Lectio Divina Is Having a Moment — and Evangelicals Are Taking Notice

For most of its 1,500-year history, lectio divina — the slow, prayerful reading of scripture developed by Benedictine monks — was the province of Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Evangelicals, with their emphasis on expository preaching and systematic Bible study, tended to regard contemplative practices with suspicion.

That is changing. Across evangelical churches, seminaries, and parachurch organizations, lectio divina is being introduced as a complement to — not a replacement for — traditional Bible study. The results, practitioners report, have been striking.

"It slows you down in a way that's countercultural," says Anna Kowalski, who leads a lectio divina group at her Baptist church in Minneapolis. "We're so used to consuming information quickly. This practice asks you to sit with a few verses for an hour. People find it disorienting at first, and then they find it life-giving."

The practice involves reading a short passage of scripture slowly, multiple times, pausing to notice what words or phrases stand out, and then sitting in silent prayer with what has emerged. It is less about extracting information from the text and more about allowing the text to speak to the reader's present moment.