Help

Back to the app

The Study Bible is a personal tool for reading Scripture, keeping your own thoughts on it, seeing where the Catechism of the New Apostolic Church refers to a verse, and preparing a divine service from a text word. Everything you write stays on your own device. There is no account and no server.

Finding your way

On a PC every part of the app is in the blue menu on the left. On a phone the bar at the bottom holds Read, Notes, Prepare and Catechism, and a fifth tab, More, lists the rest: Reflection evening, Liturgy, Theology, Seating, Choir, Reminders, MIS and Settings. While one of those is open, More stays lit, so a tap on it brings the list back.

MIS, before Settings, opens the Church's own MIS site. In the installed app it opens over the app: on a phone with a Done or ✕ at the top to come back, on a PC in the app's window with a bar at the top whose ✕ brings the app back. In a browser it opens in a tab of its own. Sign in there as always; the app never sees or keeps your password. The MIS cannot sit inside the app's own page: it signs you in with a cookie, which a browser holds back inside another site's page, so the sign-in went through but the MIS could not see it.

Language

The app speaks English or Afrikaans. The EN / AF switch sits in the header on a phone and at the foot of the side menu on a PC, and the same choice is under Settings → Language and under the Aa button in the reader. It changes the screens, the buttons, this help page and the headings of the printed notes. It also sets the book names, and each of those can be changed on its own afterwards under Settings. The Bible text itself stays in the translation you choose.

Reading

Appearance

The app wears the Church's blue and white, like the slides: the blue header with the emblem on a phone, the blue side menu on a PC, and every letter in Montserrat. Under Settings → Appearance (and under the Aa button in the reader) you choose the look: White is the blue and white of the slides, Paper keeps the blue but gives the pages a warm cream colour, Dark is for reading at night, and System is White by day and Dark at night, as your phone or PC is set. The same place sets the text size, the letters and spacing (Montserrat, or Easy-read: plain letters in the whole app with more room between them) and whether book names are shown in English or Afrikaans. Each device keeps its own choice.

Notes

Catechism

The Catechism tab lists the Catechism's chapters and sections. Open a section to see the Bible verses it quotes. The text of the sections is the Church's copyright, so it is not part of the public app: load it once on each device under Settings → Catechism, from the file catechism-text.json that is made from the Catechism PDF (python3 bible/tools/build_catechism.py catechism.txt catechism-toc.txt --text catechism-text.json, where catechism.txt is the PDF as text from pdftotext -layout). It stays in this browser on this device and is not in the backup file.

With the text loaded you can read every section in the Catechism tab, with the book's own summary at the top and "see 4.2" links between sections; search the whole Catechism by word; tap the C on a verse to see the summary of each section that quotes it; and open a section under a service preparation with "Read". Without it, each section links to the same text at nak.org. The Catechism's text and index are in English, so search it with English words.

Theology

Theology gives the background to the Bible at three levels: the verses you choose, the chapter, and the book with its writer. On a PC it has its own place in the side menu; on a phone it is under More. You also reach it from the reader: the Theology button beside the chapter's title opens that chapter, and after you tap verses, Theology in the bar at the bottom opens a sheet on those verses, with the chapter and the book a tap away.

Every book of the Bible has a short introduction built in, the later writings of the Old Testament (the Apocrypha) included, in English and in Afrikaans: who wrote it, when, for whom and why, its big themes, how it is built, its key verses and how it points to Christ. The books are grouped as the Catechism groups them, and beside each book, chapter and passage stand the Catechism sections that quote it. The introductions are written for the app in plain words: a help for study, not the Church's doctrine.

With your Anthropic key (see "Help from Claude" below), Ask Claude writes the background of the verses, the chapter or the book: what it says in plain words, its setting and writer, the key words, what the Church teaches on it, how other Christians read it (each reading marked as in line with New Apostolic teaching, different from it, or left open by the Catechism), how it points to Christ, other passages, and a thought for today. With the Catechism text loaded on the device, Claude says what the Church teaches from the Catechism itself; without it, Claude only names the sections. It takes about a minute and usually costs under 20 US cents. What Claude wrote is kept on the device, goes into the backup file and travels with the sync. Ask again writes it anew and keeps the earlier answer under the new one: tap it to read it, or tap Put this one first. Nothing Claude wrote goes unless you tap Remove, which asks first and takes away only that one answer (Undo brings it back).

English | Afrikaans: every answer has an EN | AF switch at its top. Tap the other language and Claude translates the answer once (the cost shows when it is done). After that you flip between the two, also offline and on your other devices, and the list under Theology shows each answer in the app's language when it has one. When the answer in the first language changes later, the translation says so and offers Translate again; the earlier translation stays under the new one. Ask again and Remove work on the language you see.

Under what Claude wrote, Save all of this keeps everything the page shows: the verses (for a book, its introduction), all that Claude wrote and the Catechism sections. Save as PDF gives a file to keep, for example in your Google Drive, or to send. Print prints it, and on a phone Share sends it straight to another app. Save as a note puts all of it in one of your notes, as a Doctrine note on that place, and you can still change it before you save it.

Liturgy

Liturgy holds the Church's altar booklet, Liturgy for Altar Use: the words said at the altar in the divine service and in each act of blessing (adoption, confirmation, a wedding, a funeral, the blessing before a birth, a wedding anniversary, Holy Baptism), one card per rite, as the booklet prints them: the label on the left, the words on the right, the booklet's notes in italics and its lists. On a PC it has its own place in the side menu; on a phone it is under More, and at the top of Prepare as well.

The booklet is the Church's own, so it is not part of the app. Load its PDF once under Liturgy: Load the English booklet (PDF) or Load the Afrikaans booklet (PDF), or both. The app reads the cards from the file on the device itself (no Claude, no key, a few seconds), keeps them in this browser and sends them to your other devices through the sync, so one load is enough. They are not in the backup file. Remove takes a booklet off your devices again (Undo brings it back), and the PDF can be loaded anew at any time; Load a newer file replaces a booklet.

The cards show in the app's language, or in the other language when only that booklet is loaded, and a card has an EN | AF switch when both are loaded. Aa sets the text size, the same sizes as in the reader, up to Pulpit. While a card is open the phone keeps its screen on, so the words stay at the altar.

Seating and communion

Seating is the congregation's seating and communion plan: the floor plan of the building, the ministers put into the numbered seats, who stands at each serving station, and the A4 sheet that comes out of it for WhatsApp. Gezina, Sinoville and Hercules are drawn in; any other congregation is added under Layout.

Tap a numbered square on the plan and choose a minister, or type a name. Tap a second seat and the two change places. The hatched squares are the serving stations: tap one and choose the seat number of the minister who stands there. Under the plan, Seats is the same thing as a table, Communion holds who serves whom and the cup pairs, and sets how many stations each group has and how many cups stand on the altar.

In Roster each minister is given the colour of the section they serve. That colour then follows them: to their seat, to the station carrying their seat number, into the tables and onto the sheet. Several ministers may share a colour. Every layout names its own sections and chooses their colours.

Seats are numbered to one standard, so a plan reads the same wherever it comes from. Seat 2 is the presiding minister, whoever is serving: the Apostle, District Apostle or Chief Apostle. Their seat is on the bench to the left of the altar, second from the congregation end, with seat 1 beside them closest to the congregation. Along a bench the numbers count up from the congregation end towards the altar, and the benches fill from the one nearest the altar outwards.

A plan is kept only once you tap Save plan; saved plans are listed under Plans. The plan you are working on stays on the device you are working on, so nobody is ever editing your half-finished plan, but the congregations' layouts, the saved plans and the roster go to your other devices through the sync and sit in the backup file. That is the difference from the app this used to be: a layout traced on a PC is on the phone and on another minister's devices without anyone sending a file.

Layout is where a congregation is drawn. New layout from this one copies the one in front of you; Edit this layout turns the plan into an editor where every block, seat, marker, the altar and each station group is dragged into place and given its label, size, colour or direction; Open a layout file or a picture takes a layout someone sent, or a photograph of a plan to trace over. Editing a built-in congregation keeps your own copy of it, and Put the built-in version back undoes that.

Choir programme

Choir is the conductor's work: the hymn index of 1317 entries, the music programme for a divine service, the timed before-service running order, the festive service preparation form and the practices leading up to it. Each sheet is drawn as the workbook printed it and can be saved as a PDF, shared to WhatsApp or printed.

The service's details are at the top, and the six panes under them are the sheets. In Programme, type a hymn number such as 104, E 104 or A 12, or tap Find to search the index by title. Before counts the running order backwards from the start of the service, so the closing silence ends as the service begins and every time moves when one duration changes. Hymns is the index itself, with the conductor's own ability ratings; Files keeps the programmes written so far.

Each programme is kept separately, so two devices that each write one keep both, and all of them travel with the sync and sit in the backup file.

Birthdays and anniversaries

Reminders is the congregation's birthdays and wedding anniversaries, with a WhatsApp greeting ready for each person. Under Listings, load the Birthday Listing and Marriage Anniversary Listing PDFs that the church office prints: every member on them comes onto the list with their member number, section, date and contact number. The files are read on your device and go nowhere. A member already on the list is updated, not added again, so a fresh listing can be loaded every month, and the listing's age or years married is kept as a year of birth or marriage, so the counts stay right in later years.

Coming up shows the dates in the next weeks: today's first, then the days ahead, with a round birthday or anniversary marked as a milestone. A husband and wife on the same anniversary are one line. Tap Message and choose a wording: each is filled in with the person's name, the number they are turning or the years they are married, and your name as the sender, in English or Afrikaans, with or without a verse. Change the words if you like, then Open in WhatsApp opens the chat with the message already typed, so you only press send. Mark as sent remembers it; sent marks travel with the sync, so two ministers greeting from one list see what the other has done. Where a member has no number, Copy message lets you paste it elsewhere.

Congregants is the whole list, searchable by name, member number or section. Tap a member to correct their WhatsApp number, give them the name they go by, or add a note that is shown whenever you write to them. Only those without a number narrows the list to the members the office has no number for, and Export them to Excel makes a spreadsheet of them to send to the priest who knows them. When it comes back filled in, load it under Listings: only the WhatsApp number, preferred name and notes columns are read, matched on the member number, so nothing else in the sheet can change the list.

Under Settings on this tab you sign the greetings, choose their language, how far ahead the list looks and, where several ministers share one congregation, which section's dates you see. Save calendar file writes every birthday and anniversary as a yearly appointment with an alarm: open the file once and your phone's calendar goes off each year on its own, whether or not the app is open, with the member's WhatsApp link in the appointment. Save it again after loading a new listing. Your own wordings are kept here too.

The list, the sent marks, the settings and your wordings go to your other devices through the sync and sit in the backup file. A backup from the standalone Congregation Reminders app loads under the app's Settings, "Bring in a file from the old apps".

Preparing a divine service

The steps follow the order of the Divine Service Guide's article, so you can go through the booklet and the app side by side: the Bible text, the title and message, the introduction, the main points, the context, the summary.

  1. Select the text word in the reader and choose Prepare a service, tap a service of the loaded Guide, or tap "New preparation" in the Prepare tab. Fill in the date, congregation and occasion.
  2. Step 1, the text word: the Bible text. It can be fetched from a translation or typed in.
  3. Step 2, title and message: the Guide's title and message, then the core thought in your own words, and your notes on the Guide's article.
  4. Step 3, introduction: how you will open the sermon. "Read" shows the Guide's own introduction beside yours.
  5. Step 4, main points: the main points always come from the Divine Service Guide: the parts of its article, in its order, are main point 1, 2, 3 and so on. A preparation taken from the Guide starts with them (each marked "Guide"), and Take the main points from the Guide fetches them again.
  6. Step 5, context: like the Guide's Context box, the setting of the text, with the key words, the Catechism sections that quote the text, and cross references. Tick the Catechism sections to keep and choose what the sermon notes should carry for them: the full text of each section, the Catechism's own summary, or the number and title only.
  7. Step 6, summary and conclusion: the Guide's summary in a few short lines, what it asks of the congregation this week (the application), and the conclusion that leads to the altar.
  8. Step 7, illustrations and experiences: a true experience, brought in from your notes or written here.
  9. Save or print the sermon notes (everything, A4, in the same order as the steps), the sermon itself (the text alone, in reading order and in large clear type: the text word, the introduction, the main points, the summary, the application and the conclusion, with the illustrations) or the cue cards for the pulpit (A5 in large type: each main point with its main thoughts under it, and your own thought on the point in blue; a point is never split over two cards). On a phone, "Share" sends the PDF to WhatsApp or e-mail. The headings on the notes follow the language of the app.
  10. Hear the sermon: under "Print or save", Read aloud has an ElevenLabs voice read the sermon to you, the same text as "The sermon", in English or in Afrikaans, with the headings in the language of the preparation. Under step 2, Hear the Guide reads the Guide's article the same way, in the Guide's language. The recording stays on this device: listen again as often as you like, save it as an MP3, or read it again after a change (the app says when the sermon has changed since). It needs a key of your own under Settings → Read aloud (see "The voice that reads the sermon" below).
  11. Step 8, after the service: a short reflection. It is saved with the preparation.
  12. Step 9, reflection evening: the slides for the evening when the congregation looks back on this service (see "Reflection evening" below).

Everything saves as you type. Use the status (Draft, Ready, Held) to keep the list tidy. To start a part again, each box has a Clear at its right while it has text, and each step a Clear this step; both can be undone from the message at the bottom for a few seconds. "Change" under step 2 picks another service from the Guide and asks whether to replace the text word, title and message; its context and summary come in too where you have not changed them, and your own notes stay.

Reflection evening

On a reflection evening the congregation looks back on a divine service that was held and talks about it, one question at a time. The app makes the slides for that evening in the Church's blue look: the sermon and its text word, the main points from the Guide, one slide for each question, and a word of thanks to close. Each slide comes with notes for the one who leads the evening.

  1. Tap Reflection evening in the side menu (on a phone: More, then Reflection evening). Choose the service. Evenings with slides come first, under Your slides. You can also open the preparation of the service and tap Make the slides under step 9.
  2. What the slides say: the language of the slides (English or Afrikaans), the date of the evening, the congregation, the title, the text word and the message. The main points come from the Divine Service Guide, as always: they are never made up. Untick Show the main points on a slide to leave that slide out. What you change here changes the slides, not your preparation.
  3. The questions: one slide for each question, in this order. Change the words, move a question up or down, remove one (Undo brings it back) or add your own. Use the Church's four questions brings the usual four back, in the language of the slides.
  4. The last slide: your own closing words if you like, with the text word to take home.
  5. Notes for the facilitator: for each slide, what to say and do there: the welcome, reading the text word with some background from the Guide, the main points with their main thoughts, how to lead each question, and the close. They are made from the sermon and the Guide. Change anything; empty a box to get the suggestion back. They go into the PowerPoint file as its notes: in PowerPoint's Presenter View only you see them on your laptop while the projector shows the slides. Save the notes as PDF or Print the notes gives them on paper, slide by slide. They run on from page to page without empty space; where a slide goes on over the page, the top of the next page says which slide it is.

Show the slides fills the screen. Tap a small slide to start the show there. On a projector or TV, the arrow keys, the space bar or a presentation clicker go to the next slide, B makes the screen black and Esc ends the show. On a phone or tablet, tap or swipe. Save as PowerPoint gives a file that opens in PowerPoint or Google Slides, where you can still change it. On a phone, Share sends it to WhatsApp or e-mail. Everything you set here is saved with the preparation as you type. In the Prepare list and under Reflection evening, a service with slides shows Slides. Delete these slides, at the bottom, takes away what you changed or loaded for the evening (Undo brings it back); the preparation stays as it is.

Help from Claude (the AI helper)

In Theology, Ask Claude writes the background of a book, a chapter or a passage, in line with the Catechism. It works with a key of your own from Anthropic, under Settings → AI helper (the steps are there): you pay Anthropic only for what you use, usually under 20 US cents an answer, and the key stays on your device, out of any backup. What is sent to Anthropic to answer: the verses or the chapter, the app's own introduction to the book and the Catechism sections that quote it. Anthropic processes it to answer and does not train on it. The answer is a help for study, not Church doctrine.

Keys for the licensed translations

Two services license Bible translations to apps, and both give a free key for personal, non-commercial use. API.Bible: open scripture.api.bible/signup, create an application and copy its key; it carries the NKJV. YouVersion Platform: register at platform.youversion.com, create an app and copy its app key; YouVersion carries the Afrikaans Bibles. Paste a key under Settings → Translations and tap "Check key": it lists the Bibles that key may read, and you tick the ones to show in the reader. Which translations appear depends on the licences each service has granted your key. YouVersion also shows the Bibles it carries in your languages that are not licensed to your app yet, marked "licence needed": tap Licence next to one to see which agreement covers it, accept that agreement on platform.youversion.com, then check the key again. Keys are stored only on your device and are never included in a backup.

The voice that reads the sermon

ElevenLabs makes the voice that reads a sermon aloud. Open elevenlabs.io, create an account or sign in, choose "API keys" under your name at the bottom left and create a key (leave its access as it is; the key is shown once). Paste it under Settings → Read aloud and tap "Check key": it lists the voices of your account, and you choose one for English and one for Afrikaans, hear a sample of each, and set the speed. Without a choice, the app reads with Jerome's own voices, cloned at ElevenLabs, one for English and one for Afrikaans; with another account's key they fall back to George, a voice every account has. Any voice can read Afrikaans; for a South African sound, add an Afrikaans voice from the Voice Library at elevenlabs.io to your voices. You pay ElevenLabs for the characters it reads: a sermon of about 1,500 words is about 8,000 characters; the free plan gives 10,000 a month, the Starter plan (about $6 a month) 75,000. A recording is kept on the device, so listening again costs nothing. Only the text of the sermon goes to ElevenLabs; it keeps the recordings in your account's history, where you can delete them. The key stays on this device and is never in a backup.

Sync between your devices

Your PC and phone can keep each other the same. Under Settings → Sync between your devices, tap Turn on sync on the first device: the app makes a code of 20 letters and numbers and shows it with a QR square. On the other device, open the same screen, tap I have a code and type the code in, or point the phone's camera at the square (if the app is on your home screen, open it from there and type the code, so that copy is the one that joins). From then on both devices keep each other up to date on their own: notes, preparations, settings, pasted text, the Catechism text, and what Claude wrote in Theology travel across within a few seconds of opening the app or making a change. Something you delete on one device goes on the other too; when the same note or preparation was changed on both before they could sync, the newer change wins.

Everything is locked with your code on the device before it is sent. The server, a small part of the app on Vercel, keeps only the locked copy and cannot read it, and nobody can find or open it without the code, so keep the code where you keep your passwords: Show the code shows it again any time. Your keys for API.Bible, YouVersion and Anthropic travel too, locked in the same way, unless you untick Carry my keys too. The look of the app (theme and text size) stays per device. Stop syncing on this device keeps everything on the device and leaves the copy on the server for your other devices; Delete the copy on the server removes it for good. Erase everything on this device under About touches only that device.

Backup and devices

Notes, preparations and what Claude wrote in Theology live in the browser on each device. Under Settings → Backup, Save backup file makes one file with everything; keep it in your Google Drive, also when sync is on: it is your own copy, in a file you can see. Load backup file on another device merges it in: newer copies win and nothing is deleted. Clearing the browser's site data erases the app's storage, so save a backup first.

Offline and home screen

The app keeps every chapter you open. To have the whole Bible ready without a connection, use Download all texts for offline in Settings once. On a phone, use the browser's "Add to Home Screen" to open it like an app.

When a newer version of the app is on the site, a bar at the bottom says so: tap Update now. To look straight away, use Check for a newer version under Settings → About.

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