Feedback and topic requests

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

The following drafts address theological, pastoral, safeguarding or clinical questions. Each entry lists its review priorities and the expertise needed. Choose “Review or introduction” above to contribute your expertise or recommend a reviewer.

• 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
• AI personas and rolesThe replies to someone asking whether God can forgive them, the words written for a pastor, Peter and Jesus as warning cases, the treatment of confession and absolution across traditions, and the description of named apps. Needs: theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; and pastoral care. 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 a personal account. Needs: pastoral care; theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; and charity and consumer law. Offer a review
• Agreeing and pushing backThe replies to a grudge, a decision to leave church, a misquoted verse and grief; what the example presents as Christian teaching on forgiveness and church; and the warning cases of flattery and rebuke. Needs: theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; pastoral care; and clinical mental health. Offer a review
• Ending the conversationThe goodbye, late-night and long-session replies to someone lonely or anxious, the warning cases of a hook and guilt at goodbye, and the reflection on rest and sleep. Needs: pastoral care; clinical mental health; and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Offer a review
• Saying “I don’t know”The replies to someone asking why God let them lose their job, the labels that separate Scripture, a tradition’s teaching and what is not known, and the summaries of where Christians differ. Needs: theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; and pastoral care. Offer a review
• Spiritual acts and AIThe assistant’s replies to someone asking for prayer or forgiveness, the prayers offered for each church, the routes to a priest, pastor or prayer team, and the warning cases of an AI that blesses or absolves. Needs: theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions; pastoral care; and crisis support and suicide prevention. Offer a review
• When the assistant writes firstThe follow-up messages and their wording for someone grieving or estranged, what appears on the lock screen, the warning cases of a persona that says it misses someone and an app that tells friends, and the reflection on pastoral follow-up. Needs: pastoral care; crisis support and suicide prevention; and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. 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
• Whose theologyThe short summaries of what Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Baptist and Pentecostal churches teach on infant baptism, asking Mary to pray, speaking in tongues and ordaining women; the replies when someone pushes back; and the note on questions about sexuality. Needs: theology from Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Baptist and Pentecostal traditions, each read by its own members; pastoral care; and pastoral care with LGBTQ+ people. Offer a review
• Children and AIThe replies to a grieving child, to a child asking the AI to be their friend and to a child who is scared at home, the help offered and the place of parents in it, and the reflection on children’s questions. Needs: safeguarding; pastoral care; and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Offer a review
• What the assistant talks aboutThe edge replies to someone who cannot sleep, asks for a therapist or asks for a spiritual director, the crisis reply that every scope keeps, and the reflection on counsel and spiritual direction. Needs: crisis support and suicide prevention; clinical mental health; pastoral care; and theology across Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Offer a review
• Handing over to peopleThe replies to doubt, grief and hurt by a church leader, the outside routes offered when the church is the problem, what a church or listener is shown, and the warning case of a pastor who calls without being asked. Needs: pastoral care; safeguarding; survivor advocacy (ideally survivor-led); data protection; 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.