The best way to start the new year is to get wisdom from the Bible. This is why we celebrate National Bible Month every January!

The National Bible Month (NBM) is a month-long initiative of the Philippine Bible Society (PBS) that encourages people to read, engage with, and be transformed by the powerful Word of God.

The annual Bible celebrations officially began in 1982. Through the initiative of PBS, President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. signed Presidential Proclamation No. 2242 on November 19, 1982. With the aim of “aiding the development of the moral character and personal discipline of the people,” the proclamation declared every last Sunday of November as Bible Sunday. Since then, it has also become the practice to celebrate the week preceding it as National Bible Week. Together, these two served to commemorate the beginnings of formal Bible Society work in the Philippines in 1899.

Four years later, President Corazon Aquino signed Presidential Proclamation No. 44, moving the National Bible Week celebrations to every last week of January, and the Bible Sunday to every Sunday immediately following. According to the president, every Filipino should start the year by reading and consulting the Word of God. The change in the celebration date was meant to reflect this. In 1997, President Fidel Ramos strengthened these proclamations by signing Presidential Proclamation No. 1067, highlighting once more the importance of Bible reading for the Filipino people.

Years later, the Philippine Bible Society saw that many churches were taking part in the National Bible celebrations not just for a week, but for an entire month. Inspired by this, then chairman of the PBS Board, Chief Justice Reynato Puno (Ret.), submitted a formal request to then President Rodrigo Duterte to declare the whole month of January as National Bible Month. With his signing of Presidential Proclamation No. 124 in 2017, the month of January was officially declared as National Bible Month, with its final week as National Bible Week and the last Sunday as Bible Sunday. In the proclamation, President Duterte stated that the Bible has led people and nations throughout history to work for the good of their fellow human beings, even at great personal cost. More and more Filipinos have since participated in the NBM, both within and outside the country—sharing, celebrating, and living out the Word of God.

The Bible has been and will always be a source of hope for many Filipinos. For 2025, leaders from the Roman Catholic Church, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, and independent churches expanded the meaning of hope as the theme for NBM: God’s Word: Source of HOPE, where HOPE stands for Harmony, Obedience, Peace, Empowerment. The theme is drawn from two passages in the Bible:

Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing: The LORD‘s unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise. The LORD is all I have, and so in him I put my hope. The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him, so it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us.

– Lamentations 3:21-26, Good News Translation

For whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

– Romans 15:4, New American Bible

Throughout the month, PBS will hold the following NBM activities and events:

●       Launching of iProclaim: Kids Edition videos on PBS’s social media pages, which will give Filipino children the chance to recite their favorite Bible verses and share short reflections on them (Month of January)

●       Releasing of new Bible Talks episodes on PBS’s social media pages, where people will share about how lives can be changed by the power of the Word of God (Month of January)

●       Holding of Bible Appreciation activities in public and private schools, where students will be given copies of the Scriptures and taught how to read them and apply them in their lives (January 15–23)

●       Holding of Bible Reading and Bible Distribution at flag-raising ceremonies in Metro Manila local government units (January 13, 20, and 27)

●       Commencement of a Deaf Fellowship at the PBS Ministry Center, where Filipino Deaf church leaders will be introduced to PBS’s available Scripture resources for the Filipino Deaf community (January 14)

●       Commencement of the NBM 2025 culminating event, A Celebration of HOPE, at the PBS Tower, which will have a mini-concert featuring the Papuri! singers (January 25)

Aside from participating in these activities and events, people can celebrate NBM 2025 with their local churches or parishes by studying the Word of God, initiating Bible distribution and appreciation activities, conducting workshops and seminars, and hosting Bible reading challenges.

The PBS General Secretary says this about NBM 2025:

“As we start the New Year, may the Word of God guide us to promote Harmony in all our relationships, to Obey God and the laws of the land, to experience Peace in whatever circumstances, and to Empower us in carrying out the call of God.”

More than just a national celebration, the NBM is a time to realign ourselves with the Word of God and commit ourselves to him as we face a new year of challenges and victories. It is also an expression of PBS’s dedication to faithfully carry out its mission and vision of making the Bible known for a transformed Filipino people. Let’s start the year right by reading the Bible, obeying it, and letting it change our hearts and our lives.

Truly, with God’s Word, we have HOPE!