What is the app or tool selection criteria for faith.tools?

So… you want an app or tool on faith.tools?

Updated on April 14th, 2024 to add clarity around AI tool submissions.

You've come to the right place. Here's a list of selection criteria that helps keep the collection on faith.tools focused and of high quality. Ask these questions:

1. Is it beneficial to a Christian's walk with God and community?

The goal is to make sure that we are curating a list of tools and apps that help believers love God more and love others more, as well as find healing and freedom in Christ Jesus. We want to help use technology to unify believers, as well as help unify the faithful believers who created the apps and tools.

Q: Does this mean that the tool needs to be explicitly for Christians? No. And, I'll hit on that below.

2. Does it solve a problem that many Christians experience?

We want to solve problems that help bring freedom to believers. The truth be told is that there are an abundance of Bible apps. Do we need another Bible app? I'm not sure. But we create from a convicted heart, out of the overflow of God's love and in through us, to solve problems with a heavenly solution.

3. Is it maintained and regularly updated?*

People will use apps and tools that are up-to-date, and if they're outdated, they tend to not want to use these tools in favor of other tools. *The exception is where you create an app that has a very simple single purpose and does not need updates.

4. Is the design modern and approachable?

Very similarly to the last one, if a design looks like it was created in the dot net boom or does not look or feel like modern applications, then people tend to not want to use them. The quality of design that we would love to see in apps is that they function and look kind of how people would expect, and if they break those boundaries of what design can look and feel like, then they do it in a tasteful way. This matters because excellence matters. "Excellence honors God and inspires people."

5. Is it safe-guarded from illicit or adult content that could be a harmful temptation?

This is important because we want to protect the purity of the eyes and hearts of believers, and honestly people in general. There are some apps that promote good but end up having loopholes or things that make it easy to get into content that is not good for them. Those are types of apps that we would avoid.

6. If it costs to use the tool or service, then is that very clear?

It's good to support those who provide the ministry of the app or tool, and it's also really good to make it clear how much people will pay for it. When you have costs associated with your product, please outline what the costs are and if they are recurring.

If you have a token-based model where users pay for a certain amount of tokens to be used in your tool, your tool must clearly state how many tokens each action will cost. In order to best serve your users and help them feel confident in paying for your product, they need the security of knowing how much each action they take costs. We say this because we value transparency.

7. Are the creator(s) of it friendly towards Christians and/or do they profess faith in Jesus Christ?

This is a big question. We want the apps that are here to help Christians be from creators that are friendly towards Christians and are not against Christians. Even better is if they profess faith in Jesus. We can't deny that Christians use websites, apps, and tools that were created by those who are not Christians. Does that mean that those apps, tools, or avenues are inherently bad? No. God can redeem and use things for good, such as digital technology.

8. Does it serve more than just a single church?

There are thousands, if not more, of wonderful apps built directly for a church body or multi-site church body. Those apps are great, but oftentimes they're just for that single congregation. Apps featured on faith.tools are meant for the whole body, the capital-C Church. Therefore, any submissions that are apps just for a church and not for the global Church will kindly be rejected. Please know my heart is in the right place as I try to keep faith.tools focused and of high quality.

9. Does it align with the teachings in the Bible?

A lot of apps for Christians are seen as an authority figure by the users and their words are given more weight to as to how they communicate the Word of God. If your app was created and intended for the Christian audience or those interested, any forms of communication in your product is a representative of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, any communication, teachings, responses, etc. that come from your product must align with the teachings of the Bible.

A note on Christian AI tool submissions

We have seen a rise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. AI tools that speak on behalf of the Bible, a person in the Bible, or on behalf of Christianity, the responses must be biblically accurate and align with the teachings of the Bible. AI tools need to be properly trained in order to stay focused and not veer away from speaking the truth of the Word of God.

If you can answer yes to all those questions, add your app or tool today to faith.tools!

Or, if you have questions, please email me at https://tally.so/r/n9d6dX. I'm an open book!