2023 YouVersion Bible App’s Verse of the Year is #3.
Edmond-based Life.Church leaders recently said that for the third year in a row, Isaiah 41:10 has been the most shared, bookmarked and highlighted scripture by people across the YouVersion family of apps. Ta.
The Bible says: “Do not therefore fear, for I am with you; do not be discouraged; for I am your God; I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
What is it about that particular scripture that most likely appealed to people around the world who have been exposed to God’s Word through our popular free app? One Bobby Gruenewald said he had a few ideas.
“Obviously it’s a poem about hope,” he said. “I think we’ve seen people turn to the Bible in this day and age, where they basically want to see God as someone who gives them hope in times of trouble.”
Looking back over the years, Grünewald found that Isaiah 41:10 was popular because the scriptures of the year tended to be more hopeful than generic. He said he was not surprised.
“This is one of those things that happens to resonate in this day and age, but the theme of people turning to the Bible for hope is not a new trend,” he said.
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This is the third year since 2020 that Isaiah 41:10 has earned the top spot on YouVersion’s Bible of the Year, reflecting the verse that people highlight, bookmark, and share the most. I am. This verse is also a need expressed in the top in-app searches of 2023, as people around the world continue to turn to the Bible for answers about love, peace, hope, healing, and anxiety. Match.
“From a global perspective, we have been through a lot in recent years, so it is surprising that people continue to be drawn to the hope and peace promised in Isaiah 41:10. That’s not the case,” Grunewald said. “While there is much fear and anxiety being felt around the world, we believe that faith is the answer, and we see people continuing to cling to God and His Word in times of greatest need.” That’s encouraging.”
Accelerate your Bible engagement
Throughout 2023, Bible engagement around the world skyrocketed across YouVersion’s family of apps. Each month this year ranked as the best month ever in YouVersion’s 15-year history, both in installs and daily usage. Specifically, the previous record for 2020 was 76 million installs in one year, but this year the number of installs has increased by more than 100 million. We also saw a 20% increase in daily Bible use this year compared to 2022, which equates to approximately 12 million people engaging with the Bible every day.
“Throughout this year, we have seen an incredibly high rate of engagement with the Bible by our international community,” Gruenewald said. “What we’re seeing is that this is not just a temporary spike, but one that will last. We expect to see even greater excitement around Bible engagement in the coming years.”
When YouVersion launched in 2008, it started with Bible texts available in English and Spanish, creating a community primarily based in North America. Since then, this ministry has evolved into a worldwide missionary effort, and daily Bible use continues to increase significantly in North America, reaching new people around the world. In fact, in 2023, more than 80% of YouVersion installs occurred outside the United States, with India, Africa, and Latin America being the most prominent.
Fastest growing region
In 2023, India was one of the fastest growing regions for the YouVersion app family, with installs increasing by 53% compared to last year. This year, people in India installed and used the YouVersion app, and he worked on over 700 versions of the Bible in over 350 languages, representing diverse groups within the global YouVersion community. Children in India are also engaging with the Bible at a higher rate this year. The Bible app for kids, available in 69 languages including Hindi and Bengali, saw a 131% increase in daily usage in India as kids engaged with the Bible through interactive animations and fun activities.
YouVersion also saw a particular daily boom in Bible engagement in Africa throughout 2023. Across the continent, daily Bible use increased by 98% compared to last year, with triple-digit increases in several countries including Kenya (225%), Cameroon (229%) and Uganda (288%) . Part of this growth is due to his October 2022 launch of Lite, a Bible app designed to help people access God’s Word in areas with device and data limitations. In just over a year, this light app has been installed 17.2 million times in Africa alone. In Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bible App Lite took the number one spot on the Google Play Store, beating out other popular apps such as TikTok, Whats App, Facebook, and Instagram.
In Latin America, YouVersion experienced impressive year-over-year growth, with installations increasing by 107% across the region, with exceptions in several countries such as Uruguay (129%), Argentina (156%), and Venezuela (396%) showed a significant increase. Focused on expanding its Spanish-language content offering, YouVersion collaborates with approximately 475 Spanish-speaking partners to launch approximately 1,000 new Spanish-language Bible plans in 2023. These important partnerships have also enabled him to launch his Bible app Lite in Latin America in early November 2023. The Lite app, currently available in 14 languages, has seen early success in Latin America, with nearly 500,000 installs in its first month.
reach all over the world
As a free, donor-funded ministry, YouVersion works with more than 4,660 partners around the world to bring Bible text and quality Bible content to people in as many languages as possible. YouVersion has been able to add over 200 versions of the Bible in 100 new languages this year. With these additions, the Bible app now has over 3,000 Bible versions in 2,000 languages. Beyond the Bible text, YouVersion works with these global partners to provide devotional content through her 30,000+ Bible plans in 84 languages.
“Now more than ever, we are seeing the global church uniting around the Word of God. And thanks to the passion and dedication of our partners, we are witnessing how many more It’s really fun to think about how it brings us closer to God,” Grunewald said.
For more information and visuals of the global YouVersion community’s Bible engagement trends in 2023, visit www.youversion.com/share2023.
About you version
Created by Life.Church, YouVersion designs free, Bible-centered experiences that encourage and challenge people to seek God throughout each day. The YouVersion family of apps (including Bible App, Bible App Lite, and Bible App for Kids) is installed on more than 725 million devices worldwide.
The Bible app provides Bible experiences in over 2,000 languages to help people deepen their relationship with God. Bible App Lite is optimized for offline use and helps people access God’s Word in markets where devices and data are limited. Developed in partnership with OneHope, the Bible app for kids helps kids connect with the Bible through interactive animations and fun activities. For more information about YouVersion, visit youversion.com.