Biblword Courses

Biblword Courses is a free online school of Bible courses for individual learners, in English, in which each student is guided by a personal mentor. Its home page describes it as "a platform where people can find answers to life questions and can get education on Biblical content", adding that "In this process they are guided by a personal mentor who answers their questions." The site is offered by the Dutch church Hervormde Gemeente Kamperveen together with GlobalRize, and it runs on Learnnn, the course platform named at the foot of every page.

The page title calls them "Free online Bible courses", and the site lists no prices or payment options. A learner registers, logs in and works through a course at their own pace, with a progress tracker on each course page and a mentor to answer questions along the way.

The courses

The "Available courses" list gives each course with its number of lessons and the number of students who have taken it.

Bible Basics (15 lessons, 181,486 students) is the introduction. Its description says "It will show you the highlights of the Bible, God's message to you." With by far the largest number of students, it is where most learners start, and it is also one of the two courses that open the door to the pastor training described below.

The Life of Jesus (16 lessons, 52,196 students) invites learners to "Watch the life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke", working through a film version of the Gospel. It is the other course that counts toward admission to the pastor training.

King of Glory (71 lessons, 154 students) is the longest course by far. Its description says "In this course, you will learn about God's plan for this world", and at 71 lessons it is meant for learners ready for a long commitment.

Read Scripture 1 to 5 form a series. In the site's words, "Five 'Read Scripture' courses use The Bible Project videos as an introduction to the various Bible books." Read Scripture 1 has 14 lessons and 4,998 students, Read Scripture 2 has 15 lessons and 1,413 students, Read Scripture 3 has 13 lessons and 973 students, and Read Scripture 4 and 5 have 12 lessons each, with 934 and 921 students. A learner who wants to work through the Bible book by book, with a short video to introduce each one, can take them in order.

Teach us to Pray (10 lessons, 5,045 students) is a short course on prayer. Its welcome reads: "In this short course we are going to think about prayer, what it is and why it is so important." The lesson list moves from what prayer is, to whom and why we pray, what we pray for and how, through hindrances to prayer and the question of our desire or God's will, to praise and worship, case studies of prayers in practice, and next steps. The course uses the English Standard Version (ESV) as its Bible translation.

Enrollment pastors training (3 lessons, 6,466 students) is the application course for the pastor training, with lessons on personal information, church and ministry.

How the mentoring works

The mentor is what makes Biblword more than a set of videos. Course pages carry the label "With mentor", and the home page says every learner is guided by a personal mentor who answers their questions. The pastor training page describes the mentoring in more detail: "You will be assigned a personal mentor who will give feedback to your answers. You can ask him follow-up questions as well." In practice a learner answers questions as they go, and a person reads those answers and replies.

The pastor training

The pastor training is the most structured program on the site. It is aimed at people who already lead a church but lack formal training: "The pastor training is for you if you are serving as a pastor, but never had the opportunity to study at a Bible school." The site describes it as free and not accredited, intended "to prepare you better for the ministry God has called you to."

GlobalRize created the course together with NET foundation. It has 7 modules, "including topics like God's way of salvation and His call to ministry, preaching and teaching, pastoral care, and overview Old and New Testament", and each module contains several lessons. Study is self-paced, but the site advises finishing each module within 6 weeks, which "will allow you to do the entire training in one year." At the end of every module, the learner receives a certificate if the mentor is satisfied with their progress.

Admission runs through the enrollment course. After finishing it, applicants get an answer within a few days. The site asks people to apply only if they are serving as a pastor in their church, have had little or no opportunity to receive formal Bible school education, and have finished the Bible Basics or The Life of Jesus course on the platform. That requirement turns the general courses into a first step for pastors who want the full training.

The platform behind it

Biblword runs on Learnnn, and the support form, which GlobalRize created, shows that it is one of several schools on the same platform. Besides Biblword Courses (English), the form lists Biblebani Courses (Bengali), 50Days of Discipleship (English), Paroles de la Bible: Cours (French), Bijbelwoord Cursussen (Dutch), Palavra Biblica Cursos (Portuguese), Palabras Biblicas Cursos (Spanish) and Kozi ya Biblia (Swahili). Support questions go through that form, which asks for an email address, a name, the learner's school and the question, and promises that "Our team will contact you on the provided e-mail as soon as possible." Each course page can also be shared by email, WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook or X.

Who it suits

Biblword suits anyone who wants to learn what the Bible says at no cost and would value a real person to answer questions, from a newcomer starting with Bible Basics to a reader working through the Bible book by book in the Read Scripture series. Teach us to Pray offers a short, focused option, and King of Glory a long one. It is especially relevant for pastors who never attended Bible school: the mentored pastor training gives them a year-long program, module certificates and feedback, free of charge.

It is not the right choice for someone who needs an accredited qualification, since the site says plainly that the pastor training is not accredited, and the catalog is a focused set of Bible courses rather than a broad library.