Overview
This project is planning and implementing Bible reading opportunities and community building activities to re-engage Slovenians in church attendance and their Christian faith in a post-Christian environment.
Slovenia is a country seeing increasing secularisation, as well as a lack of priests in the Catholic Church. Although the Catholic Church has 70% of the population’s adherence, it is mostly nominal — there is a decline in attendance in Catholic parishes throughout Slovenia, further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As well as a decline in attendance, within the churches there is a lack of programs for engaging people with the word of God. While the priests are looking for different approaches to pastoral work, there is a growing need to systematically introduce believers to reading God’s word. There are many traditional Christians who would like to deepen their faith and engage with the Bible, but they don’t know how. Simple discipleship activities are needed to involve lay people at the heart level, helping them to strengthen their faith in facing the challenges of everyday life.
Statistics:
- Around 70% of Slovenians are nominally Catholic
- The Catholic population fell from 78.04% in 2009 to 72.11% in 2019
- 90% of 70 parishes surveyed indicated a desire to be a part of Bible Society’s Bible reading programs