Thanks to the worldwide YouVersion Community and generous partners, the Bible App has been installed 300 million times! https://t.co/8kQtyU4920 pic.twitter.com/6kQiTC2ldn

— YouVersion (@YouVersion) December 21, 2017

The app allows users to read the Bible, share verses with their social networks and bookmark their favourite passages.

So far 17.7 million chapters have been read, 39 million Bile plans completed, 120 million verse images created and 222 million verses shared.

This is the Bible verse that was shared, bookmarked, and highlighted most often by the global Bible App community during 2017 is Joshua 1:9 “This is my command-be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

The Bible App offers Bible text in 1,635 versions, representing 1,171 languages.

Use of the app has grown the most in Angola with a 733 per cent increase.

The organisation said child homelessness this year has reached a ten year high, “with an astounding number of children living on the streets or in temporary accommodation”.

The charity, which works with marginalised young people, has launched an appeal to help those in need this Christmas.

Many of the young people Nicodemus is currently supporting were once homeless at Christmas and know first-hand the desperate challenges so many kids will face this year.

The charity’s Becky Welford told Premier: “A lot of them spend Christmas Eve getting drunk and not wanting to wake up the next day.

“They spend their Christmas in their beds trying to forget there’s a lot of people in the world smiling, surrounded by people, and a lot of them are just lonely.”

“Please don’t forget about me this Christmas” is Nicodemus’ appeal to give youngsters a Christmas they can remember.

The charity will invite marginalised young people to come together in a loving atmosphere and enjoy a meal this Christmas.

“It will be an atmosphere to put up a Christmas tree, to sit around a table with people.

“That’s a really significant thing; a lot of them throughout the year don’t even sit at a table with other people.

“It’s allowing them to help with the cooking, help with the clearing up and play games together.”

Jason, a young person supported through Nicodemus, said: “Everyone needs a Christmas.

“If they could see the happiness on the young people’s faces on Christmas Day at Nicodemus, no one…

Most Rev Justin Welby is among Church of England leaders who hope a public consultation will prompt the Government introduce a £2 cap.

Posting on Twitter, he said: “Fixed Odds Betting Terminals cause great harm to vulnerable people, their families and communities.

“It’s time to fix the legal loophole.”

The Gambling Minister Tracey Crouch announced a twelve-week consultation at the end of November on proposed changes to the industry, including new controls to stop gambling firms using advertising to target children.

In February, members of the Church’s governing General Synod body unanimously approved cutting the maximum stake on FOBTs, and new powers for councils to control the number of machines on high streets.

Bishop of St Albans Dr Alan Smith, who supports the proposed measures said at the time of the consultation’s launch: “The presence of FOBTs on high streets and damage they do to individuals, families and communities should concern us all.

“I hope everyone takes the time to make their voices heard in this consultation.

“Large corporate interests will do everything they can to influence the Government’s decision on the maximum stake for FOBTs, so is essential that ordinary people share their local experience of these machines.”