Holy Week marks the highest Bible engagement days in YouVersion history for Australia, as new data reveals deeper spiritual curiosity.

In Australia, Bible engagement increased by 17.6% across the YouVersion Family of Apps during Holy Week compared to last year, with more than a quarter of a million Australians engaging in the Bible on Good Friday. In fact, Easter Friday and Saturday are ranked as the highest days for Bible engagement ever recorded nationally, and Easter Sunday also ranking among the highest days in YouVersion Australia’s history.

The surge reflects not just a seasonal moment, but a broader pattern emerging in how Australians are engaging with questions of meaning, hope and faith. The Bible App has now been installed more than 8.2 million times in Australia and is opened more than 200,000 times every day.

While Easter has long been a focal point, in 2026 it has coincided with an unusual and sustained surge in engagement. Nine of the top ten days for daily active users in Australia have all occurred this year. Even outside traditional peaks, engagement has remained elevated, pointing to a deeper shift beyond seasonal patterns.

YouVersion Australia Hub Leader Dave Adamson said the data points to a shift not always captured in headlines or census data.

“This data suggests a shift in how Australians are engaging with the Bible,” he said. “While public narratives often emphasise decline, everyday habits are pointing to something more.”

Part of this reflects the rhythm of Lent, a season historically associated with reflection and return. It also coincides with a broader global atmosphere of uncertainty, where people are often drawn to deeper questions of hope, peace and meaning.

“Faith tends to surface most clearly in lived experience and it often becomes visible in how people navigate uncertain or challenging moments. We’ve never had more access to information, yet many people feel more uncertain about what it all means,” Adamson said. 

“And increasingly, their deeper questions are showing up in search bars. In fact, four of the top five searches are positive: love, hope, healing and peace. That’s not people running from something. That’s people reaching for something deeper.”

Easter remains one of the most significant moments for Bible engagement each year, with Australians, from lifelong Christians to the spiritually curious, turning to Scripture during Holy Week. Last year, the most read verse in Australia during this period was John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” In 2026, Matthew 28:6 emerged as the most popular Holy Week passage. 

Globally, 21.6 million people engaged with the Bible on Easter Sunday across the YouVersion Family of Apps, continuing a series of record-breaking days following an historic milestone of one billion installs last year.

YouVersion Founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald says: “Over the last several months, worldwide interest in the Bible has continued to increase. It’s encouraging to see people searching for and consistently coming back to Scripture for guidance, encouragement and answers. We especially see this at Easter where more people are either reflecting on their faith or trying to understand who Jesus was for themselves. Seeing people around the world encounter Scripture, many for the first time, is exactly why we exist.”

About YouVersion

Created by Life.Church, YouVersion designs free, biblically centered experiences that encourage and challenge people to seek God throughout each day. The YouVersion Family of Apps—including the Bible App, Bible App Lite, and Bible App for Kids—has been installed on more than one billion devices worldwide. The Bible App offers a Bible experience in more than 2,400 languages and helps people deepen their relationship with God. Bible App Lite is optimized for offline use and helps people access God’s Word in markets with device and data limitations. Bible engagement is measured by Daily Active Users (DAU) across these three apps, an industry-standard data point reflecting the number of unique users opening one of the apps on a given day. Developed in partnership with OneHope, the Bible App for Kids helps children engage with the Bible through interactive animations and fun activities. For more information about YouVersion, visit youversion.com. 

Article supplied with thanks to YouVersion Australia.

About the Author: Dave Adamson is the Australia Hub Leader for YouVersion. A former TV reporter turned digital ministry pioneer, he was one of the world’s first online pastors and now helps global audiences engage with the Bible in a digital age.

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Psychologist Anna Ponnudurai reflects on how Scripture and neuroscience intersect.

Registered psychologist Anna Ponnudurai says the Bible’s description of the human mind is both poetic and profoundly accurate.

Referring to Psalm 139:14, Anna explains that our brains are “fearfully and wonderfully made”.

“It’s just a beautiful passage in the Bible about how our brains are so connected and created,” Anna said.

“It was designed by God and it’s the organ of thought, emotion and decision making. So it’s God’s incredible design for relationship and growth, really.”

Throughout Scripture, the importance of the mind is repeated. Anna points to Romans 12:2, which speaks about the renewing of the mind.

This ability of the brain to change is known as neuroplasticity. While it begins in childhood, it continues into adulthood. But Anna is clear – change takes time.

“That takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of effort. It takes a lot of practice,” she said.

“What we really ruminate on, what we think about, really matters. We actually have a lot more power over our thoughts, over our behaviour than we realise.”

Anna believes that, with intentional effort, we can learn to shape our thinking.

“Yes, we do have the power to control our thoughts,” she said.

The Bible also urges believers to guard what enters their hearts and minds. Anna says this wisdom is highly relevant in today’s world.

For those wanting a practical starting point, Anna offers a simple reflection exercise.

“Every time you think of something, every time you hear something, ask: Is that thought real? And what do I want to do with that?”

It’s a small but powerful question – one that reflects both biblical wisdom and modern neuroscience.

Article supplied with thanks to Hope 103.2. Chris is the host of Hope Drive, bringing light, uplifting stories and thoughtful conversation to listeners every afternoon. Chris initially studied science before diving into an IT career before following his life-long passion (talking!) and joining the Hope team.

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I don’t know what you think of the new fad of bringing old authors to life. It’s pretty widespread, and you can now read new Poirot or Miss Marple mysteries written not by Agatha Christie but by her fans, or dive into a new Ian Fleming novel (Anthony Horowitz of Foyle’s War fame is taking this on) or read a fresh take on Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.

Some fictional characters are able to capture the imagination of multiple generations, and become a permanent fixture in our collective consciousness – after all, most of us have heard of James Bond or Poirot or Sherlock’s Dr Watson – even though their original creators are long dead.

True, not everyone appreciates the changes! My wonderful wife Rosemary is amongst them, and when we watch the Marple TV series there are frequent outbursts of “that’s outrageous” as she notes how the revised interpretation deviates from the original. Having said that, we both agree that Marple: 12 New Stories – by 12 different authors, is well worth the read.

Why this start? 

I’ve often reflected on how remarkable the Bible’s ongoing popularity is. After all, it is a book that was written over a period of about 1600 years, by around 40 different authors (none of whom realised where their writing would land up) and completed almost 2000 years ago. Who would pay attention to it today – other than for a handful of scholars interested in antiquity? Yet it is comfortably the worlds all time best seller (to say nothing of the hundred of millions of free copies that have been given away). Why is it still so popular?

There are many different answers. 

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his excellent book Morality notes that the ancient Rabbis spoke of the “70 different faces of the text” and argued that you hadn’t understood a biblical passage until you had considered at least 70 different possible meanings (or faces) for each account. It’s a fascinating insight, and one which I increasingly appreciate. Indeed, when you next read a passage from the Bible instead of saying “Hmmm, now let me remember, what is it that this passage means,” why not ask, “What is it that I have not noticed in this passage before?” I’ve been reading the Bible for well over 50 years and am stunned at how often I have a fresh answer to that question.

Another is that the Bible claims that its writing was inspired by God, or as 2 Tim 3:16 puts it, “All scripture is God-breathed…” Now given that’s a claim the Bible makes for itself I understand that some will view the claim with more than a little scepticism – in much the same way as we don’t take the promotional claims of most books seriously. But this one is worth deep thought, not so much because the claim is made, but because the history of the Bible demonstrates that at least at some level, it must be true. At the very, very least it is an inspired text in the way that Shakespeare and Dickens are inspired (they have inspired multiple generations and the genius of their writing is widely recognised) – but dig a little deeper and I think you will conclude that it is more than just that kind of inspiration. This is a book that has changed the world – and that is not hyperbole. Be it the 10 commandments, or the Sermon on the Mount, or Paul’s teaching about love in 1 Cor 13, or the story of David up against Goliath, or the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and you realise that these passages have shaped the way we view reality and how we treat one another. I think the impact statement of the Bible on the world is enough evidence to suggest that its claim to be God-breathed is “probably true” – to cite part of the title of my book on apologetics.

Now I know that some will object to these comments and quickly remind us of the more blood thirsty passages in the Bible. The Bible is an adult book, and as we read it we make choices about how we will interpret it. There are indeed 70 different faces to every text, but not each face is as good as the others. Some interpretations favour a dangerous face, or an oppressive face, and we must learn to see beyond them. I aim for a Christological reading of the text – in other words one which reads the overall biblical text in the light of the story of Jesus. The question to ask is: In the light of Jesus, how should this passage now be understood?

Not only is the Bible God inspired, but it is Spirit illuminated. Having inspired the writing of the Bible, the Spirit helps us to interpret it. In very practical ways the Spirit draws our attention to passages that are relevant to our situation. Ps 119 spends most of its 176 verses extolling the value of Scripture. A repeated refrain is that it gives light to us, most famously in v105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.” When I read this book, I get light for the path I must travel, I am guided on the steps I should take.

I could go on, but my hope is not that you would read my words today, but that if you have let your reading of Scripture fade, you would read it in a fresh new way – asking to see things you have not noticed before, confident that it speaks in hopeful new ways to ever changing circumstances. And so that I don’t just say this – let me point you to Psalm 3, which I have been contemplating recently. It was written by David when he was facing a situation that seemed near impossible. It speaks of the God who is our shield (v3), the reason we can sleep deeply (v5) and our deliverer (v8). Here it is:

Psalm 3

1 Lord, how many are my foes!

    How many rise up against me!

2 Many are saying of me,

    “God will not deliver him.”

3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,

    my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

4 I call out to the Lord,

    and he answers me from his holy mountain.

5 I lie down and sleep;

    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

6 I will not fear though tens of thousands

    assail me on every side.

7 Arise, Lord!

    Deliver me, my God!

Strike all my enemies on the jaw;

    break the teeth of the wicked.

8 From the Lord comes deliverance.

    May your blessing be on your people.

Article supplied with thanks to Brian Harris.

About the Author: Brian is a speaker, teacher, leader, writer, author and respected theologian who is founding director of the AVENIR Leadership Institute, fostering leaders who will make a positive impact on the world.

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This National Bible Month, you are invited to be part of something truly inspiring: Christians all across Australia joining together to read God’s Word through the YouVersion Bible App.

For many of us, the Bible has been a lifelong source of wisdom, comfort and hope. In a world that often feels fast and fragmented, opening Scripture reminds us that God’s story is still unfolding — and we get to be part of it.

That is why we’re partnering with YouVersion Australia to encourage everyone to take part in a national reading moment by joining the Living Open Handed plan on the Bible App. This devotional plan is a simple yet profound way to connect with God, reflect on generosity and gratitude, and rediscover the joy of living with open hands and open hearts.

When we read the Bible together, something powerful happens. Our faith grows deeper, our sense of community becomes stronger, and our perspective on life is renewed. Across the country, thousands of believers will be reading the same passages, reflecting on the same truths, and encouraging one another as part of this shared experience.

It’s also a moment of global celebration. YouVersion is nearing an extraordinary milestone – 1 billion downloads of the Bible App. This represents 1 billion opportunities for people to encounter God’s Word, in every nation and language. As we join the Living Open Handed plan this month, we’re not just reading the Bible for ourselves — we’re joining in a movement that is helping the world engage with Scripture like never before.

So why not take this step today?

Download the YouVersion Bible App, join the Living Open Handed plan, and read along with others across Australia.

Let’s celebrate what God is doing in our nation and around the world, as we open His Word together and discover once again that the Bible is truly life-giving.

Article supplied with thanks to Christian Media & Arts Australia.

Bread appears throughout the Bible. But what does it really mean? Pastor Rob Furlong. from Woodvale Baptist Church unpacks the symbolism.

Bread in the Old Testament

Bread first appears in the wilderness story of Exodus. When the Israelites complained about food, God provided manna from heaven.

“We don’t really know what the stuff was like, but God called it bread,” Pastor Rob explains. “It rained every day for six days a week during the 40 years in the wilderness.”

Bread became more than food. It symbolised fellowship. Sharing bread meant sharing life.

Bread in the New Testament

Bread takes on deeper meaning in the New Testament. Pastor Rob points to the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. “There was that little guy with five loaves and two fish. Jesus took that small offering and fed a multitude.” 

After the miracle, Jesus linked bread back to the Old Testament. The people remembered manna in the wilderness. Jesus corrected them:

“It’s not Moses who was giving you the bread out of heaven. It’s my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then Jesus declared: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”

What Does “Bread of Life” Mean?

Pastor shares the account of David fleeing from Saul. Hungry and desperate, David asked a priest for food. The only bread available was the holy bread reserved for priests.

“The priest faced a dilemma,” says Pastor Rob. “Does he stick to the rules or feed a starving man? He gave David the bread.”

For Pastor Rob, the lesson is clear. “People come to church hungry. They’re desperate. Are we going to offer religious rules, or the bread of life, Jesus?”

Bread as a Metaphor for Life

Jesus used everyday images to explain spiritual truths. “He said, I am the true vine, I am the light of the world,” says Pastor Rob. “With bread, he takes something physical and infuses it with a deeper reality. Life is found in him.”

Summing it up simply: “If you’ve got an ache in your soul, find a church that will offer you the bread of life. Jesus really is the answer.”

Article supplied with thanks to Sonshine.

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Do you ever feel sad or a sense of grief as you reach the end of a really good book? Or the final episode of a television series you’ve come to love?

This is commonly known as the post-book blues.

It is a state of sadness we feel because we’ve reached the ending of a world we’ve come to know and characters we’ve grown attached to.

The Bible is not a book where you’ll get the post-book blues. This is because the Bible is one big story about the world God created and His relationship with it.

What’s more—its central character is Jesus, a real-life being who is still alive today!

The deeper you go in the Bible, the more clearly you’ll see that the story does not end on the last page.

God promises eternal life through Jesus. This story does not end with death, but glorious victory!

Article supplied with thanks to City Bible Forum.

Feature image: Photo by Benigno Hoyuela on Unsplash

“Weren’t the Gospels of Jesus written a long time after His life?”

Well, the final form of the Gospels were most likely written around 30 to 60 years after the events they record.

This may sound like a long time, but it’s actually inconsequential.

The ancient world was predominantly an oral culture. Historical events were commonly and accurately transmitted without being written down. But details of Jesus’ life were eventually written down, 30 to 60 years later, because the eyewitnesses were dying out and the believers wanted to preserve their testimony.

But the fact is, most history is written many decades after the events – and we never think to challenge its authenticity.

Laurence Rees published a book on Auschwitz 60 years after the Holocaust, yet no one suggests that this history is invalid. Otherwise, no history could ever be written.

The Gospels were written later, but this timeframe doesn’t diminish their trustworthiness at all.

Article supplied with thanks to City Bible Forum.

Feature image: Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash

About the author: Robert Martin oversees the work of City Bible Forum in Melbourne and is the host of the Bigger Questions radio show / podcast.