If you are a pastor or other religious leader, you know that getting your church members into and reading the Bible on a daily basis is the key to spiritual growth, church growth and outreach. But did you know that over half the people around the world cannot read? Just under half the people in the United States read at a level that makes them incapable of understanding what the Bible says. If this is the case, and you are a pastor trying to get your congregation to read, then what are you to do? There is one bright light that makes sharing the Word of God with members of your congregation much easier, and that is the audio Bible. The audio Bible, which comes in versions such as the King James audio Bible, the NIV audio Bible, and the Catholic audio Bible, is available in both a CD and mp3 format, making for ready access by your congregation.

Audio Bibles are available in many types of materials that pastors will find available online. These includes the New Testament recorded on a CD and in a compressed mp3 format. What this means is that you can receive the audio Bible on CD for every member of your congregation, who can then play them at home on ordinary CD players, computers and DVD players, and listen to the Word of God at home or anywhere there is a playback device. The New Testament is also available in a downloadable mp3 format, allowing for it to be transfered to a tiny portable mp3 player. This makes audio Bible study easy to take with you anywhere you go.

By using the Internet, church members and leaders can also find New Testament readings and missionary stories from the field available in a podcast form. The result is that you can subscribe to the podcast, and then select the podcast episodes you wish to listen to on your home computer or mp3 player.

Pastors can use this digital technology to reach young church members as well. You will find children's versions of the Bible stories of the Old and New Testaments, as well as a host of great age-appropriate sing-along songs, available on CD, mp3, and podcast formats. In this way parents can introduce their children, who might not yet be old enough to read, to the power contained in the Bible.

Another benefit to pastors who work in a culturally diverse church is that the audio Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages. Because of this, it is likely that you will find an audio Bible in the variety of languages you need to meet your church member's specific linguistic needs.

The audio Bible brings God's Word into the everyday lives of your congregation members, and being introduced to it, allows you to build on what they are hearing, and deepen their spiritual growth along the way.