History of God for Kids app…

Joanne Gilchrist is inspired by her two pre-school children to write a devotional just for them, teaching them all about the character and nature of God from the Bible.

Joanne wonders if other kids might be interested and tests her home-made, ‘printed devotionals’ with her friends’ children. She finds that not all children engage with the printed word. “What about an app?” Someone suggests…

A year of app development… writing, editing, recording, meeting illustrators, testing and feedback… such fun! Huge thanks to the tech company ‘Appt’ for all their hard work making God for Kids a reality.

In February, God for Kids app is launched on the App Store! It has just 82 downloads on the first day and is full of bugs! In October, it is launched on Google Play and Amazon Apps for Android users. It has just 2 adventures and the Space Adventure is an in-app purchase.

We celebrate 1 year of God for Kids in the app store with a pancake party! We also run a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the second and third ‘adventures’ based on Jesus and the Holy Spirit. All required funds are raised! Joanne and Fiona Walton write the first drafts of 7 books called ‘The Animals of Eden Valley’.

In January, the second and third adventures are finally released and all four adventures are unlocked and made available free of charge to everyone. ‘Why Can’t I See God?’ (first edition) is published on Amazon. By the end of the year, we celebrate 50,000 downloads!

There’s a global pandemic, schools shut and family life suddenly goes online. Joanne creates daily devotions, live on Facebook, to help children and families focus on God and grow in their faith during this troubling time. App downloads skyrocket…

‘Who Made God?’ is published by Sarah Grace Publishing, an imprint of Malcolm Down Publishing. We receive a grant from The Lions UK to fund the re-vamp God for Kids app, in partnership with SunScool app, and we file an application to start a charity.

Three more ‘Animals of Eden Valley’ books are published by Sarah Grace publishing and God for Kids app is updated with a new look, making it possible to add new features and languages. We top 100,000 downloads and celebrate a record number of active daily users and positive, 5 star, written reviews on Google Play. Praise the Lord!

Our schools work begins to take off and we visit a number of local schools to deliver collective worship sessions and a writing workshop. We run our first “Faith at Home” workshop to trial the concept, we join the core leadership team of Hand in Hand conference and we continue to develop new resources such as the Advent I-Spy.

Launched YouTube Channel with Animated Videos of Animals of Eden Valley Books 1-4

Toured local Schools with new book “Why Did God Make Me?” by Joanne Gilchrist

Fulfilled a long term dream to go on a “book tour” to New Zealand (and stopped at a church in the USA on the way!). Gave away 225 books, read to 93 children in a school and spoke in a couple of churches too.

Ruach Resources ceased trading and all assets and licenses transferred to Scripture union (England & Wales). A big moment. End of an era and the beginning of something new. Thank you to God for his faithfulness and goodness.