12 Revelations of Christmas (12RC) seeks to help young people engage with the Christmas story by using Augmented Reality (AR) to bring it to life on a device.

12 REVELATIONS OF CHRISTMAS:
Apple/Android
Free

Bringing Christmas to you

AR is an increasingly popular technology for smartphones/tablets. It uses a device’s camera to overlay a digital environment, e.g. characters or a scene, onto the ‘real world’ (the Pokemon Go app is a popular example). 

12RC has been produced by Missional Generation, who want to help the Church see screens as an opportunity for missional engagement with the Christian faith, rather than something to be fearful of. 

12 Devotions, Endless Possibilities

The app offers 12 exciting digital AR experiences each bringing to life a different aspect/theme of the Christmas story. These are triggered by using the camera to scan one of 12 printed cards. There are also 12 optional downloadable devotions to reflect on afterwards. These cards and devotions can be bought from the Missional Generation website as part of their 12RC resource box.

The beauty of AR is that it offers countless creative opportunities, depending on where you place the printed ‘trigger’ cards. 12RC could be used around a church building, for a school ‘prayer space’, in the home, or even by setting up a geocaching Christmas journey through your village or town.

Have A Go!

To sample it today, download and open the ’12 Revelations of Christmas’ app, allow it to use your camera, and place your phone over the image of the gift in this article – and tap the ‘present’ three times on your screen.

For downloadable devotions & more info: 

www.missionalgen.co.uk/12-revelations-of-christmas/

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A version of this article was first published here in the December Issue of Evangelicals Now and is shared here with permission. EN is a monthly newspaper published in print and online, offering a biblical perspective on current issues and insight on what’s happening with God’s people worldwide. Online subscription is just £10 p/a with print & online combined for just £18. Order a free sample or subscribe here.

PRAYERMATE:
Apple/Android
Free

How often do we say: ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and then just forget? As Don Carson says: ‘Much praying is not done because we do not plan to pray’. One solution to the disconnect between intention and reality is PrayerMate.

Simply put, the app takes the idea of prayer lists and digitises it. Users create a series of categories (e.g. ‘church’, ‘family’, ‘evangelism’, ‘world’), before creating prayer ‘cards’ for each category. Every time you open the app you begin a new ‘prayer session’ and get a new selection of cards to swipe (and pray!) through.

Facilitating faithful prayer

Created by Englishman Andy Geers, PrayerMate launched in 2011 and has become one of the most popular ‘non-Bible’ apps in the UK. Notable commendations from Tim Challies and Paul Tripp have encouraged a growing US user-base too. PrayerMate has now reached 430,000 total downloads, with 30,000 monthly users from around 125 countries – equating to some 1.5 million prayer items a month!

There are some great features: attach a photo/PDF prayer-letter to a card; track answered prayer through ‘threading’ a card’s changes over time; add an event reminder to a card; form a Share Group with friends to share and sync privately. Over 500 churches and organisations (including Operation World and Open Doors) release a PrayerMate ‘prayer feed’, allowing you to subscribe and automatically stay up-to-date.

It takes a few minutes to get accustomed to PrayerMate’s set-up and edit the template prayer list, but it’s a fairly intuitive interface and simple to add/edit. As such, it’s not uncommon to hear people say PrayerMate has ‘revolutionised’ their praying. Generously, since 2014, Geers’ Discipleship Tech organisation has made PrayerMate free!

Obviously, an app can’t do the praying for you, but PrayerMate offers a really focused, accessible and editable digital system for praying intentionally for others. Give it a go!

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A version of this article was first published here in the November Issue of Evangelicals Now and is shared here with permission. EN is a monthly newspaper published in print and online, offering a biblical perspective on current issues and insight on what’s happening with God’s people worldwide. Online subscription is just £10 p/a with print & online combined for just £18. Order a free sample or subscribe here.

FIVE PSALMS:
Apple/Android
Free

Soaked in the Psalms

You may be familiar with Don Whitney’s ‘Psalms of the Day’ method of reading all 150 psalms every month (taken from his highly-recommended book, Praying the Bible). On the first day of the month, Whitney advocates reading/praying Psalm 1, then repeatedly adding the number 30 onto whatever the date is (e.g. reading 31, 61, 91, and 121 on the first of the month). If you’re wondering, on day 31 he suggests reading portions of Psalm 119!

Anyway, you can now forget about the maths: Whitney’s friend Bryant Huang has designed an app that does all of that for you. Upon opening, the app presents you with a menu of the day’s five psalms and you simply swipe between them to read each one. Font and size can be changed, and there’s a night mode for less glare if reading in bed. Of the mainline translations, ESV, CSB, NASB and KJV are all available. (There’s also the bonus of a chapter of Proverbs for each day too).

Simple and effective

Anecdotally, lockdown seems to have highlighted the importance of ‘tuning our hearts’ to the Psalms. If you like the sound of Whitney’s method, weaving the psalms into various points in your day (e.g. waking, starting work, lunchtime, ending work, bedtime), then Five Psalms is a real gift.

It’s often the simplest apps that are the best. Five Psalms is a perfect example. No frills, just doing one thing really well. Have you had your five-a-day?

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An edited version of this article was first published here in the October Issue of Evangelicals Now and is shared here with permission. EN is a monthly newspaper published in print and online, offering a biblical perspective on current issues and insight on what’s happening with God’s people worldwide. Online subscription is just £10 p/a with print & online combined for just £18. Order a free sample or subscribe here.