I announced recently that I was going to stop posting the Bible Uncancelled to its own separate Substack and roll it into Understand the Bible. I’ve also spoken about taking a sabbatical from doing UTB videos. I thought it would be a good idea to write a post explaining a bit more fully what is happening and what that means for the future of the Bible Uncancelled and Understand the Bible (which is why this is posted to both).
Some personal background
I have been working on Understand the Bible since 2019, regularly creating videos to help people better understand the Bible and the Christian faith. I have amassed over 800 videos on lots of different topics - courses about different aspects of Christianity, sermons on Bible passages, book club, etc. I have also been publishing the Bible Uncancelled in one form or another since 2021 (when it was Sacred Musings).
All this time I have not received much of an income from these things. As a family we have been largely reliant on other means of support, most recently though my wife working as a teaching assistant.
However, our circumstances have changed significantly this year as my eldest daughter left the school system and started being home schooled. I have looked after most of her education so far while I have continued working on other things, but in truth I think my wife would be much more appropriate to be doing this with her for a whole variety of reasons. Not least that our younger daughter is set to be home schooled in the next year or two! I also believe that there are real issues within the school system, and I’m not comfortable with my wife continuing to work within it.
My wife’s current contract runs until the end of the year, and we have decided that the best thing to do is for me to start looking for work over the summer so hopefully everything will work out in terms of timing. I used to work as a software developer (which I first trained in), which I think may be my best chance of getting a job, although I will explore all avenues there.
The upshot of all this is that I have been trying to wind down the things I have been doing online, and I’m not sure if they will ever wind up again.
Is the message getting across?
Paul once urged Timothy:
…preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2
This was actually one of the texts that we often read at Bible college. It certainly feels like we are ‘out of season’ at the moment! Here’s a graph of my subscriber count on The Bible Uncancelled:
You can see that it was growing until the turn of the year, when Sacred Musings became The Bible Uncancelled. Since then there has been a consistent downward trend. I don’t know if this is because people are not interested in the Bible, or whether the Substack algorithm doesn’t like Bible focussed posts. It’s hard to tell whether subscriber growth / decline is ‘organic’ (i.e., simply people choosing to vote with their feet), or whether there is an algorithm involved. Probably an element of both.
It’s the same with YouTube: when I was uploading regular videos to UTB, until recently, my videos were getting about the same number of views as they got when I first started six years ago — despite having over 1500 subscribers. The vast majority of people who are subscribers didn’t watch the videos (unless they had a catchy title).
It seems to me that the internet is a real battleground. Unfortunately internet algorithms do tend to push content creators into doing things which are popular. If I focussed on attention-grabbing / ‘clickbait’ topics I’d get more subscribers, but I believe the right thing is to focus on the Bible.
I don’t think the lack of response in itself is a reason not to make videos — that’s why we should preach the gospel even out of season. However, I wonder whether God is calling me away from doing things online: I feel like I have said what I want to say — made the courses, made the Bible teaching videos, and so on — which is all still accessible. This brings me on to the last point.
The place of online
One of the things I’ve been realising over the last few years is that the online world is a strange place. It’s an odd thing to make a video about the Bible and then not know who’s going to watch it. You occasionally get feedback — someone might leave a comment or send a message saying they appreciate it — but 99% of the time there is silence. That’s not really a problem, but I do feel there is something of an imbalance: people who watch my videos probably feel like they know me a lot better than I know them!
My instinct is that God is calling me to come offline and spend more time with people. If my time in the coming months is going to be more limited by work, I’d rather spend 30 minutes reading the Bible with a friend locally than making a video about the Bible for online. I know that sounds like crazy maths (why spend the time with one individual when you could be making a video that could be seen by millions?!), but I believe that it’s God’s way. Think of Jesus — he did preach to hundreds of people, but he invested a lot of time in the Twelve. One of my role models, Mike Ovey — late principal of my theological college — only wrote a few books. Why? Because he spent so much time investing in us, his students. Someone remarked when he died, “his students were his books”. He knew the value of personal relationship. I want it to be the same for me.
This doesn’t mean I think it’s wrong to make videos online, far from it! I’m glad I have an archive of material which is out there now for posterity. Chances are I will come back and add to it as well. And, of course, I will keep making songs.
However, I think the time has come for the online world to take a back seat in my life. I hope that this makes sense.
What this means for you
Someone asked the other day what this means for paying subscribers. In a nutshell, nothing will change: the Bible Uncancelled and UTB Substacks will both remain open. Anyone who has a subscription currently will continue to have one.
However, I can totally understand if you wish to cancel your subscription, and please do feel free to do that without guilt. Our experience over the last few years has been that God provides, and I don’t want anyone to feel like they want to cancel their subscription but feel compelled to continue.
Thanks so much for all your messages, comments, support and friendship over the last few years. It really has been a blessing to me.
Phil, I want to thank you for everything you have written and spoken. I have not always been able to keep up with it but have often gone back to catch up. Also, as the commenter David, I am not much for making comments. Your take on things during Covid was very valuable, but your article on Zionism I have referred to a number of times. Additionally, you have been helpful in the return to my faith and through your examination of 'what is church' . I also am trying to understand what church should be, trying to unpick my Christian upbringing and finding that some of those teachings and experiences are not necessarily of God. And now, finding a fit back into 'church' is not easy, but importantly I am in Christ which is the important bit.
I think that home schooling your children is an important thing to do these days and you are working out an intelligent and sensible way to do that. I pray that God will bless you in your way forward with your family and all the decisions around that. If you choose to talk about anything in the future I would be happy to hear it, as your take on the bible, and world affairs is a rare thing, but maybe you will find a fresh outlet. I won't cancel my meagre subscription just yet as it will take time perhaps to find suitable work. Thanks again and God bless you and your family.
Thanks for all you've done with these channels, Phill. I totally understand why you're stepping back from it, and hope to see you post here again. I'm not really into commenting on articles in a big way, it's not really my thing. But I really have appreciated your ministry here, especially during the dark days of the covid scam! Indeed, you played a major role in my coming to faith back then. Thanks again, and I'll be praying that everything works out well for you and your family. God bless