David Platt still remembers the first time the Bible came alive for him. He was a teenager at a Christian conference when a worship leader put down his guitar and began quoting an entire chapter of Scripture from memory. No notes. No slides. Just the words, pouring out naturally.
“I’d never heard somebody quote a whole chapter,” Platt says. “It was just so powerful… God’s Word flowing from them. That marked me.”
He left that day with an older friend’s challenge ringing in his ears: Be that kind of person. Not just someone who reads the Bible, but someone whose life is so soaked in it that the words pour out without effort.
“People who have been used mightily by God, who have experienced Him deeply, have had the Word as part of them,” Platt says. “That’s the kind of person I wanted to be.”
More than two decades later, that’s still his aim — and lately, he’s seeing glimmers of that same hunger in younger generations.
The 2025 State of the Bible report from the American Bible Society offers a counter-narrative to the usual doom-and-gloom about Gen Z and Millennials abandoning their faith. Bible engagement among Gen Z adults rose four percentage points this year, with more than half now identifying as “Scripture Engaged.” Millennials saw an even bigger jump, from 12 percent to 17 percent. Overall Bible use — defined as reading at least three times a year outside of church — has climbed to 41 percent, adding 10 million more regular readers nationwide.
The growth isn’t limited to one demographic. Millennials led the surge, but men — who were often a low-engagement group — saw a 19 percent increase. And in historically less religious regions, like the Northeast and the West, Bible use jumped by double digits.
It’s the kind of quiet, unexpected revival Platt believes is ripe for something more.
“I just long to help people experience genuine, authentic, deep intimacy with God through His word on a daily basis,” he says. “We all have an innate desire for that.”
But more reading doesn’t necessarily mean deeper engagement. Platt has seen how easy it is to reduce Bible time to a spiritual chore.
“We can read a verse, a little word for the day, or a chapter, and kind of feel like, ‘Okay, I did it,’” he says. “But that’s different from experiencing true delight and intimacy with God.”
For him, Scripture is more like a love letter than an assignment.
“When [my wife] was my girlfriend, she would write me letters, and I would devour every word,” he says. “I’d read them over and over and wonder, why did she say it that way? You might say I was obsessed — and yeah, that’s kind of the point.”
That posture — slow, attentive and above all, emotionally invested — has fueled Platt’s own reading for years. And it’s the approach he hopes more young adults will adopt now that they’re picking up the Bible again.
The MAPS Approach
Platt’s book How to Read the Bible lays out a simple acrostic he uses in his own life and in his church in Metro D.C.: MAPS—Meditate, Apply, Pray, Share.
Meditation, he says, is about more than mental focus.
“It’s noticing why that word is there, why that phrase is shaped like that,” he explains.
He remembers mornings when one unexpected verb in the Psalms stuck with him all day, reframing conversations and decisions.
Application is where the text starts to disrupt your day.
“God’s Spirit takes His Word and applies it to what we’re walking through right now,” Platt says.
Sometimes, that means changing how he plans to handle a conversation with his kids or rethinking a meeting agenda after something in the Gospels cuts too close to ignore.
Prayer turns reading into relationship. Platt encourages people to take whatever they’ve just read—maybe “The Lord is my shepherd”—and use it as the starting point for their conversation with God.
“It becomes personal. It’s not just text on a page,” he says.
And finally, sharing is about refusing to let the encounter end with you. Sometimes that’s teaching or preaching. Sometimes, it’s as small as texting a verse to a friend who needs it.
“God’s Word isn’t intended to stop with us,” Platt says. “It’s meant to spread through us. It’s too good to keep to ourselves.”
The Ripple Effect
The State of the Bible report makes another intriguing connection: people who engage with Scripture regularly report higher levels of emotional health and stronger relationships. Among Gen Z, those who are “Scripture Engaged” score higher in measures of close friendships and community connection than disengaged peers.
Platt’s own marriage and ministry reflect those findings. He and his wife follow the same reading plan, even though they do their reading separately.
“Every day we’ve got a basis for conversation,” he says. “It transforms the way you relate to each other.”
Their kids are part of the rhythm too, reading and talking about the same passages during family time.
In his church, the entire congregation follows one plan, creating what Platt calls a “shared vocabulary of faith.” On any given Sunday — or even in casual conversations during the week — members are processing the same Scriptures together.
“It changes the way we interact,” he says. “It’s no longer forced. It just flows.”
But for all the positive trends in the 2025 report, Platt knows the Bible still intimidates a lot of people. It’s long, complex, and full of passages that have puzzled scholars for centuries.
“We’re all on the same plane here,” he says. “We’ve got finite minds reading the words of an infinitely glorious God. So yeah, it’s going to stretch us.”
Instead of letting that discourage you, Platt suggests starting in the Psalms or one of the Gospels.
“You’ll identify with so much in the Psalms,” he says. “And the Gospels let you walk alongside Jesus and see His life up close.”
He also encourages readers to remember they’re not alone — not just with fellow believers, but if you follow Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit as your guide.
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