The Bible App by YouVersion recorded a 248 percent increase in Easter story reading in countries around the world this week. The U.S., South Africa, Brazil, Great Britain and South Korea were the top five countries reading the Bible during Holy Week. The countries that experienced the largest growth in readership from Easter 2014 to Easter 2015 included South Sudan, Lithuania, Palestine and Niger.
This increase confirms the trend, which Hollywood has reflected during the past year, that people around the globe are becoming more intrigued about God. With the rise of films like Noah and Exodus and the debut of miniseries A.D. The Bible Continues, YouVersion's data supports the idea that interest in the Bible is on the rise.
"Over the past year as shows like A.D. and Finding Jesus have piqued culture's curiosity about the Bible, YouVersion has seen a spike in user engagement globally," said Bobby Gruenewald, founder of the Bible App. "It is an exciting time of expansion and reach as the Bible takes the spotlight in America and becomes available to previously unreached people groups, making exploration of the Bible more readily available in all countries."
The most popular verse of Easter weekend read around the world was Romans 5:8, "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia were among the countries where the top verse was shared the most. The second most-shared verse of the weekend was John 11:25-26. One of the most popular forms of sharing was through the app's image sharing feature, with more than 1 million Bible verse images created by users during the past month.
A global time-lapse map, available on youversion.com, captured the timeline of worldwide engagement during Easter Sunday. Each dot represents someone around the world opening the Bible App, which is available in more than 780 languages and 1,092 versions. The Bible App also released the most popular verses by country and a global breakdown of user interaction. To view these statistics visit bit.ly/1JdpmQl.
About the Bible App
The Bible App, which has now been downloaded more than 176 million times, places the best-selling book of all time in the hands of anyone worldwide. Created by YouVersion, a ministry of LifeChurch.tv, the Bible App currently offers 1,092 versions of the Bible in 780 languages across every mobile platform. Whether a frequent or first-time reader of the Bible, the free app enables users to customize their experience without the interruption of ads. Download the Bible App at bible.com/app.
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