The Erasmus Project

Resources for developers of Bible software

The Erasmus Project Prayer Journal (EPPJ) Initiative

Introduction

For decades people have written prayer requests on bookmarks they used in their Bibles or within personal Prayer Journals. The traditional approach of writing on paper has been widely replaced by people using their smart phones or other electronic devices. Effectively, with the popularity of social media and the global desire to share information, there exists an awesome opportunity to share prayer requests and encourage prayer with more people, quickly and easily. The result is more people praying together and united voices coming before the throne of God. Prayer Warriors now have a way to share prayer requests through ubiquitous devices using the Erasmus Project Prayer Journal (EPPJ) initiative. The intent is not to replace prayer cards, emails, and the like. Rather, we want to make use of mobile devices in addition to these traditional approaches so that missionaries, mission organizations, churches, and other ministries can maximize the number of people praying for them.

The EPPJ standard has the following goals:

Provide a means of electronic distribution and update of prayer lists. Because these lists are electronic, updates are delivered to intercessors quickly (within 24 hours).
Provide a means of aggregating prayer lists from multiple organizations. Rather than an intercessor having to check for multiple emails, check multiple websites, and/or run multiple apps, they can view all requests from a single app of their choice.
Provide a means of supplying daily requests. Prayer lists can be organized to display requests on specific days of the week, days of the month, or even days of the year. You can be sure that everyone is praying for the same item every Tuesday, for instance.
A simple open standard available for everyone to use for free. Besides the ability to define prayers for given days, the standard also provides for urgent prayers, answered prayers, and for prayer request lists that need the security of a password.

Details

To connect your prayer requests with your prayer warriors, three things are needed.

A prayer request file that you place on your web site.
To notify people of the availability of EPPJ-compliant prayer request list on your site.
Intercessors obtain an app (called an "EPPJ client") that they use to get your requests.

As needs change, you can update your prayer request file and those changes will automatically be applied to everyone subscribed to your list through an EPPJ client app - without any additional work on your part.

Creating your prayer list

You can use the free erasmus Bible app to easily create and edit your prayer request file - no technical knowledge required except to place the file on your web site. Download the app for your chosen device (Windows, Mac, IOS, or Android) and use it to create your prayer list.

For step-by-step instructions on how to create your prayer list in the erasmus app, click here.

Where you can direct your prayer warriors to obtain the erasmus Bible app to read your prayer lists and pray.

Besides being able to create prayer lists for you, the free erasmus Bible app is also a prayer client app that can be used by everyone who wants to receive prayer requests. It works on all major platforms (Mac, Windows, Android, and IOS). The Bible app does not require registration, or contain advertisements, or otherwise bother the user; so you can refer people to it with confidence. You can direct them to the web site:
https://erasmusbibleapp.com

Strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to communicating your prayer needs

No matter which option(s) you choose, each approach has its unique advantages and disadvantages. No approach will work for everyone. Therefore, to maximize the number of people praying, you should adopt as many of these as possible. EPPJ provides a simple and free additional approach.

In person. Pros: Easy and simple to do. Has the "human touch." Cons: Requires that you be in the same location (physical or virtual) with the prayer warriors in order to communicate the prayer requests, which may limit your reach. Requires that people remember the requests when praying unless used in conjunction with other approaches.
Printed cards/bookmarks. Pros: This traditional approach is still used by many people. These can be kept in a Bible so they are handy during devotional time. Available when the prayer warrior wants to pray and unobtrusive otherwise. Requires no electronic devices. Secure. Con: Printing fees can make this costly - more so if you provide regular updates and/or use glossy print or paid design.
Mail. Pros: Simple to do. Secure. Cons: Postage costs. Printing costs for the enclosed material.
Web pages. Pro: moderately simple to create and update. Low cost. Better presentation and more information than can typically be included with other approaches. Con: It is difficult to get people to visit each web site of all of the ministries they pray for on a daily basis.
Email. Pros: Simple to create and send. Easy to provide updates and corrections. Having an email allows you to contact people for things other than prayer. Can include more information than is available through most other approaches. Cons: Younger generations may not even use email - opting for texting or social media instead. Large email lists may require expensive bulk email services. Requires paid services and/or technical knowledge to manage - especially in handling subscribing and unsubscribing so that you don't get marked as a source of spam.
Texting. Pros: Simple to create and send. Easy to provide updates and corrections. Appeals to many younger people. Cons: Some people do not like the interruptions and may opt out of receiving prayer requests this way. Sending out bulk texts to a large audience may require expensive services.
Social media. Pros: Simple and inexpensive/free to create. Easy to provide updates and corrections. Cons: Not everyone uses social media. Some platforms may not deliver prayer notices in a timely fashion. Those praying for multiple ministries may not take the time to check each group's posts each day.
Phone prayer chains. Pros: Simple to do. Includes the "human touch". No cost. Cons: Unwieldy for large numbers of people. Requires that everyone be available so that the chain isn't broken, or include a redundancy that may result in some people getting multiple calls.
EPPJ Initiative. Pros: Simple to use and free of cost. Easy to update. Available when the prayer warrior wants to pray and unobtrusive otherwise. Aggregates prayer requests from multiple sources in one place. Free app available. Cons: Requires that the user download an app and subscribe to your list. Not suitable for lengthy or highly formatted (or media-rich) prayer requests.

Answers to some common concerns

We don't want to lose existing prayer warriors by adopting an online prayer list.
EPPJ isn't intended to replace any existing approaches you use to communicate your prayer requests to people. It is simply an additional tool that you can add to your existing approaches.

We don't have the time or money to invest in EPPJ
The EPPJ initiative is free and open-source. The only cost to you is the time to create and maintain your online prayer list. The initiative was specifically designed to be simple to use. You don't need any technical expertise (unless you need to password protect your lists), and you can use a free EPPJ prayer app editor to easily and quickly create your list and maintain it on an on-going basis. The only cost is basically the time it takes to type up your requests (or copy/paste from existing lists).

We already have an app for our organization and don't want to divert attention to another app.
Good news! You can add EPPJ support to your app. The EPPJ gives you a double advantage: Not only do your app users not need another app, but those who aren't inclined to download your app can still see your prayer lists. Further, your app can aggregate prayer requests from yourself and other online prayer lists. This means that people who don't already have an EPPJ client prayer app can use your app for that purpose and also get the other benefits provided by your app. If you add EPPJ support to your app, let us know and we'll be happy to list it here as a client that is available for general use. See the section below for links to information about incorporating EPPJ into your app.

If we support EPPJ, won't that make people less inclined to use our app?
For those who pray for multiple organizations and/or for missionaries from different organizations, they are unlikely to be inclined to download apps from multiple organizations just so they can pray for the different issues. The more apps there are, the more updates have to be installed and the more effort is required to pray through all the requests. These people are more likely to download a single app that aggregates prayer requests from multiple sources. If your app supports EPPJ, that may be the one they download! If they aren't inclined to download your app in the first place, at least your online prayer requests will be available through whichever prayer app they decide to use. We don't see a conflict here. But if there is one, you need to decide which is more important to your organization: maximizing downloads of your app or maximizing the number of people praying for you.

We need to protect our missionaries and can't have prayer lists available to just anyone.
This is a very reasonable concern. This problem can be mitigated by password-protecting your prayer list(s). This requires technical expertise, however, and must be implemented by technical support personnel on your web site. Click here to see detailed technical information.

For software and web developers

The following information is for technical individuals that want to create their own prayer list clients or apps for creating prayer request files.

If you interested in developing an EPPJ client or editor app, click here.

If you want to create the file manually instead of using the erasmus Bible app, click here to read the EPPJ specification, which defines the format of EPPJ files.

If you have an EPPJ client or editor that you would like to list here, contact us.

Need Help?

We do not have human resources available to manage your web sites or write a branded client for you, however we are dedicated to helping you get the most out of the EPPJ initiative. Feel free to contact us if you have questions.