Media

To request an interview or review copy, contact Jennifer VerHage:
(616) 698-3331
Jennifer.VerHage@zondervan.com
www.zondervan.com/newsroom

Common Prayer App Launches, Allowing Users to Pray In Sync

Social activists Shane Claiborne & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove offer a modern take on an ancient way of practicing faith with this new cutting-edge Common Prayer App

Grand Rapids, Mich., Nov. 29, 2012 – In a world where social classes are extremely divided and cultures remain separate rather than unified, the Common Prayer app may just be the common prayer that a socially, racially and politically segregated world needs to be transformed.

Following the release of Common Prayer on paperback, which sold 56,000 copies, the Common Prayer app is available for iPhone 3Gs, 4, 4s, 5 and iPod Touch (with an iPad version available following). Here is the link for downloading the Common Prayer app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/common-prayer/id573743333?ls=1&mt=8

“This is truly a different kind of app,” authors Claiborne and Wilson-Hartgrove share. “It’s not one you try to pick up and simply read. In fact, this is a daily tool to be used at users convenience…meant to bring ultimate convenience and community. It’s a devotional broken up into days and times, so that everyone can essentially pray together.. on their schedule.”

Broken into easy-to-follow tabs, the Common Prayer app is accessible to someone who’s followed the Christian faith their whole life and someone who’s never held a Bible in their hands. Divided into tabs for different parts of the day, Common Prayer aims to connect people of faith around the globe, across cultures, theologies and continents. For one year, they will be praying the same prayers every day (at their desired time) and subsequently discover the richness and power in this tradition. The Common Prayer app contains:

  • Evening prayers: Seven prayers; one for each night of the week
  • Morning prayers: 365 prayers; one for each morning of the year
  • Midday prayer: One prayer; to pray during the day throughout the year
  • Occasional prayers: Multiple prayers; to be used on special occasions like holidays and gatherings
  • Songbook: Collection of best-loved songs of faith from all around the world

At the basis of the Common Prayer app, social activist, renowned author and the often controversial Shane Claiborne and sought after speaker and author Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove are setting out to enliven the ancient and historical practice called “liturgy.” An all-inclusive invitation, Claiborne holds certain that liturgy, a traditional act of praying collectively, has the power to transcend culture, create community and move hearts.

“Liturgy,” the authors note “invites us into a new ‘we’…The Church actually reflects the most diverse community in the world—white, black, and all shades in between, rich and poor, all walks of life… called together to bring our lives and our cultures and become a new community.”

“The world the liturgy reveals may not seem relevant at first glance, but…the world it reveals is more real than the one we inhabit day by day…outlasting McDonalds and Wal-Mart, America and South Africa,” they write. “The songs and readings and prayers of the liturgy are more ancient and true than any culture or empire.”

With the Christian faith home to more than 38,000 different denominations, it’s a known fact that the greatest barrier to becoming a Christian is the alarming amount of division seen within the church. Perhaps not any longer.

Common Prayer Press Kit
PDF

Common Prayer Cover Image
PDF | JPG

Common Prayer Web Logo
JPG

Image for 10