Public Bible Reading with Simon Camilleri

“It’s got nothing to do with trying to sound impressive or more polished and professional. It’s got everything to do with how important this ministry is to the life and health of the Body of Christ.” (Camilleri, p. 5). I love this quote from Simon Camilleri’s soon to be published book, “The Ministry of Public Bible Reading: Reading God’s Word with Clarity, Comprehension, Conviction & Confidence.”

Simon leads a ministry dedicated wholly to public Bible reading. In addition to his new and excellent book, he creates resources to inspire and instruct others to participate in public Bible reading and to do so effectively. Simon also travels to other churches and conferences to give demonstrations of effective Bible reading as well as teach workshops on the topic. How can an entire ministry exist for something usually so trivial in a church’s Sunday service? Therein lies the need for Simon’s ministry, for public Bible reading was never meant to be trivialized.

In an article for the Gospel Coalition, Simon wrote that churches often treat Bible reading as a “just another roster that needs to be filled.” However, public Bible reading should be seen as vital for any church. This may be something that some Christians are already aware of due to the familiarity of 1 Timothy 4:13: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to teaching and to preaching.” Simon’s passion for public Bible reading is not drawn from one individual verse, however. His entire first chapter of his training manual details the history of public Bible reading throughout the Scriptures. What stands out most of all is that when the Israelite nation was reading the Scriptures publicly, they followed the Scripture’s teaching. When public Bible reading slipped, the nation forgot the Scriptures and their God (Camilleri, p. 3-4).

But what is it that makes public Bible reading so powerful?  As Simon says, “Public Bible Reading is a unique ministry in the church. More than any other element of the service, it directly communicates the very word of God to God’s people” (Camilleri, p. 5). The reading of Scripture is more than a bridge to the text the way a sermon is. Bridges are important and vital; sermons and teaching are important and vital. But reading the Scriptures out loud is also important and vital, doing so allows the text to speak for itself. Even before the pastor “rightly divides the Word of Truth,” the Scripture is “living and powerful” in its own right (2 Timothy 2:15, Hebrews 4:12). Honoring the Bible itself through the public reading of the Bible places God’s Word where it should be in our churches: at the very center.

My own ministry is wholly dedicated to the ministry of Scripture recitation, rather than reading. I’ve participated in it for many years, and I’ve been teaching and writing about recitation for several years. Originally, I didn’t fully understand why recitation could be a ministry, other than that the Word of God is living and powerful. It’s through Simon’s own ministry of Public Bible Reading that I’ve come to understand that recitation is a ministry because it is a specialized branch of the ministry of the public reading of Scripture. And this greater umbrella of ministry is commanded in the Scriptures, encouraged, and exemplified from the very first books in our collection of 66. I’m so grateful to have a stronger foundation, and an easier explanation, to share with others when new opportunities arise to recite Scripture as a ministry. Now I more confidently say, “This is not a new ministry, just a neglected one.”

I highly recommend Simon’s ministry of Public Bible Reading to individuals, churches, and other ministries, not just because of the effect his teaching has had in my own life, but also because of the excellence of his inspiration and instruction. Simon’s book will be coming out soon, and every reciter, reader, and church leader should get a copy! It is a fairly quick read, intensely practical, and absolutely full of advice and wisdom to help the average Bible reader present God’s Word effectively, with both reverence and power.

The six units will guide the reader to prepare a selected passage through the 3 C’s of Bible reading: clarity, comprehension, and conviction. These 3 C’s work together to bring the reader to the final C: confidence. This confidence is not meant to come from the skillset a reader has honed through the exercises found in this book, but from the God who wrote the book. As Simon eloquently puts it, “God is the one who wants to communicate His word to His people, more than you ever will. It is His word. He breathed it into existence. He inspired the writers. He protected it over the millennia. He gathered a people for Himself. He brought people—both those that know Him and those that don’t—into the church for this very moment. And now as you step up to the microphone, Scripture passage in hand, you are simply serving the meal that God has already prepared” (Camilleri, p. 29).

You can learn more about Simon’s ministry, find resources for Bible reading, and sign up to be notified for his book’s publication at publicbiblereading.com.

Camilleri, Simon. Public Bible Reading: Reading God’s Word with Clarity, Comprehension, Conviction & Confidence. Simon Says Publishing. Not yet published 8/28/2023.

If you enjoyed this ministry and book review, you might also enjoy reading reviews for the book by Jeremy Kluth from Scripture Alive, “Power to Remember;” Dakota Lynch from Scripture Memory Fellowship, “Remember the Words,” Glenna Marshall, “Memorizing Scripture;” and my own book, “Speaking Scripture: How to Memorize and Recite with Purpose and Delight.”