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Write a devotional for OBA

What Are We Looking For?

We are looking to publish devotionals that cover a large spectrum of themes based on a biblical, non-biblical, spiritual-but-not-religious, interfaith, or a blend of spiritual inspiration.

Our Bible App strives to have something for everyone, so we greatly welcome the voices of those whose experiences have been minimized or left out of mainstream faith media, alongside the more commonly-covered experiences.

You are free to submit a devotional written around any topic, provided it is relevant to our audience and will comply with our Publishing Policy.

Open Pitch Call

We are currently accepting pitches to commission devotionals. This is a paid writing opportunity. Scroll to the bottom of this page for details.

Who Is Our Audience?

Our readership is made up of a wide spiritual/religious spectrum — many of whom are progressive/deconstructing Christians, agnostics, skeptics, exvangelical. Most of our readers are just looking to access the Christian faith they already love, but without harmful theologies that disrespect non-Christian religious experiences or are inherently tainted with white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, purity culture, ableism, and fundamentalism.

Who Can Submit a Devotional?

Anyone is welcome to submit a finished devotional! You don’t have to be a published author for your submission to be considered for publication on Our Bible App.

If you are searching for information about our paid devotional writing opportunities, scroll to the bottom of this page.

How to Submit a Finished Devotional:

FIRST, complete these requirements:

THEN, you may write your devotional according to the following guidelines.

Finished Devotional Submissions should include the following:

  • Title and Theme: Must clearly relate to the focus of your devotional
  • No less than 3 days of the devotional, with each day consisting of:

    Bible passage or Quote: Whether your devotional is drawing wisdom from the Bible or another source of scripture/inspiration, please include necessary source information after each quoted passage:

    • Quoted Bible passages must include the book, chapter, verse, and Bible translation/version. EXAMPLE: Matthew 5:10-12 (NRSV).
    • If using quotes from published texts, please include copyright information (publisher, title, author, year published, page(s) passage is found on).
  • Main Message: Budget about 250-550 words per message, per day. Your message should be concise, and each day should have one clear focus/main purpose for your readers.
  • Call to Action: Conclude each day with a final thought, prayer, reflection question(s), or task to encourage your reader to do something with what they've just read.

When you have completed your devotional, click the button below to submit it for review.

Accepted submissions will be edited for formatting, grammar, readability, and content clarity before publication.

SUBMIT A FINISHED DEVOTIONAL HERE

Open Pitch Call / How Can I Get Paid to Write a Devotional?

If you are an experienced writer (or are experienced in the field of your proposed devotional topic), and you are interested in submitting a devotional for pay:

  • Go to ourbibleapp.com/pitch to view the list of devotional topics we plan to publish and their due dates.
  • Then, send a pitch for your proposed devotional. If you are a first-time writer for OBA, your pitch must include a short biographical statement and 2-3 website links or attachments of your writing to serve as writing samples (this can be work published by yourself or in other publications).

Send pitches to upnext@ourbibleapp.com with the subject: “Devotional Pitch [Your Name]” The pitch may be sent as text in the email body or as an attached document.

What to Include in Your Pitch

For first time OBA writers, include a short biographical statement (2-4 sentences) and 2-3 writing samples in your pitch. All pitches must include a 2-4 sentence summary about your proposed devotional, a title, and a basic outline of what each day of the devotional will cover. Example:

[Your Name]
[Summary of proposed devotional, 2-4 sentences]
[Devotional Title]

  • Day 1: [Title]
    • [1-2 sentences or bullet points summarizing what you intend to write about on this day]
  • Day 2: [Title]
    • [1-2 sentences or bullet points summarizing what you intend to write about on this day]
      •
  • Day 3 “...”

You may direct any questions or concerns about this process to upnext@ourbibleapp.com.

Submit a Podcast

Podcast submissions are subject to the same Publishing Policy as written devotional submissions. Please review the it and make sure that your podcast does not violate OBA's Publishing Policy.

Our audience is made up of a wide spiritual/religious spectrum—most of whom are progressive/deconstructing Christians, agnostics, skeptics, exvangelical. Many are just looking to access the Christian faith they already love, but without problematic theologies that disrespect non-Christian religious experiences or are inherently tainted with white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, purity culture, and ableism. And many folks are also new to these conversations pushing the limits of what traditional faith-based spaces look like.

If you think your podcast could be a good addition to Our Bible App’s collection of podcasts, you are welcome to submit it by clicking the button below.

SUBMIT A PODCAST HERE

Publishing Policy

While we are a community that supports free speech, there are a few things that we are unable to publish. We want to create safer spaces for individuals all along the spiritual spectrum. Our readers are devout Christians and mystics . They identify as spiritual but not religious, while others are simply agnostic. Some are encountering spirituality for the first time or are re-engaging with a Christian tradition that has caused them much trauma in the past. Others are learned theologians, and still more identify as conservative Christians. We believe that the Christian blanket is large enough for all of us to fit under and that no one, when reaching for this resource, should feel as if they are an outsider.

1. NO HATE SPEECH:

We will not publish content that frames in a negative light LGBTQ+ people and women. We will not publish content that is anti-black, anti-brown, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, or anti-Semitic.

We will not publish content that is ableist, sexist, or racist.

2. NO CONSPIRACY THEORIES:

Fact check your work.

We value the use of Biblical criticism and various systems of theology in our devotional content. We also value and embrace the use of science and informed viewpoints. To this end, we do not allow devotionals that have conspiracy theories or political opinions that cannot be validated with facts.

3. DO NOT YUCK ANYONE’S YUM:

If you have to put down someone else’s faith in order to make buoyant your own, we will not be able to publish it.

We cannot, in good conscience, publish language that infers/declares one denomination/tradition to be false or inferior. The truth does not need to be qualified.

4. STAY SEX POSITIVE (even if your piece is about celibacy):

Our Bible App celebrates the complexities of sex our Creator has given us.

We will not publish content that promotes purity culture or rape culture.

We will not publish anything that presents a clear gender role bias.

5. USE PROFANITY WITH THOUGHTFULNESS AND DIGNITY:

We believe that profanity has a place even in spiritual thoughtfulness. Some messages cannot be conveyed without it. Please use any profanity with thoughtfulness and clear intent, otherwise it will be censored (s***).

*We reserve the right to update and change these policies without notice.

OBA Devotional Author Agreement

This Author Agreement is made between the undersigned Devotional Writer (Author) and Our Bible App, Inc (OBA) digital platform.

Terms and Conditions

In consideration of the mutual covenants herein contained, the all parties hereby agree as follows:

  • Publisher owns the Android and iPhone application, Our Bible App.
  • The Author agrees to these terms and conditions by submitting devotional content to OBA via its online submission platform. OBA has sole and exclusive discretion in deciding whether or not to publish devotional content on OBA’s platforms, including, but not limited to, Our Bible App, website and newsletter.
  • The Author agrees, as a contributing devotional writer, that all submissions of interest written and submitted to OBA may be published and/or distributed to all OBA platforms, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or other related uses.
  • All Parties agree that there are no minimum or maximum number of devotional submissions that the Author must submit to OBA, and that the Author is free to refrain from submitting any devotional submissions to OBA. Similarly Our Bible App doesn’t commit to publishing any minimum number of the Author’s submissions.
  • Author’s services under this Agreement are as an independent contractor. The Parties agree that the Author is not an employee of Our Bible App and is not entitled to any employee benefits offered OBA to its employees. The Parties acknowledge and agree that the Author is free to publish on other Platforms and/or other media in accordance with Author’s sole and exclusive interest and desire, and that the Author’s work product is limited exclusively to those devotional submissions accepted by OBA for publication on its media platforms.
  • Author warrants that all submissions will be original works of authorship of the Author and will not infringe upon or violate any intellectual property right of any third party, and Author indemnifies OBA specifically against any damages arising out of a violation of this Paragraph 7.
  • This Agreement creates a confidential relationship between the Author and Our Bible App. Information concerning OBA and/or its agents, subcontractors, collaborating partners, as well as the Author’s business affairs, vendors, finances, properties, methods of operation, computer programs, employees, documentation, and other such information whether written, oral, or otherwise, is confidential in nature. Our Bible App and the Author, and all their agents or representatives will adhere fully to this confidentiality agreement.
  • Compensation licenses full rights of the submission to OBA for uses outlined in this agreement. The Author may not submit duplicates of any devotional submissions published by OBA on Our Bible App or other media platforms to other publications for three months after it is published on Our Bible App. After three months an Author may republish their own devotional submission originally published by OBA on Our Bible App, but the Author will include at the end of the submission the following attribution: “Originally published by OBA on Our Bible App, Inc.”
  • This Agreement will continue until terminated by either party by written notice.
  • This Agreement constitutes the complete and exclusive statement of the terms and conditions between the parties with regard to the matters set forth herein, and it supersedes all other agreements, proposals, and representations, oral or written, express or implied, with regard thereto.

    • *By submitting your content, you agree to these terms.