How to Start a Book Club in a Community That Doesn’t Read

In my country of Brazil, most people don’t read. One survey found Brazilians read only 2.5 books a year, compared with 12 books read annually by Americans (though even that’s down from 18 a year in 1999).

I don’t like this. I’ve always loved reading, and I firmly believe we better retain what we read when we commit ourselves to teaching or sharing what we’ve learned with someone. So in the middle of COVID-19, when I found myself fearful of the uncertainties of the pandemic, I decided to start live streaming short daily devotionals on my Instagram account.

In those first weeks, I worked my way through the books None like Him and In His Image by Jen Wilkin. What could be better than that to avoid succumbing to fear of the unknown by meditating on who God is? I knew that was something I’d need a lot during those uncertain days, so I was eager to start and to have people join in if they wanted to.

So we began. One day after another, one attribute after another, the audience grew—and so did their responses to me. I kept going, developing devotionals from more and more books.

And then God began to do something among Brazilian women that I didn’t anticipate.

From Insta to Books

Over time, many of the women who were tuning in decided to read the books I was working from so they could better absorb the devotionals.

The fact that the women, who already had the videos available, wanted to read the books caught my attention. We live in a hyperconnected age in which reading has become superfluous and even boring. Gen Z prefers not only videos or podcasts but short episodes of both.

God began to do something among Brazilian women that I didn’t anticipate.

In Brazil, a national study found that 30 percent of people have never purchased a book, while 44 percent do not read—defined in this study as reading, in whole or in part, at least one book in the last three months. Lack of time (47 percent) is the main reason given by Brazilians for not reading, followed by a lack of interest (28 percent). Although time constraints are frequently mentioned, the study also showed that Brazilians are increasingly using their free time to watch videos, listen to music, access the Internet, and use social media. So why not make good use of these platforms to encourage reading?

Having a mentor was highlighted as a key factor influencing readers, and I began to study the best way to promote interest and engagement in good reading. Already active on social media, I knew the digital platform could be a possible mechanism. I wondered if it’d be possible to combine technology with an invitation to return to leafing through and absorbing the pages of good books in depth.

Philippians 4:8 Book Club

This is how “Clube Fp4.8” (Philippians 4.8 Book Club) was born. The online club aims to guide and encourage women to grow in knowledge and spiritual maturity through reading good books.

Clube Fp4.8 / Courtesy of Naná Mendes Castillo

Our focus is on depth and transformation, not performance or speed reading. Therefore, we read no more than five or six books per year. There’s a weekly live class for discussion and in-depth analysis of the content. The book club takes place on a digital platform exclusively for enrolled participants, but with each new reading, an open class is live streamed on YouTube to present the book and invite people to join.

This book club has exceeded any expectations I could’ve had for it back in 2021. Today, in 2024, we’ve just started reading our 20th book (Paul Tripp’s Do You Believe? 12 Historical Doctrines to Change Your Everyday Life). There are currently over 770 active women in the club, but about twice that number have been part of it at some point.

Benefits

Participants tell me they’ve grown in discipline and consistency in their reading habits. They report experiencing deeper learning, new friendships, and closer relationships and community.

The engagement among participants from different parts of Brazil (and other Portuguese-speaking countries) was so significant that in 2023, we held our first in-person meeting, bringing together women who wished to meet and enjoy valuable and irreplaceable face-to-face fellowship.

But the greatest benefit I see is that the good books we’ve studied with care and attention have pointed us to the great Author and Book. Christians are often readers because God reveals himself to us through the Word. When we read good books that point us to him, we grow in knowledge of him and become more aware of the undeniable need to open the Bible and read it carefully and attentively.

I’ve seen women realize the importance of spiritual disciplines, including Bible reading, through reading books that address the need for them. This means that in addition to the intellectually informative content we’ve taken in through the books we’ve read together, our increased Bible reading has also been a means for transformation, maturity, and sanctification—because that’s what the Word does.

From Online to In Person

Based on the experience they’ve had in the book club, numerous women have formed their own clubs in their local churches, communities, or neighborhoods. At least seven book clubs have emerged from my students and former students—five of them in person, in local churches or communities; and two online.

I’ve seen women realize the importance of spiritual disciplines, including Bible reading, through reading books.

Many other women have been more willing and encouraged to disciple, evangelize, and serve their families and communities with zeal and biblical foundations. The ministry uses a virtual platform, but it’s real. It manifests itself in the online and virtual world but transforms the real world of real women.

I don’t think Brazil is the only place where this could happen. Across the world, people are reading fewer books than they used to. But it’s possible some people only need a little encouragement, perhaps in the form of a weekly book club, to reintroduce them to good books and deeper thinking.

God has been at work. I can say with joy I’ve seen Brazilian women teaching other women, using technology as a redeemed tool to advance the kingdom, creating and strengthening relationships with each other and with the Great Author, and being faithful witnesses for the Lord (see Acts 1:8) on the internet, in their neighborhoods and communities, and to the ends of the earth—one book at a time.

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