Resource Review11 min read

Knowing Him

4.4Editor rating

Mark Edwards’s fifty-day chronological study is still live as a free installable web app with complete English content, Finnish localization, four English Bible versions, saved progress, day-by-day podcasts, maps, and forty-one Israel videos—substantial and unusually generous, though its March 2024 build, Firebase account layer, missing current native-store listings, and limited public maintenance and accessibility evidence call for a tested backup plan.

Visit official site ↗

Starting price: Free web app and media; 186-page print guide sold separately
Free tier: Yes
Platforms: Installable web app (PWA) · browser · print · Vimeo · no current native store listing verified
Developer: Mark Edwards / Sonlife / Power to Change Australia
Launched: 2015 or earlier
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

50 days · live PWAStudy length

186 pagesGuide length

41 · freeSupplemental videos

Filmed in IsraelVideo setting

4.86/5 · 7 reviewsSonlife customer rating

Mark EdwardsStudy author

English · FinnishApp languages

FBV · KJV · LSV · WEBEnglish Bible versions

March 26, 2024Web build last modified

The verdict

Knowing Him is a functioning and unusually content-rich free progressive web app, not merely an old directory listing. Its public 2024 build includes the fifty studies, four public-domain English Bible versions, Finnish interface and study localization, progress controls, maps, chronological material, forty-one videos, and supplemental audio for every day. That makes it useful today, but “live” is not the same as actively maintained. The build exposes an older Firebase-era stack, no current native Apple or Google listing was verified, and public release notes, accessibility results, support commitments, data lifecycle detail, and correction history are thin. Try the web app before buying the guide, use the Power to Change policies to understand the account relationship, export or record progress independently, and keep direct Scripture and printable material available if the site or login fails.

Try Knowing Him ↗

Opens knowinghim.app

Knowing Him is a fifty-day chronological journey through the life of Jesus written by Mark Edwards, identified by Sonlife as its Director of Latin America. The 186-page study moves through Gospel events in sequence and adds a “Digging Deeper” section each day. Sonlife recommends it for individuals, small groups, and ministry teams. The purpose is not only to collect information about Jesus but to examine how he lived, taught, related, formed disciples, and set a pattern for participating in disciple-making ministry.

Forty-one supplemental videos were filmed on location in Israel with international leaders. Power to Change Australia’s overview says the journey explores the humanity and deity of Jesus, the culture around his life and ministry, the effect of geography on his strategy, and the movement of disciple making he built. Location footage can make distance, terrain, towns, water, wilderness, travel, and social setting more imaginable than a workbook alone. The videos are described as free and remain a separate supplement to the written study.

The current digital experience is a progressive web app. Its manifest allows installation to a home screen and says most of the app can be used without an internet connection. The bundled navigation includes Introduction, Knowing Him Studies, Supplemental Videos, Supplemental Podcasts, Map of Israel, feedback, about, and download guidance. English users can choose Free Bible Version, King James Version, Literal Standard Version, or World English Bible. Finnish is the only second interface and study language visible in the build, and the Finnish version does not bundle an in-app Bible text. Login or account creation is used for saved state and remote restoration; the site links account acceptance to Power to Change’s terms and privacy policy and includes Google Analytics and Firebase services.

The guide sits within Sonlife and the wider Concentric disciple-making network. Their shared emphasis is learning from Jesus’ model and multiplying disciples, leaders, and healthy churches. That orientation gives the study a practical through-line, but it is still one ministry framework and should be distinguished from the text itself. We researched the live PWA shell, manifest and public application bundle, study and media structure, Bible and language options, linked policies, Sonlife listing and reviews, Power to Change overview and SHIFT material, faith.tools record, and Concentric background. We did not create an account, complete all fifty days, test remote restore or offline behavior, purchase the guide, watch every video, listen to every podcast, verify every geographic statement, lead a group, or audit participant outcomes.

✓ The good

Sustained Gospel attention - fifty days are long enough to move beyond a handful of familiar scenes
Chronological structure - related events can be compared across Gospels and followed as a developing ministry rather than isolated readings
Substantial written guide - 186 pages provide more room for context and reflection than a lightweight devotional app
Complete free web curriculum - the live bundle contains the introduction and fifty days rather than a short preview that forces a purchase
Installable and partly offline - the PWA offers home-screen installation and says most of the experience remains available without a connection
Free location videos - forty-one on-site supplements can clarify terrain, distance, culture, and setting without adding a video subscription
Flexible use - the material is explicitly designed for individuals, small groups, and ministry teams
Action-oriented questions - Digging Deeper and disciple-making emphasis ask what the text changes rather than stopping at recall
Established ministry context - Sonlife, Power to Change, and Concentric provide recognizable ownership and a wider training framework
Positive small customer sample - seven Sonlife reviews average 4.86 out of five and include comments from personal and ministry use

✗ Watch out

Build age needs attention - the production app and bundle were last modified in March 2024 with no prominent current release history
Native-store status is uncertain - no current official Apple App Store or Google Play record was independently verified, so use the PWA
Guide price is not plainly visible on the product page - the store sends buyers onward, so format, shipping, and current total require another step
Chronology involves editorial decisions - Gospel ordering and harmonization should be identified rather than presented as the only possible sequence
Location can overpromise certainty - filming in Israel does not prove that every traditional site, route, reconstruction, or cultural claim is exact
Movement framework is specific - Sonlife’s disciple-making vocabulary and applications may require adaptation in another church or tradition
Account and analytics layers add data exposure - Firebase identity and storage plus Google Analytics sit underneath a sensitive faith-study profile
Accessibility evidence is thin - complete transcripts, audio descriptions, keyboard and screen-reader testing, scalable text, and offline parity are not documented
Fifty days require planning - groups need attendance, catch-up, facilitation, video access, and a clear response when the schedule slips
Review evidence is small and old - seven store reviews, mostly from 2015–2022, do not establish broad completion or long-term outcomes

Best for

Adults who want a structured seven-week-plus study centered on Jesus’ life and ministry
Small groups able to combine Gospel reading, a workbook, video, discussion, prayer, and practice
Ministry teams exploring a Jesus-modeled approach to forming and multiplying disciples
Visual learners who benefit from seeing locations, terrain, and cultural background
People who prefer an installable browser app and can keep their own progress and offline backup

Avoid if

You require a currently verified native App Store or Google Play product with a recent version history and formal support commitment
You want a five-minute standalone devotional with no workbook, preparation, or group discussion
Your class requires an academic critical commentary, full source notes, original-language work, or assessed credit
Your participants cannot obtain the guide or reliably stream the supplemental videos
You need a curriculum whose denominational and ministry framework already matches your organization without adaptation

What Knowing Him is

Knowing Him is a guided harmony-style study delivered both as a substantial guide and as a free web application. It arranges Gospel material into fifty daily units, provides prompts and background, embeds selectable Scripture in English, tracks movement through the sequence, and uses audio, video, maps, and chronological material to deepen selected settings. The structure helps a reader keep moving through a broad sweep of Jesus’ earthly ministry while paying attention to the way he related to the Father, his followers, crowds, opponents, and people in need.

It is not itself a Bible translation, a complete commentary on every Gospel passage, an archaeological atlas, a doctrinal confession, or a neutral chronology generated without interpretation. The guide and presenters select, order, explain, and apply. Good use keeps those contributions visible and returns repeatedly to the full biblical passage, including context the day’s lesson may not quote.

Why disciple-making groups use it: biography becomes a ministry pattern

Many studies of Jesus alternate between doctrine and isolated life application. Knowing Him follows the person and ministry of Jesus across time, then asks participants to see how he made disciples as part of what they are learning. The chronological movement can reveal changes in public response, growing conflict, time invested in followers, geographical movement, and the path toward the cross and resurrection.

Imitation needs theological humility. Not every action of Jesus is a transferable ministry technique, and a modern team is not reenacting first-century messianic vocation. Ask what the passage reveals about Jesus, what belongs uniquely to his identity and work, what he explicitly commands, what the apostles carry forward, and what faithful love requires in the present setting. That protects “model” language from turning observation into a formula.

Fifty chronological days in a PWA: breadth with an achievable endpoint

A defined fifty-day path is long enough to build continuity and short enough to schedule as a season. The PWA contains the study text, completion flow, sequential unlocking with an optional unlock-all setting, and four English Bible versions. It can be installed to a home screen and advertises access to most functions offline. Daily podcasts add commentary from Mark Edwards and Dann Spader, while maps and chronology keep resources in one navigation system.

Test login, installation, offline routes, embedded Bible text, media, progress restoration, and every participant’s device before launch. Keep a paper or local progress list because the public app does not expose a clear user export. When parallel accounts differ in sequence or detail, read each in its own Gospel context before harmonizing. The distinctive voice and literary purpose of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John matter as well as chronology.

Forty-one Israel videos: geography as context, not proof

The video supplement brings international presenters into locations connected with the Gospel story. Landscape can make walking distance, hills, water, wilderness, agriculture, weather, settlement, and regional relationships concrete. It also varies the learning rhythm and can give a group a common visual experience before discussion.

Label degrees of certainty. A modern site may be a traditional identification, an approximate region, a later structure, or a plausible illustration rather than the exact place where an event occurred. Tourism access and camera framing can hide contested history and contemporary communities. Verify captions and transcripts, summarize essential visual information, and provide an equivalent when someone cannot stream or see the video.

Digging Deeper and group use: reflection aimed at multiplication

Each day’s deeper work is designed to challenge and encourage rather than merely quiz. Sonlife reviews describe contextual information, transformational questions, personal study, and group usefulness. In SHIFT training, Knowing Him can prepare leaders for a broader movement-building process, showing that the material is intended to influence ministry practice as well as knowledge.

A facilitator should protect discussion from performance. Invite observation before application, let participants name questions and disagreement, and do not pressure personal disclosure or leadership commitments. Assign practices that are specific, safe, and accountable—prayer, hospitality, reconciliation, Scripture reading, service, or sharing—while recognizing health, trauma, family, work, and church boundaries.

Pricing

Best value

Supplemental videos

Sonlife describes forty-one videos filmed in Israel as a free additional resource for the fifty-day study. Confirm the current collection, captions, language, playback, permissions, and download options before assigning them.

Knowing Him study guide

Current store price varies

The official page documents a 186-page physical study and sends buyers to the store without showing a stable price in the public product text we reviewed. Check edition, quantity, currency, tax, shipping, returns, and delivery time.

Group use

One guide per participant recommended

A group should budget for lawful copies, Bibles, leader preparation, video equipment or data, accessibility alternatives, and replacement material if a media link fails. Ask Sonlife about current bulk or ministry options.

Knowing Him web app

The live PWA includes the study, audio, video links, maps, language and Bible settings, progress features, and installation guidance. Account creation uses the linked Power to Change terms and privacy policy. No current native-store purchase is required.

The free video collection provides meaningful value even before a group purchases anything, but it was created to accompany the written study. Sampling videos alone will not reproduce the fifty-day sequence or reflection work.

The guide is a physical product with a separate store flow. Confirm the current price and shipping before recruiting participants, especially outside the United States. A low advertised unit price can become a larger total after international delivery.

For groups, the ethical and practical default is a lawful copy for each person who will write in and retain the material. Ask about bulk terms rather than photocopying the workbook beyond permission.

The PWA is live and free, so no native-store payment is necessary. Because its production assets date to March 2024, a group should still keep the guide, Bible passages, media links, and progress plan available outside the account.

Where Knowing Him falls behind

Publish a current product-status and release-history page explaining PWA maintenance, the former iOS and Android products, supported browsers, native-store retirement, owners, and response times.

Modernize the March 2024 web build and document Firebase configuration, dependency updates, security reporting, backups, remote progress, account deletion, analytics choices, data export, and verified offline boundaries.

Show the study guide’s price, formats, edition date, table of contents, sample unit, translation used, shipping regions, bulk terms, returns, and digital-access relationship on one page.

Provide source notes for chronology, geography, archaeology, historical claims, quotations, maps, and suggested further reading, with levels of confidence for traditional sites.

Publish complete leader guidance for schedules, group agreements, sensitive disclosure, safeguarding, accessibility, doctrinal adaptation, conflict, catch-up, and evaluation.

Add corrected captions and transcripts for every video, multilingual subtitles, audio descriptions, downloadable low-bandwidth versions, and a nonvideo equivalent.

Separate Gospel observation, historical reconstruction, Sonlife interpretation, and proposed ministry practice visually throughout the guide.

Report current use and outcomes carefully: starts, completions, group retention, countries, leader feedback, revisions, known weaknesses, and evidence beyond testimonials.

Knowing Him vs. The Chosen studies vs. BibleProject

Knowing Him offers the most structured chronological workbook journey: fifty days, substantial written work, Israel videos, and a clear disciple-making frame. Studies built around The Chosen can be more immediately engaging for groups already watching the drama, but every invented scene and line must be distinguished from Scripture. BibleProject provides free, highly polished visual overviews, podcasts, classes, and reading journeys with stronger literary and biblical-theology scaffolding but not this same fifty-day Sonlife curriculum.

Choose Knowing Him when a group will use a workbook consistently and wants ministry application from Jesus’ life. Choose a Chosen companion when television is the gathering point and the leader can manage dramatization carefully. Choose BibleProject for broader literary context and free digital continuity. They can complement one another only if the Gospel text remains primary and the schedule does not overwhelm participants.

The bottom line

Knowing Him is better than its aging digital footprint first suggests. The free PWA currently delivers a complete fifty-day curriculum, selectable English Bible text, Finnish localization, maps and chronology, day-by-day audio, forty-one Israel videos, progress flow, and home-screen installation. The 186-page Sonlife guide supplies a durable companion for groups. That combination can support a serious season of sustained attention to Jesus without another subscription. The product now needs visible stewardship equal to the content: a recent release, explicit PWA and native-store status, modern dependency and Firebase documentation, granular privacy and deletion guidance, accessible transcripts and alternatives, exportable progress, and public corrections. Until then, test before inviting, save an independent schedule, keep whole Gospel passages primary, distinguish site tradition from historical certainty, and adapt disciple-making applications under local church oversight. The app is a helpful container; the value comes from faithful attention to the biblical text and accountable response.

Alternatives to Knowing Him

BibleProject App 4.9Free guided journeys, classes, videos, podcasts, and reading tools centered on literary context and the Bible’s unified story.

Jesus.net Online Courses 4.6Free self-paced browser courses about Jesus and Christian life with optional guidance from trained e-coaches.

The Chosen App 4.7Free access to a popular Gospel drama and related content, best paired with direct comparison to the biblical accounts.The Word One to One 4.7A conversational verse-by-verse path through John and Acts designed for two people to read Scripture together.A local Gospel reading group 4.9A flexible low-technology alternative with a Bible, shared meals, accountable leadership, and room for real questions.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Knowing Him study?

It is a 50-day chronological study through the life of Jesus written by Mark Edwards. Sonlife describes a 186-page guide with Digging Deeper sections for individuals, small groups, and ministry teams.

Are the Knowing Him videos free?

Yes. Sonlife describes 41 supplemental videos filmed in Israel as a free resource accompanying the study. Test current playback, captions, language, and permissions before planning a group.

Is the Knowing Him app still available?

Yes as a live installable progressive web app at KnowingHim.app. It responded successfully and exposes the complete study. We did not verify current native Apple App Store or Google Play listings, so use the official web address.

How long does Knowing Him take?

The standard path is 50 daily studies, roughly seven weeks without breaks. Groups can use a slower schedule, but should decide in advance how videos, homework, missed sessions, and the final meeting will work.

Who wrote Knowing Him?

The official Sonlife page credits Mark Edwards, Director of Sonlife Latin America. The material has also been promoted by Power to Change Australia and used within a wider Sonlife and Concentric disciple-making context.

Does filming in Israel prove every location is exact?

No. Location footage can illuminate geography and culture, but traditional identifications and historical reconstructions have different levels of certainty. The biblical passage and responsible scholarship remain necessary.

Can I use Knowing Him without the app?

Yes. Sonlife sells the 186-page study guide and the 41 supplemental videos are documented separately. A group should keep those resources and a progress schedule available even when it uses the free PWA.