What if I've never read the Bible?

There is a common assumption that church is a room where everyone else has done the reading. Some have. Many have not, including people who have been coming for years.

The mechanics are simple. When Ps. Sam teaches, the passage goes on the screen and gets read out. He explains who wrote it, roughly when, and what problem they were dealing with, because that context is what makes the thing make sense. If you have never opened a Bible, you lose nothing by not having a copy in your hands.

You will occasionally hear a name or a reference that lands with other people and not with you. That is normal and it fades quickly. Nobody is going to test you, and there is no moment where the room turns to a passage and you have to pretend you found it.

If you do want to start reading on your own, the usual advice is not to open at page one. Genesis is a hard place to begin cold. Start with one of the gospels, which are the four accounts of Jesus, and John is the most accessible of them for someone with no background. Twenty minutes will get you through several chapters.

None of that is required in order to come on a Sunday. It is available if you want it, and completely optional if you do not.