A design reference
Feedback and topic requests
Corrections, ideas, app examples and topics you would like covered.
This reference grows from conversation. Tell me what helped, what is wrong, which topic you would like a deep dive on, or which app example belongs here. Designers, developers, pastors, researchers and readers are all welcome.
Pages waiting for review
Some pages touch the safety of people who may already be hurting. They are published as drafts, so that teams can use them now, and marked until people with the right expertise have reviewed them. If one of these is your field, or you know someone whose field it is, choose “Review or introduction” above.
- Principles for spiritual appsThe ten principles and their derivations, the reading of Praxis’s three ways for spiritual apps, the qualification that the church’s written prayers are not what “Never speak for God” forbids, and the voices of Orthodox and Pentecostal theology, not yet represented. Needs: theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; and pastoral care. Offer a review
- Citations in AI answersThe crisis, abuse and confession replies in the working example, and the takeaway “In a crisis, the rest of the product steps back”. Needs: crisis support and suicide prevention; safeguarding; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); and pastoral care. Offer a review
- Sensitive conversations and health researchThe guidance on crisis, abuse and confession in AI chat. Needs: crisis support and suicide prevention; safeguarding; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); and clinical mental health. Offer a review
- Sharing with a groupWho hears a prayer request, the duty-to-report and safeguarding-contact wording, the independent routes, and the hard situation in the working example. Needs: safeguarding; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); pastoral care; and data protection. Offer a review
- Reading togetherThe verse turned against someone who shared, the leader’s notes and replies, the youth-group rules and the safeguarding contact in the working example. Needs: safeguarding; pastoral care; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); and data protection. Offer a review
- Children and familiesThe answer to a child who writes something worrying, the leader’s notes for a youth group, the notes for telling the Flood, and the decision not to tell parents automatically. Needs: safeguarding; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); pastoral care; data protection; and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Offer a review
- Missional by Design: a field guide for spiritual formation appsThe five temptations named for spiritual formation apps, the four practices adapted from FaithTech, the exercises for teams, and what is said about Christian counselling and soul-care apps. Needs: theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; pastoral care; and clinical mental health. Offer a review
- Giving and offeringsWhat is shown to someone short of money or who has just shared a prayer request, the description of seed-faith appeals, the treatment of tithing and church tax, and the use of YouVersion screens from the owner’s own account. Needs: pastoral care; theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; and charity and consumer law. Offer a review
- Notifications and remindersWhat reaches someone awake at night, the help offered when they open the app, the warning case of an AI persona and an app that tells friends, and the use of the church’s hours. Needs: crisis support and suicide prevention; pastoral care; and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Offer a review
- First useHelp for someone arriving in a hard night, the wording for someone coming back after being hurt in a church, and the reflection on paying for Scripture, teaching and AI. Needs: crisis support and suicide prevention; pastoral care; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Offer a review
- When Scripture is used to harmThe whole page: how passages have been used against people, and what that means for design. Needs: safeguarding; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); Jewish–Christian relations; pastoral care with LGBTQ+ people; disability theology; and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Offer a review
Trying Bezalel?
Choose “Bezalel” above and tell us which assistant you used, what you asked, what helped, and what it got wrong or left out. A copied transcript is the most useful thing you can send; leave out anything personal.
Other ways to take part
If you work on a Bible or faith product and want to talk through a decision, or would like to review a deep dive from your tradition, say so in the message. Theological reviewers from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions are especially welcome.