Bible app provides many connections
In the digital age, numerous Christians have begun to read Scripture on apps downloaded on their smart devices. More and more, clergy look out into the pews on Sunday morning or into small groups to see people looking up Bible verses, reading Bible plans or engaging in theological discussions with other believers on their smartphones and iPads.
The Rev. Paul Kirbas, senior minister of Westminster Presbyterian Church, said he has noticed more use of phones and tablets in worship, not only by congregational members but also by pastors and other worship leaders. He said he sees the use of such devices as just a different way to connect with God’s Word.
“It may take a little getting used to, but reading the Bible from a phone or from a traditional book really makes no difference. The words are inspired, but the material vehicle through which the words are offered is simply that: a vehicle,” Kirbas said.
Bobby Gruenewald, founder of the YouVersion Bible App, said the app has evolved in many ways over the years to take the Bible’s inspired text into a new technologically advanced era.
He said the addition of numerous translations has been an integral part of the app’s evolution and it has been done through partnerships with Bible translation organizations, publishers and other groups who are just as passionate about spreading God’s Word as Life.Church.
Gruenewald said once church leaders realized the importance of someone being able to read Scripture in their native or “heart language,” adding more Bible translations to the app became a priority.
A different kind of fellowship
The church also has focused on developing the app’s ability to help people interact with each other around the Bible. Along those lines, they introduced community features such as a home feed of friends’ activity and the ability to study the Bible together. Through Plans with Friends, people can connect and have discussions about the Bible when they aren’t together.
All in all, the multiple Bible plans offered on the app have been one of its more popular features, Gruenewald said.
Summer Lashley, ETHOS director and spiritual life coordinator at Oklahoma Christian University, understood that when she created the “Word: OC’s 60-Day Bible Plan” available on the YouVersion Bible App. Lashley said she and other staff and faculty members at the university wrote devotionals that were included in the Bible plan designed to bring the campus together around Scripture.
“It really wasn’t on my mind what a global impact that the Bible app would have,” she said.
Lashley said the app’s Bible plan feature also helps believers create healthy habits of daily Bible reading.
“Marrying technology and your spiritual life, maybe five years ago that wouldn’t have seemed natural but today, as long as our phones are with us, we may as well use them and that time we spend with them for growth and to better ourselves,” she said.
Also, the app’s wide variety of topical Bible plans helps encourage the idea of regular Scripture reading, she said.
Indeed a sampling of Bible study plans introduced on the app in recent months were devotionals written by nationally recognized faith leaders and others including Lisa Bevere, Jentezen Franklin, Kathy Lee Gifford and Brian Houston, pastor of Hillsong Church.
“It’s like the Netflix of Bible plans. You can find something you would like,” she said.
Paula McDade, an Oklahoma City author, speaker and graphic designer, said she was thrilled when her Bible plan called “Captured and Crowned,” based on her book of the same name, was introduced on the app in 2015. She said a second Bible plan she wrote, called “Salty Lemonade,” was introduced on the app in 2017.
“I’m a spiritual teacher at heart because I feel like one of my spiritual gifts is teaching. For me, it was just an extension of something I always wanted to do to share the Gospel with as many people as possible,” McDade said.
“I feel like having a platform like YouVersion which is global, fulfilled that for me.”