Category: News

YouVersion and your local church. Better together.

From its very beginning, the church has been the gathering of the followers of Jesus, meeting to grow in faith, to care for one another, and to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives.

And, like so many people around the world, you may have shifted to gathering together at church online during the pandemic. But we believe that at its core, the Church isn’t a building … it’s the people.

Incredibly, last year, more than 40,000 new churches signed up for Church Online Platform, a free YouVersion product designed for any church to host their own engaging services online.

But we’re not stopping there. We’re expanding our product focus to dream about the future of church engagement, and how to better connect you—the members of the YouVersion Community—with your local church community as together you grow closer to God every day.

Today, we’re excited to tell you about something new.

We’re excited to offer an all-new website for churches! While additional products are still in development, this new site is a hub for free resources and ideas from YouVersion, all created to partner with your church as you serve your community. If you’re as excited as we are, we invite you to share with your church leaders.

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Built by the Local Church

You may not realize it, but YouVersion was created by a local church in 2007, and remains a ministry of Life.Church to this day. We’re fully invested in the mission of the local church, and we’re driven by a passion to equip ministry leaders with free tools, resources, and training. If this sounds incredible to you, consider joining our team!

Helpful Links:
Introducing YouVersion for Churches
What you need to know about Hybrid Church
How to use YouVersion to Engage your Church

3 ways to take back your thoughts and declare God’s truth over your life.

When you approach a task, a relationship, or an opportunity—and you think about who you are and what you’re capable of doing—what words come to mind? Are they words that display confidence, hope, trust, and strength? Or fear, doubt, pride, or insecurity?

What we tell ourselves every day matters. If we believe something about our identity that isn’t true, then we will struggle to believe what God says about us when He reveals it to us.

Truths are unchanging. They don’t depend on what you do, what you’ve done, or who you want to be. Truths are not self-help mantras or cliché sayings. They are based entirely on God’s Word and what He says about you. While there will always be areas of life where you’ll need to grow, how God views you and what He says about you doesn’t change because God affirms who you are, not just what you do.

That’s why, when you root your identity in Him by declaring Bible-based truths over yourself, you will begin to see yourself the way He sees you—and this will influence the way you treat people, situations, opportunities, and events around you.

Here are 3 steps that can help you take back your thoughts and declare truth over your life:

1. Identify the lies you tell yourself.

Take a moment and think about a difficult conversation you had recently. What did you say? What were you thinking about yourself and the other person?

Your words and actions reveal the narratives you tell yourself. To figure out if a narrative is false, ask yourself: Is this thought marked by fear, insecurity, pride, bitterness, or a lack of confidence? Is this thought leading me to cynical or self-serving behavior? If you can answer “yes” to either of those questions, then the narrative you’re telling yourself probably needs to be addressed and adjusted.

Right now, take a few minutes and identify any lies you might be believing. Once you’ve done this, write down those false narratives and reflect on them. Spend a few moments in silence and ask God to clearly show you where those lies stemmed from.

When you can identify where and when you began believing a lie, it’ll be easier to change the way you think.

2. Shift your perspective.

For every lie, there is a truth that can replace it. Look over your list of false narratives again, and this time, ask God to show you what His truth is for each of the statements you wrote.

To do this, try spending a few minutes with God and then ask Him to clearly show you how He sees you. Afterward, search for Bible verses that contradict the lies you’ve been believing. (In the app, go to “Discover” on the menu, and search with keywords.)

Here are some passages that can help you get started…

Identity: Galatians 5:22-23, John 3:16, Isaiah 43:5, 2 Corinthians 5:17

Money: Philippians 4:19, Hebrews 13:5, Deuteronomy 8:18, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, 1 Timothy 5:8

Relationships: Romans 13:8, Ephesians 6:1-4, 1 Peter 4:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Security: John 10:28-29, Galatians 5:1, Titus 3:5-7, Psalm 27:1-3

Confidence: Proverbs 3:26, Philippians 4:13, 1 John 4:15-18, Hebrews 10:35-36

Daily living: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Isaiah 30:15, 1 Timothy 4:12, Romans 12

3. Declare what’s true.

Once you have your list of verses, rewrite each one in your own words. Turn the truths from Scripture into specific, intentional statements you can daily declare over your life.

Here are what some potential declarations may look like:

• I am enough because I am a child of God.
• I rejoice in suffering because Christ suffered for me.
• I am not ashamed of Jesus because His sacrifice changes lives.
• I am greatly loved, and so I love others like I have been loved.
• Nothing can separate me from God’s love.

As you create your list, keep in mind that when God looks at you, He sees His child. And if God—who is truth—says something about you, then it must be true. ​​That’s why, when you create your list of statements, you can create them with confidence…

Because you belong to the God who confidently equips you and calls you by name.

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