The Chattanooga nonprofit Precept trains thousands of Bible study facilitators every year. Its guides in three-ring binders can be found in prisons, home churches and in fellowship halls of large congregations. According to its CEO, Precept teaches a course on sex in every public school in Moldova.
Now in its sixth decade, Precept — which strives to help people make sense of Scripture for themselves — is trying something new.
With a fresh brand and a just-launched mobile application, the nonprofit seeks to replicate the model of habit-forming software like the Duolingo language app and bend it to the cause of Christ.
From papyrus and parchment to the printed book and the computer screen, the Bible has taken many historical forms. Precept’s new application, Yarrow, is the latest in a wave of smartphone software — ranging from daily devotional prompters to an artificial intelligence Jesus — that seek to place Scripture within the familiar cadences of modern life, and in doing so reach a generation many evangelists fear they are missing.