9th April, 2015
There was a surge in the reading of Bible accounts of the lead-up to Jesus’ execution around the world during the weeks leading up to Easter with Bible app YouVersion recording a 250 per cent increase in the number of people turning to passages about Jesus’ final week on earth in the four weeks preceding last weekend.
The US-based developers of the free app say that as many as 5.4 million Easter-related chapters of the Bible were read in Holy Week.
The strongest year-on-year growth in readership in the lead-up to Easter, meanwhile, took place in countries including Dominica (up 102 per cent), South Sudan (91 per cent), Lithuania (86 per cent), Palestine (84 per cent), Niger (83 per cent), Bulgaria (78 per cent), Armenia (77 per cent), Myanmar and Kazakhstan (72 per cent), and Albania (71 per cent).
The data also shows that the Romans 5:8 was the most shared Bible verse around the world on the Easter weekend; its popularity highest in a range of countries – from Brazil to Indonesia and France. Other popular verses included John 11:25-26, Romans 8:11,. Isaiah 53:5 and Matthew 20:28.
YouVersion has been installed on more than 177 million devices around the world.
– DAVID ADAMS
