For designers, product teams and builders
Design for the moment someone reaches for God.
A reading at 6 a.m. A prayer typed at midnight. A question asked of an AI about what a verse means. This is a design reference for the people who build those moments: the real options side by side, with the Scripture, practice and research behind every choice.
The calling
“Listen—if they were silent, the very rocks would start to shout!”
Luke 19:40, The Voice™ · Copyright © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Jesus said this when he was told to silence the crowds who were praising him. Making him known is entrusted to us first. But many people now talk to rocks first. A microchip is a rock we tricked into thinking, and with AI the rock talks back: people ask it about God before they ask anyone else. Those of us who build on these rocks, and shape how they behave, get to help them reflect Christ and lead people into deeper knowledge of God and life with his people. It is an exhilarating calling, and also a burden, and this resource is here to help you carry it well.
How we compare options
Every choice sits on a spectrum
See the options side by side, and choosing one becomes a conscious choice against the others. Where options form a scale, we lay them out as one. This is how much Scripture a reading screen shows at once.
Deep dives
Start with a pattern
Each deep dive has stills of every option, a working example, takeaways, the research behind it and one question to take into your next review.
- How much text at onceOne word, a verse, a passage or a whole chapter?BorrowedObservedFamiliar convention
- Numbers, headings and notesHow much should surround the text?Familiar conventionObserved
- Bible audioHow should Scripture be heard: as text, voice or read-along?Leave it outFamiliar conventionObserved
- AI personaHow human should the assistant seem?Familiar conventionExploratory · untestedObserved
- AI memoryWhat should the assistant know and keep?Familiar conventionObservedBorrowedLeave it out
- TranslationsOne at a time, side by side or verse by verse?ObservedFamiliar convention
How a pattern page works
From first look to a decision
At a glance
Stills of every option, side by side, with one gain and one cost each.
Try it
A working example on a phone-sized screen, with the controls in one panel.
Takeaways
What we noticed, in a few headlined points.
Research
Scripture and tradition, practice today, science and accessibility, with every source and its limits.
Decide
One question and an exercise for your next design review.
What it rests on
Theology, practice and evidence
Scripture and tradition
How the church has read, prayed and practised, with Scripture quoted from the Berean Standard Bible.
Practice that forms →Practice today
How people actually use Bible and faith apps, from surveys, studies and dated screenshots of real apps.
App examples →Science
Reading, habit, motivation and wellbeing research, with each study’s limits stated.
Research notes →Care, law and access
Crisis support, privacy, AI regulation and accessibility guidance that shape what is responsible.
Crisis support in AI chat →
Where options come from
Where each option comes from
Each option says where it comes from, so an idea we invented never passes as something people already use.
- Observed
Seen in a named app, with a dated screenshot where we have one.
- Familiar convention
A widely used convention, generalised rather than copied.
- Borrowed
Taken from outside faith apps, such as reading or productivity tools.
- Exploratory · untested
Our own proposal. Untested.
- Leave it out
Not building the feature, treated as a real option.
Decision guides
Or start from a situation
Context around the passage
How much context does a reader need around the passage? Choosing the reading unit, landing in the right place, and keeping Scripture, notes and explanations distinct.
What does this person need to understand or find?5-minute routeTrust in AI answers
What authority does a fluent answer seem to have? Giving AI a bounded job, showing what it did, letting people check its sources, and keeping care in human hands.
What authority might a fluent answer appear to have?7-minute guideFinding passages
How does someone find the passage they are looking for? Reader controls, browsing, typed references, combined search fields and book order, as one journey into Scripture.
What does this person know already—and where should this action take them?In your own tools
Bring it into your AI assistant
Bezalel is an open MCP server. Add patterns.missional.design/mcp to Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT, describe a feature, and it brings the options, the research and the questions into your work, while leaving the deciding to your team.
Make a thoughtful decision, together
What good should this feature serve? Who carries its costs? What would change your mind?
For your next review
Use the decision worksheet for a design review, a product brief or an AI-assisted build. The ten Missional by Design principles for spiritual apps offer a Christian perspective to examine, question and apply.
Created by Tobias Treppmann as part of Missional by Design, for fellow workers. This is editorial guidance, not yet user-tested, and every page says what its evidence can and cannot show.