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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.

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 the language of Claude's suggestions, 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 you 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).

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.

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. Under each point there is a box for your own thought on it: a story, a picture, a question, something that struck you. Claude weaves it into the sermon when it builds it (see "Suggest the sermon" below) and asks you first when something is unclear. To put a thought into one point only, tap Weave my thought into this point under it: Claude writes that point again with your thought in it and leaves the rest of the sermon as it is. Where the thought is unclear, it asks you first in a short sheet. The new text waits under the point, with a line on where your thought went; change its words if you like, then tap Use to put it in place of the point's text (Undo brings the old text back), or Remove.
  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. Step 8, after the service: a short reflection. It is saved with the preparation.
  11. 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: Reflection in the bar at the bottom). Load the Church's reflection guide there, or 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. The Church's reflection guide: the one-page PDF for the evening. Tap Load the reflection guide (PDF) and Claude copies its title, text word and questions onto the slides, word for word. The service it looks back on is found among your preparations. If it is not there, it is added and marked as held. Without the PDF the slides take the title and text from the preparation, and the Church's four usual questions.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. The last slide: your own closing words if you like, with the text word to take home.
  6. 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)

Claude, the AI from Anthropic, can take a few chores off the preparation. It needs a key of your own under Settings → AI helper (the steps are there): you pay Anthropic only for what you use, roughly R10 to read a month's Guide and a few rand for a set of suggestions, and the key stays on your device, out of any backup.

What is sent to Anthropic to answer: the Guide PDF or the reflection guide when you load one, the text word and its chapter, the Catechism sections that belong to it, your own notes on that preparation, who is listening and your note on how you preach. Anthropic processes it to answer and does not train on it; nothing of it is put on the public site. The suggestions are a starting point. The sermon remains yours.

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.

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, the Guides 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.

Copyright