LifeChurch.tv is one of the most technologically innovative churches in the United States. With over 26,000 in average weekly worship attendance, they are also the second largest congregation in the country according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. This multi-site congregation doesn’t simply create leading edge hi-tech creative edge resources, they also share them for free via Open.
In 2008, the church launched their own Bible app called YouVersion in response to growing concerns about biblical illiteracy. Earlier this week, they announced that the app has now been downloaded over 10 million times. To put the trend in perspective, Riley McDermid writes: “It turns out that the world’s best-selling book, the Bible, has now produced one of the smartphone world’s most popular apps: YouVersion.”
According to Bobby Gruenewald, LifeChurch.tv’s innovation leader and the app’s developer, someone new installs YouVersion every 2.8 seconds, while in the same time span 12 people open the Bible app. To date, these users have read the YouVersion Bible for over 3.5 billion minutes. For those who are not yet using YouVersion, Michelle A. Vu summarizes the current offerings and planned additions:
The free YouVersion app is now available on nine different platforms and in 20 different languages. The most popular platform by far is the iPhone, but the fastest growing one is the Android. Users can read the Bible in its entirety, search for passages based on certain criteria, and choose reading plans. There are 23 different reading plans readers can choose from.
By this Friday, a note feature will be available on YouVersion.com. And by next week, notes will be available on mobile platforms, starting with the Blackberry. The iPhone will be the last platform with note feature because the approval process takes longer.
Next year, the YouVersion team plans to add audio and video notes to the features available on the app. Notes can be selected to be private or public, and any note can be tweeted or put on Facebook.
To learn more about YouVersion consider reading their blog, liking their Facebook page or following them on Twitter.
So What?
If you have never used YouVersion, I encourage you to try it. Several years ago I transitioned from reading mostly from a hard copy of the Bible to reading the Bible primarily online. More recently, I have started reading the Bible or looking up specific verses on my Blackberry using YouVersion. I would estimate my Bible reading in recent months would be split 70% online, 25% hard copy, and 5% YouVersion. By comparison, two years ago my percentages were roughly 60% online and 40% hard copy.
- Consider your Bible reading habits. What percentage of the time do you spend reading a hard copy? an online version on your computer? YouVersion? Over the past few years have you started to utilize digital editions more often than hard copies?
- Consider your congregation’s Bible reading habits. How are people encouraged to become biblically literate? I recently wrote about the small number of Christians who read the whole Bible. For those who are interested in reading the whole Bible (or the whole New Testament), do you offer Bible reading plans in both hard copy and digital formats?
To spur continued growth in both total users and number of minutes read per month, LifeChurch.tv is encouraging current users to spread the word about their goal of 1 billion minutes worth of reading during the month of January 2011.