Optional Modules in Guided Scripture
Guided Scripture (formerly Verse of the Day Stories) is part of the Daily Refresh feature in the Bible App. The goal of Daily Refresh and Guided Scripture is to help a typical user take a step toward starting or keeping a daily habit of engaging with God's Word.
In addition to a video teaching from a trusted communicator in some languages, Guided Scripture is made up of a handful of pieces called modules. Each module has specific parameters associated with it.
Only three modules are mandatory, and you can learn about those parameters here. This article will cover some optional pieces.
Best Practices
As you create, keep in mind that your audience is global and coming from all stages of life. We want everyone to feel welcomed on the Bible App—especially people who might still be figuring out what following Jesus looks like.
If you provide written content, in some cases, your writing will be translated by our Localization Team into dozens of languages. If a term or phrase sounds like something you might only learn in a Sunday School class or a college course, it’s best to find an alternative. Make sure to avoid other geographically specific terms, slang, or idioms. Do not write in the first person (using "I" or "me" statements) or share personal anecdotes.
Modules in Guided Scripture should never:
- Speak only to a very small or specific audience. If your content couldn't be for anyone, it likely doesn't belong in Guided Scripture.
- Feel like a sales pitch or promote a book, movie, album, experience, etc. that a user would need to purchase.
- Try to move a user to a website or app outside the Bible App. Bible Plans, YouVersion Connect pages, video series, or other features are all welcome options—as are prompts for a user to take what they are learning digitally into the real world.
Scripture
Scripture modules are designated by the YouVersion team. Typically one Scripture module is used and matches the Verse of the Day, but more can be used at our discretion.
A Scripture module may cover multiple verses; however, passages that are too long will not display properly on some devices.
Scriptures will always appear in the version a user has set as their default version in the Bible reader.
If you choose any additional Scripture modules, they must:
- Support the daily teaching.
- Be brief—no more than one or two verses.
- Not be tied to a specific version or translation.
If you'd like to use additional Scripture, you'll only need to provide a simple Bible reference with book, chapter, and verse (e.g. "Matthew 28:18-20" or "Micah 5:2").
Bible Plan Days
In lieu of a devotional, or in addition to one, a Bible Plan day can be used. This is advantageous because it connects a user to a partner's content while also introducing or reiterating a habit-forming app feature to the user.
A good Bible Plan day in Guided Scripture:
- Supports the daily teaching.
- Is not too short or too long.
- Does not feature embedded images, video, or audio. The Guided Scripture module does not support these embedded media elements.
- Has a visually appealing thumbnail.
- Applies broadly. Bible Plans for single parents or business leaders, for instance, while often very insightful or encouraging, are not good choices for this platform.
To include a Bible Plan day in Guided Scripture, you'll need to provide the Plan day number, as well as the one- to five-digit Bible Plan ID, found in the URL of the plan on bible.com.
You may choose a day from an existing Bible Plan or write a Bible Plan specifically to be used in Guided Scripture, as long as it is reviewed, approved, and published before the Guided Scripture is scheduled to run. You can choose a Plan from any publisher as long as it fits our guidelines for quality standards.
The YouVersion team may reject a specific Plan to be used in Guided Scripture for a variety of reasons.
Supplemental Video Clips
Supplemental, or secondary, videos come in a wide variety of applications. A secondary video clip may promote a piece of content or a feature of the app like a partner page. It may be a continuation of the teaching, or it might be a recreation of a biblical passage. Sometimes, it's a performance of a hymn or worship song or a trailer for longer-form video content. On occasion, multiple supplemental video clips have broken up a larger experience into digestible chunks.
Supplemental videos are most often between 15 seconds to a minute long and should satisfy the same audio/visual quality requirements as a standard teaching clip, but exceptions can be made in some instances (a horizontal video series trailer, for instance, or a full song).
Supplemental videos should be submitted through this form.
Short Text
Occasionally a softer transition between slides is needed (like adding context for a video), or a smaller piece of information needs to be added. In those cases, a short piece of text is used. Short text slides are the simplest module option Guided Scripture offers.
Short text modules must include a piece of eyebrow text (a headline) of no more than 25 characters and a chunk of body copy no longer than 150 characters. For instance:
Eyebrow Text: Your Next Step
Body Copy: Take a moment to text, email, or share today's Verse of the Day with a friend or family member.
As of today, short text modules do not support images, audio, video, or text formatting (bold, italics, or underlined text, numbered lists, bulleted lists, and indenting are not supported).
