Practical Ministries – Lesson #9

“Christian Writing” – (Part 1)

Introduction: The printed page has more value that we may ever imagine. Where would we be today without books? (I know that you can have a lot of information on-line, but even there you have to read it from the monitor) Thus there is a great need for Christian Writers.

We are going to be spending time this week and next, looking at several areas of Christian writing. Perhaps you have felt that your preaching skills just aren’t quite what you had hoped that they would be by this point in time. Perhaps you are looking for an area where you can use some of your other talents such as writing and/or artwork. (the two go together)

As part of our series on Practical Ministries, we want to look at this all-important area of Christian writing. Along with it we may take a brief look at being the Minister of Christian Education.

Let’s look at this last point first. Some churches hire a “Minister of Christian Education”. In such a role you are the one responsible for selecting the materials taught in the Bible classes. You may even work some with the pulpit minister to co-ordinate a year-long series of lessons to go along with his year’s worth of preaching materials. You would select the literature used. You are responsible for ongoing teacher training sessions. You would plan and see that a once a year teacher training workshop of some sort, with a special speaker, is conducted. If there is a problem with the materials, the teachers come to you and you contact the publishers. If there are organizational problems, the people come to you with their complaints. If VBS needs to be planned, you are the one to get things rolling. If someone needs suggestions about some supplemental materials for their lessons, you are the person they seek. If the supply cabinet is low on supplies, you see that someone is designated to pick up what is needed. You work under the oversight of the Elders of the local church and closely with the pulpit minister. You may have to work closely with a Christian Education committee or committee director. When things go right, and they will most of the time, people will appreciate your good work! Some of our colleges teach specialty courses in Christian Education. If you are interested in this area of specialized training, we would be glad to help you get additional information.

But, without the written word, there would be little need for a Minister of Christian Education. Therefore we want to spend the rest of this class time and next week’s class talking about the actual writing of Christian literature in the many different forms in which it can be written.

This will be a hands-on, think and do kind of lesson.

  1. Christian poetry is very appropriate. Christian poems can be used in sermons of all kinds, in Bible class lessons, in articles of all sorts, and in Bible Class curriculum. Some times Christian poetry comes directly from the Scriptures themselves, but at other times a religious theme may be intertwined with the words of a poem.
  1. Closely akin to Christian poetry, is the writing of Christian songs. The lyrics of a song are little more than poetry or prose set to notes. Again, these can come directly from the Bible, or they can be intertwined with Bible doctrine and put to a tune of some sort. Each generation has its own style of tunes that it relates to.
  1. There is also Christian prose. These are short lines of verse that do not necessarily rhyme, but they convey a Christian message to those who read or hear it. It flows fairly smoothly in thought.
  1. Moral Children’s Stories is another area for Christian writers. You may not be good at poetry or prose, but perhaps some story from the Bible has caught your attention and you think that you can reword it in such a way that it will more easily understood by small children. If you can do art work too, this is a big help in this area. You may want to go with a godly virtue, like honesty, and write some sort of story for children built around that theme.

In all fairness to you, the chance of having a lot of your work in these areas published for profit is very slim. You might be able to submit your works for publication, but you may have to do so free gratis. There is a certain personal satisfaction knowing that someone else thought your work was good enough to publish it, even if you did not receive any financial compensation for it.

  1. Kids Bible Class Literature or should we say “up to date” and “relevant” Children’s Bible Class Literature is greatly needed. In fact, as we continue into the computer age, there will be a growing need for computerized literature, but that is in a later lesson. Several of the Church of Christ literature companies realized that their materials were out of date (as to presentation style, not as to Scriptural truth), so they reshaped their company and improved on their literature.
  1. Along with the idea of literature is the idea of “curriculum”. When literature is made, it is usually designed around a 13-week long quarter. Each quarter works on a given theme, or a given book of the Bible, or a given passage of Scripture. All lessons for that quarter must revolve around it. You need to plan the lessons for the 4 quarters of the year. Sometimes a constant theme will go all year long. Most literature for Bible Classes tends to repeat every 5-7 years. A new group of children will come through the classes that have not had those lessons before. There are often supplemental papers to be given out “take-home papers” that reinforce the story. There are visuals or visual aides. There may be craft projects (these take a lot of time and are often not too beneficial unless they are actually coordinated with what the lesson is trying to teach that day) Some churches plan their own curriculum and write their own lesson materials.
  1. Vacation Bible School Lessons present a whole new set of challenges in Christian writing. Because of the wide latitude that most congregations give the VBS director, the VBS may consist of 5 days of classes in study for up to 3 hours per day. Others may chose to do a theme and have costumes and hands on things for the kids to do such as “a day in Bethlehem in the time of Christ”. (there are less written materials for this kind of VBS than in the former one) Some have VBS 5 Saturdays in a row to use the 5 lessons. Some have VBS in the day; some have it at night. All will need some sort of literature, visuals, crafts, and information on “how to”. And this is all a part of Christian writing.

Hands On Application: We will be using the rest of the time in class this morning to see what skills you might have in the area of Christian writing. We want to take time to let you try your hand at writing a short Christian poem or the words of a Christian song today. Then we will let you write Christian prose. Finally, if we have time I would like for all of you to try to come up with a topic, title, or theme for a Christian story for children. (try to be able to tell how you would develop the story’s plot; what point are you trying to make with the child)

Hint for the week: I realize that not everyone in class is cut out to be a writer. But then again, not everyone in this class may want to do a lot of preaching, either. The point I wish to make is that each of us has certain talents or gifts from the Lord. This class on Practical Ministries, at least in part, is designed to help you find where your talents and abilities can be used for the Lord. Next week we will wrap this section up. Thank-you for participating in these preaching classes and for being part of the Central Iowa Missions team!