Why Deep Reading is Critical to the Great Commission

When we’re asked what the Great Commission is, many of us instinctively say: “Go and make disciples.” That isn’t wrong—it’s just incomplete.

Jesus’ commission includes going, baptizing, and (crucially) teaching. In Matthew 28:19–20, the mission isn’t only to make converts, but to form disciples—“teaching them to obey” what Jesus commanded.

The Great Commission isn’t just “go.” It’s “teach.”

And what we’re commanded to teach comes to us in book form. So it isn’t a stretch to say that, as Christians, we’re called to be readers—and not the skim-and-scroll kind. The deep, meditative kind.

By “deep reading,” I don’t mean “finish more chapters.” I mean slow, prayerful attention to Scripture that seeks understanding, communion, and obedience—not just content consumption.

Here are three reasons deep reading is critical for the spread of the gospel everywhere.

1. GOD TOLD US TO MEDITATE, NOT MERELY GLANCE.

All throughout Scripture, God calls his people to a kind of attention that goes past the surface: meditate on his Word day and night (Joshua 1:8), delight in it until it reshapes what we love (Psalm 1:1–3), hide it in our hearts so it guards our steps (Psalm 119:11), keep it close enough to talk about in everyday life (Deuteronomy 6:6–7).

Scripture doesn’t present this as an optional upgrade for the “serious” believer. It presents it as normal discipleship—because God isn’t only trying to inform us. He’s trying to form us.

And if the Great Commission includes “teaching them to obey,” then deep reading is part of how we learn obedience from the inside out. We can’t lead others into a life we aren’t practicing.

2. THIS IS GOD’S WORD, AND IT EQUIPS US TO TEACH WITH INTEGRITY.

Deep reading matters not just because reading is good, but because the thing we’re reading is different.

Scripture isn’t merely inspirational material. It is “God-breathed” and given to train, correct, and equip God’s people for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16–17). It’s meant to dwell among us “richly” (Colossians 3:16)—not briefly.

That changes how we approach it. We don’t handle God’s Word like headlines. We handle it like treasure—and like a great responsibility.

Without deep reading, it’s easy to live on summaries: a verse image here, a podcast clip there, a sentence that sounds true but never gets tested against its context. Those things can encourage us, but they can’t replace rootedness.

As we read the Bible and engrave it in our hearts and minds, we grow into people who can handle the Word carefully and explain it clearly: “correctly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), examining Scripture with discernment (Acts 17:11), and helping others understand what they’re hearing (Nehemiah 8:8).

This is also how deep reading builds readiness. If we’re called to “always be prepared” to give a reason for the hope within us (1 Peter 3:15), that preparation is usually formed slowly—by sitting with the Word until it becomes part of how we think, speak, and love.

3. GOD WANTS RELATIONSHIP BEFORE HE WANTS OUR OUTPUT.

Deep reading isn’t only a mission skill—it’s a communion practice.

We live in an age of instant gratification. Slowing down can feel almost unreasonable when there’s always more to watch, more to scroll, more to consume. But we’ll never reach the bottom of the internet—and we don’t need to. What we need is depth where it actually matters. 

We’ve also learned to mistake “staying connected” for constant low-cost touchpoints: sending reels, liking posts, trading quick reactions. Real relationships deepen differently. They grow when we give someone our attention, return to the same conversation, and let time do its work.

That’s what God invites us into. He has given us his Word not as a feed to skim, but as a place to meet Him, listen, respond, and be changed.

And God doesn’t only want to build a relationship with us—he wants to use us as catalysts for others to know Him too. How can we teach others to obey what we haven’t meditated on ourselves? How can we point people to Someone we rarely sit with?

Deep reading doesn’t require hours a day or being in seminary mode. 

It can be as simple as one passage in context, one unhurried read, one honest prayer: “Lord, help us understand.” Then we take the next small step of obedience.

Because the Great Commission isn’t powered by hype. It’s sustained by people who’ve been shaped—slowly, steadily—by the living Word of God they’re called to teach.