Frequently Asked Questions
The Bible Study App is the perfect companion for groups and individual reading the Bible with our program. It features the full Bible text in ESV, NLT, NASB, and KJV. You can read or listen to each days reading and see maps and videos that are keyed to each days contents. In addition, the app has daily Bible questions, prayer tools, and private groups to give you all you need to stay connected with people as you dive into God’s word. You can find out how to get our app here: https://biblestudytogether.com/best-bible-app
How do we turn on group notifications within the app?
We have found that group notifications become overwhelming as a few individuals tend to over message a group and people start turning off the notifications. Our app is designed to create a rhythm of daily Bible reading and prayer. This daily rhythm uses the group features to motivate people to open the app each day to see what their community is doing. When they open the app they are also prompted to read their Bible and pray. This is the best balance we have found in a noisy distracting phone world.
We have made high quality printed booklets that contain our reading plan and printed/printable study journals to guide you through our study. You can find our printed resources here: https://biblestudytogether.com/printed-chronological-cross-reference-bible-reading-plan
How can I join a group?
We do not currently host public Bible study groups using our tools and resources. Our app is designed to help you or your community start their own group. Then you can join people in your community reading and studying the Bible together. We want to help build local churches and Bible study groups rather than distant online communities.
I am all alone. Can you connect me with a group to join?
Our organization is quite small and we cannot monitor or keep a list of groups we would recommend. We also do not currently host public Bible study groups using our tools and resources. Our goal is to help build local churches and Bible study groups rather than distant online communities. As a result, we encourage people who are alone to find churches to plug into. If you need to travel, move, or switch to a church that has a community that wants to connect with you then it is probably worth your spiritual health. God did not call us to be loners and it is worth giving up your stuff and comforts to be part of a local church. If you have an illness that prevents you from getting out, we are sorry that you are struggling but unfortunately, we are not equipped to help you plug into a local community. Local churches often offer services to help isolated people in their area when you reach out to them.
I don’t have a group code, where can I get one to join a group?
Group codes can be sent to you by your group administrator. Or you can create a group yourself and invite others with your own group code. We do not currently host public Bible study groups using our tools and resources. Our app is designed to help you or your community start their own group. Then you can join people in your community reading and studying the Bible together. We want to help build local churches and Bible study groups rather than distant online communities.
How do I invite members to my group?
When you first open the app go to the fellowship page by tapping on the green chat bubbles in the top right hand corner. Once you are on the fellowship page make sure you are signed in to the group you created. When you are signed in there will be a two-person icon on the left side in the green header of the fellowship page. Click the two-person icon and then a menu will open. Select the option in the menu called “INVITE MEMBERS”. This will take you to the place in your group details page with full instructions on how to invite your members to your specific group.
What do I do if I have lost all my check read days (or readings) in the app?
The checked read days feature is stored locally on your device and does not get backed up to our cloud server unless you manually request the app to do so. As a result, if you switch devices or need to uninstall and reinstall the app your checked days will not be preserved even if you log in (NOTE: this is also true of prayers). If you have an account and have backed up your plan to the cloud, you can restore it to get it back to any device. However, if you don’t have a back up don’t fear. There is a simple solution that will keep you from having to check off all the days you have read. The “Next Unread Day” button only looks for the last checked day. Therefore if you don’t check off days 1-300 but do have day 301 checked off, the next unread day on the home screen will take you to day 302. So all you need to do to get the app set back up where you left off is to check off the last day (or reading) you completed. Once you do this the app will work as if all the prior days (or readings) were checked off. Then you will be all set back up like you were before you lost your checked days (or readings).
Can I get a PDF of the Chronological Cross-Reference Bible Reading Plan to print and distribute myself?
We have made the Chronological Cross-Reference Bible Reading Plan available in two digital formats. You can get the plan in our Bible App and PDF study journal. If you would like to use our plan in a printed format we have made this available through our reading plan booklets and study journal books. We do not have any other formats available. Those who would like a printed version of the plan to be placed in their Bible should order our booklets because they were designed to fit inside most Bibles. The plan is long and fills nearly 12 pages of our high-quality booklets. Therefore, trying to print and bind all the pages yourself on a typical home printer is cumbersome to manage while using the plan for two years. The booklets are professionally designed to be durable and compact. We believe this gives people who are studying the Bible together in their community the best experience and adds credibility to leaders who are encouraging others to read through the scriptures. The booklets are available at our cost to print and ship them to you, so there is no barriers to groups of any size who would like to use this plan.
Can I get a digital version of the plan to adapt and redistribute?
We work with individuals and ministries who are seeking to create mutual synergy in service together. Most of our support to maintain our services comes from those making donations when ordering our products. To maintain synergy with our ministry model, we have outlined the ways that we have allowed others to partner with our resources on our permissions and copyright page. The Chronological Cross-Reference Bible Reading Plan and all its accompanying resources are registered copyright with the USA Library of Congress. Therefore, we ask everyone to kindly respect our permissions and copyright guidelines.
Each day has journal questions and a challenge to go along with the reading. In addition, on days when a new book is being started, there is a video that gives an overview of the book and explains its key points. We have also included maps on each day where the reading makes geographical references and have included more videos and other content to help people understand deeper topics. Video content also includes holy land tour videos. Every day does not include multimedia content, but when it is relevant we try to make it available to help people of all learning styles.
No, we have gone to great lengths to connect the New and Old Testament together as much as possible (hundreds of connections) but every single day is not connected. Not every chapter in the Bible has a direct parallel New Testament passage. Also, we are unable to connect every cross-reference because we are also maintaining chronology in the Old Testament and in the Gospels. Most of the connections are made through the Psalms, Proverbs, and letters of the New Testament, but when we could, we did connect the stories together. When a specific connection exists it is often brought out through the study journal questions.
Why are the Old Testament books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy broken up?
These sections of scripture tend to be the most confusing and monotonous parts of the Bible for people reading through the scripture. In fact, many people trying to read through the whole Bible get to this part and give up or just skip it entirely. This is a massive loss, so we have gone to great lengths to show the deep meaning in these parts of the Bible while breaking up the long sections of repetitive genealogies and numberings that tend to burn people out. Most of the ordering of our plan keys off of the Old Testament chronology, but in this section, we have keyed off of the New Testament letters which draw rich insights from these Old Testament books while still keeping the Old Testament stories intact. The end result is an engaging journey through the law that is New Testament focused. Our plan takes people through Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews giving them the chance to read the Old Testament cross-references in context so they understand the deeper meaning of what was written long ago. Our journey through these Old Testament books has helped tens of thousands of people not get confused and burned out, but to find rich insight into how God has fulfilled the Old Testament.
Do you have an answer guide to the Bible study questions?
The questions were designed to create discussion and often don’t have a specific answer. We consider them journaling questions or group discussion questions. If there is a question that you need help with, we encourage you to ask your pastor, elders, or spiritual mentors as we don’t have any answer guides at this time. We desire the questions to build community and to foster local discipleship.
Where did all my prayers go and how can I get them back?
All prayers within the app are stored on your local device. You can back up all your prayers manually to our cloud server if you sign up for a group account (which doesn’t require you to have multiple people in your group). Since all your prayers are stored locally on your device, if you delete the app and reinstall it, all your prayers will be deleted from your device. If you have a cloud backup of your prayer and want them to be on another device or want to restore them to your device, then you can do this manually (logging into your group account doesn’t do this automatically). To get your prayers from the cloud open the app. Log into your account and then from the app’s home screen scroll down to the menu list and choose “Sync Prayers & Plan”. From there follow the instructions to restore your prayers.
The Bible Study Together 2 year reading plan was a work in progress prior to December 2017. If your booklet does not match the plan, it is out of date and should be replaced with a booklet printed after this date. Though we may make some more minor changes in the future, we do not plan on making any more major changes to our Chronological Cross-Reference Bible Study Plan.
