, or sermon consumers? That question has reshaped how I approach preaching and teaching. I am less concerned with how polished a message sounds and more concerned with whether my people can open their Bibles on Tuesday and understand what they are reading. I want them to see structure, trace arguments, and feel the weight of the text—not just the emotion of the moment.

If we are going to address this crisis, it will not be solved with another program or initiative. It will require a return—a deliberate, disciplined return—to the centrality of Scripture in both content and method.

We must preach the text, not just from it. We must model engagement, not just explanation. And we must trust that God’s Word, rightly handled, still has the power to form a people who know Him—not just talk about Him.'

If that happens, the erosion can be reversed. But it will start, as it often does, not in the pew—but in the pulpit.