BIBLE APPS:
YouVersion
If you haven’t heard of YouVersion, where have you been? Since its launch in 2008, Life.Church’s YouVersion has become the one-stop, go-to app for all things Bible: more translations than you can shake a stick at (seriously: more than 1,700!), videos, devotionals, and customizable reading plans. This free app has seen eye-popping success, installed in 345 million devices worldwide. All platforms, all free.
Children’s Version
Bible App for Kids? Um, YouVersion has that covered, too. For parents, the Bible App for Kids companion website offers free resources designed to complement the app, such as coloring pages, activity sheets, and video episodes. It also has free resources for churches, such as the Bible App for Kids Curriculum, a complete two-year course for kids aged two through kindergarten that features video episodes and activities; original, license-free music; and leader guides and training videos.
Not Just Words
Not Just Words is a thesaurus-run Bible search app that helps you locate scriptures and verses within the Bible when you’re having trouble. All you have to do is plug in a few keywords in the search tool and the app will point you in the right direction. Price: Free!
SPIRITUAL FORMATION
Renovaré
Renovaré provides practical resources for cultivating a life — the “with-God” life — that makes us like Jesus from the inside out. Their motto is, “Training, not trying,” which underscores the possibilities of Christian maturity as learned behavior. This ministry is currently web-based, with a popular podcast as well, and they are developing an app called “Dwell” for release later this year.
Prayer Notebook
We all say to our friends, “I’ll pray for you” but it’s so easy to forget! Good intentions aside, there’s a way to remember all of the daily prayers you want to make: Prayer Notebook is an iPhone app that allows you to set daily reminders so you can make all the prayers you intend to. It also syncs with email and social media, so you can send a quick message telling a friend that you just finished paying for him or her. All prayers are password protected. Cost: $1.99
CHRIST-CENTERED SOCIAL MEDIA
Voke
If you’re tired of the negativity and data-collection so common to the mega-social-media sites, you might try going smaller with something like the Voke app, “a community of Christians inspiring hope and building deeper friendships through faith.”
Voke is a video and blog social media app, allowing you to share content with friends (whether they are on Voke or not), and invite them into a larger conversation of faith. Their formula is: “(1) Share compelling videos, (2) Engage in deeper conversations, (3) Grow your faith through adventure.”
BONUS!
Don’t forget all the great web properties available from the Outreach Media Group like:
- SermonCentral is the world’s leader in sermon resources and research. We are dedicated to equipping pastors worldwide in excellence in preaching.
- ChurchPlants.com is dedicated to resourcing, informing, and connecting a community of church planters for greater Kingdom impact worldwide. On ChurchPlants.com, you’ll find engaging articles from today’s leading voices in the church, fresh ideas, upcoming events, free resources, and a growing church planter community, all geared toward helping you become more effective in your mission.
- Outreach Magazine – The vision of Outreach Magazine is to share stories of outreach, helping Christian leadership discover the ideas, innovations, and resources that will equip them to advance the kingdom of God through the outreach efforts of the local church.
- ChurchJobFinder.com is the largest church job site for fresh ministry openings, pastor jobs, and Christian positions.
- FaithIt.com exists to encourage you in your Christian faith and to help you encourage the faith of others by sharing great content that matters. At FaithIt you’ll find compelling videos about radical compassion, inspiring images to remind you of God’s scandalous grace, infographics, music, and articles all geared to help you express your faith online.
- After releasing a movie in 2009, To Save a Life became an online community of over one million individuals facing mental health battles, struggles with addiction, suicide, sexual sin, relationships, and shame.
