User Guide
A step-by-step visual guide to using The Prayer Jar — from your first visit to advanced features.
The Journey at a Glance
Getting Started
You can start right now — no account needed.
No account? No problem.
You can browse and pray for public requests without signing in. Visit /pray or tap "Pray" in the navigation to see the current prayer feed.
Create a free account
Sign in with Google or GitHub at /sign-in. This takes under 30 seconds. An account lets you submit your own requests, track who prayed for you, earn badges, and set notification preferences.
Complete onboarding
The first time you sign in, a quick orientation overlay introduces the main features. You can dismiss it immediately or follow along — it takes about 60 seconds.
Submitting a Prayer Request
Share your need with the community in under a minute.
Tap "Submit a Request"
From the homepage or /pray page, press the main prayer button. A dialog will open.
Write your request
Be as specific or as general as you need. You can write a sentence or several paragraphs. The community prays for whatever you share.
Choose a category
Select the category that best fits: Health, Family, Work, Relationships, Faith, Grief, Finance, Community, or Other.
Set privacy
Public — visible to the full community. Church Only — visible only to your church members. Private — only you and any assigned pastoral staff.
Optional: stay anonymous
Toggle "Post anonymously" to hide your name. The community will pray without seeing who asked.
Optional: mark as urgent
If you need prayer right now, flag it as urgent. Urgent requests surface higher in the feed.
Submit
Your request goes live immediately (public requests are screened for safety). You will receive a notification each time someone prays for it.
Praying for Others
One tap logs your intercession — a notification goes to the requester.
Open the prayer feed
Visit /pray to see active requests. You can filter by category or browse the full feed.
Read a request
Tap any request card to open the full detail view.
Press "I prayed for this"
One tap logs your intercession. The person who submitted the request gets a notification that someone prayed — even if you post anonymously.
Leave an optional message
After praying, you can type a brief encouraging message. Keep it uplifting and focused on the person's need. Messages are optional.
Adopt a request
Want to commit to praying for someone consistently? Tap "Adopt" to add it to your Prayer Journal for ongoing intercession.
Your Prayer Journal
Every prayer you offer is automatically logged here.
What the journal tracks
Every request you pray for — with or without a message — is logged in your journal automatically. Adopted requests are pinned.
Accessing the journal
Go to Profile → Prayer Journal, or navigate directly to /journal.
Filtering and reviewing
The journal shows when you prayed and any messages you left. You can see whether the request was later answered.
When a Prayer is Answered
Mark it, share your testimony, release a light.
Mark it as answered
Go to My Prayers (/my-prayers), find the request, and tap "Mark as Answered."
Share your testimony (optional)
Write a short story of what happened. This becomes a testimony card that others can read on the Lights Released wall.
A light is released
Your prayer joins the Lights Released wall — a public celebration of God's faithfulness. The community rejoices with you.
Notifications & Settings
Stay informed without being overwhelmed.
Access Settings
Go to Profile → Settings, or navigate to /settings.
Email frequency
Choose how often you receive email updates: Real-time (max 1 per 15 min), Daily digest, Weekly digest, or Off.
Notification types
Toggle each event type individually: someone prays for you, someone leaves a message, you earn a badge, weekly digest.
Quiet Hours
Set a daily window when notifications are suppressed (e.g. 10 PM to 7 AM). Choose your timezone so the window is accurate.
In-app notifications
The bell icon in the top navigation shows your unread count. Tap it to see your full notification history.
Badges & Streaks
Milestones that celebrate your faithfulness.
Earning badges
Badges are awarded automatically when you hit milestones: submitting your first prayer, praying for others 10 times, maintaining a 7-day streak, and more.
Day streak
Your streak increments each day you pray for at least one request. The streak resets if you miss a day. A fire emoji appears at 7+ days.
Viewing your badges
Go to Profile → Badges & Streak, or navigate to /badges. The full badge grid shows earned and unearned milestones.
Prayer Partner
One-on-one matched intercession — mutual and consistent.
What it is
Prayer Partners matches you one-on-one with another person for mutual, consistent intercession. You pray for each other regularly.
Opt in
Go to Profile → Prayer Partner (/partner) and follow the opt-in flow. Matching happens automatically.
Reminders
You'll receive gentle reminders to pray for your partner. Your partner receives the same.
Extending or ending
You can request to extend a partnership or end it at any time from the Partner page.
Account & Privacy
Your data, your control.
Editing your profile
Your name and profile photo come from your Google/GitHub account. Update them in your OAuth provider settings.
Deleting your account
Go to Settings → Danger Zone. Type DELETE to confirm. Your account and all associated data are removed immediately. This cannot be undone.
Data and privacy
We store your name, email, and submitted content. We never sell your data or run ads. See our Privacy Policy and Trust & Safety pages for full details.