Cool Apps for Ministry

There are several iPhone/iPad applications that I have used in support of my work as a Youth Ministry work. Since I have published articles about other apps that I like/use on my iPad, I thought I would share a few of my ministry-related apps as well so that others might benefit from their use.

BibleReader (by Olive Tree)
There are a lot of bibles available for iDevices. Olive Tree has been around for a very long time offering electronic bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and study guides. I prefer this 'reader application' which is Free. The reader supports note taking, bookmarks, text searching, side-by-side viewing, complete font color/size controls, and display options. It also has integration with the EverNote web site/application for storing your notes for external uses.

Costs are incurred depending upon which resources you wish to download -- some bibles are free while others are still copyrighted. The good thing about this app and the company is that they offer lots of content, various translations including Hebrew and Greek.

iBCP $4.99
For Episcopalians, you can now have the complete Book of Common Prayer on your iDevice. Complete with the ability to bookmark sections, adjust font sizes, and cut-n-paste.

Lectionary for iPad $.99
This is a great resource for the standard or revised Common Lectionary for most Christian denominations, containing the complete three-year lectionary as well as the Daily Office. You can adjust the font size and background colors for ease reading.

Hymnal EH $6.99
There are a full collection of 'Hymnal apps' contains the top 250 hymns from the Hymnal -- music and lyrics -- and includes an organ recording of each hymn so you could play it as accompaniment. There are individual apps for Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian denominations as well as a 'general hymnal'.

Gospel Harmony $.99
Three of the four Gospels in the Bible are called the Synoptic Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Most of the stories and events in Jesus' life are found in all three of these Gospels. The Gospel of John also contains some of those same events but told from a different perspective. This app will show you the events and stories of Jesus' life as they appear in each Gospel "side-by-side" so you can read and experience them the way each writer recorded it.

Catholic Calendar
This is a Free app that will display the complete church calendar from the past through the year 2300. You can search by date or keyword, making it easy to find out when Easter falls or when a particular feast or Saint's Day is scheduled.

iPause $1.99
Need to relax and center yourself but cannot find a nearby Labyrinth? Then this is your app! Labyrinths have been used as an instrument for meditation and prayer for millennia. Now you can find that peace from the convenience of your iDevice.

Leading Ideas
This is a Methodist resource but is applicable to any parish ministry. It includes articles published by various authors, pastors, ministry leaders on a wide range of topics pertinent to church life and practice. It is a good resource for suggestions and ideas that might spark some creative solutions for your ministry.

Other apps
The following two applications are not specifically related to ministry but they are helpful 'support tools':

EverNote
This is a free web service that offers online storage, management, and sharing of notes, email, audio recordings, and photos which can be accessed from any web browser or mobile device including iDevices, Android, Windows Mobile, and other smartphones. There are apps for each of these devices as well as an app designed for Macintosh and Windows computers.

In addition to being a great way to take notes during meetings and such (where the app keeps a local copy as well as storing it online), it is also able to share your content with others via email. And, if you are using the BibleReader app I mentioned earlier, all your notes entered within that app are synchronized with your EverNote account.

Box.Net
This is another free web service that offers 'cloud storage' of any kind of file you may wish to access from anywhere you have Internet access. Because the iPhone/iPad does not support USB/flash drives, the easiest way to 'carry your files around' is to place them on 'the cloud' in a secured space. It is a great way to store and share PDFs, Word and Excel documents, Presentations, photographs, etc. Many apps on mobile devices like the iPad support the ability to open and save documents to Box.Net.

This service also allows you to designate others to be able to access specific folders/files if you choose, giving them either View or Edit privileges.



Well, there ya go! Obviously, there are tons of websites that provide content and resources for your ministries, and most of those are accessible using your Safari web browser (or a browser like Perfect Browser).

If you know of other awesome/helpful apps for ministry leaders, please post a comment below. I love learning about new resources!

Note: I have not been approached by any of these companies to promote their products and I am not being compensated in anyway. Just wanted to be clear on that point.