Ministering through the gift of writing

Learn how you can widen your sphere of influence.

Eleanor P. Anderson, from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, assists her American Baptist pastor-husband in teaching Sunday school and leading church choirs.

During our first full-time pastorate we moved the church building across the village green with most of the community watching. There we added an education building. It was an exciting event. I wrote about the undertaking, using the language of an Old Testament narration. The article sold immediately, and I was hooked on writing.

From that time on, writing for publication became my hobby. With three little ones, time was scarce, but I occasionally managed to mail off some thing. I wrote a poem about our children, an article on teaching children to pray, and several devotionals for a quarterly publication.

Then I discovered the Christian education (Sunday/Sabbath school) market. One of our daughters invited me to a special program in her Sunday school class marking the end of a unit. The boys and girls, dressed as children of Jesus' day, quoted Scripture about Jesus' growth and explained about the models of houses, lamps, and displays of food used in those times. I was impressed. A denominational teachers' magazine printed an article detailing what I had seen and heard.

Before long I realized that my experiences as a Sunday school teacher and those of teachers I knew could be useful to others. I began to write about what I was discovering in classes.

Once I taught a group of lively junior highs. They seemed so engrossed in their own lives, so noisy and full of conversation, that I wondered if I would ever be able to reach them. I found some things that worked and wrote about them.

To set the scene in the article, I described the problem: Three girls wait in the corner, whispering and giggling. Tom comes in, asking in a loud voice, "Did you see the game on TV last night?" Enthusiastically he proceeds to tell about a crucial play.

The buzzer sounds, signaling the beginning of the class period. Henry and Nancy walk in, engrossed in their own conversation. It's time to teach this class. But how does one get these young people into Bible study at this moment?

In the article I described word games that I used as attention-getters and mentioned other useful ideas: brief competition between teams to review last week's lesson, working on a bulletin board as they enter the room, open-ended stories to aid discussion, and questionnaires before a new unit of study. I defined the problem and gave possible solutions.

When I taught an adult class, my writing reflected that. In another church I was part of a teaching team. An editor liked my description of our methods arid the advantages I saw in team teaching. Once again I shared what I knew.

In several churches I had charge of children's choirs. Articles on the choirs and on using music in Christian education found a ready market. In each instance I wrote about experiences I had had that could be useful to others. Sunday school and Sabbath school superintendents and teachers are eager for new ideas. They want to know what has worked for someone else. They get excited when they read an article and can say, "Why, I could do that!"

The "shepherdess" in a church has an opportunity to serve in many ways and to observe others at work. Ideas gleaned from experience, written clearly and in a straightforward manner, may be just what an editor is looking for.

Of course, church programs and teaching ideas are not the only subjects for writing. When our children were young, we camped each summer. We were usually able to find a place to worship. The day we sat in an outdoor amphitheater in a cloud of mosquitoes is funny now. The minister even shortened his sermon. Another time we traveled many miles to a campground where jean-clad worshipers sat and worshiped. As we were coming back through Rocky Mountain National Park, the brilliant moonlight picked out a magnificent buck standing near the edge of the road. I put these outdoor worship experiences into an article for a Christian family magazine.

Not all experiences make it into print. When hiking on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, I stumbled and fell on the trail, spraining my ankle. I tried to put this into a young people's story, but so far no one has accepted it.

When I began teaching public school, I had little time for writing, except in the summer. But I have had some success with writing teaching tips for specialized teachers' magazines.

In one class I had several children with speech problems. In working with them and in discussions with the professionals who had speech therapy twice a week, I learned the fundamentals of testing for specific consonant aberrations. In the classroom we practiced special exercises for speech improvement. All this found its way into an article.

About this time I began writing children's stories for Sunday school take-home papers. This is another wide open field. Many denominations publish age-level papers to be handed out each week. My public school experience in kindergarten and first grade made me comfortable with the vocabulary and attitudes of that age group.

I have written and sold many devotionals based on my experiences in parsonage life. Turning a problem into a blessing, I even sold an article about practical ideas I had gained from moving from one place to another. Whatever your walk in life, you have had experiences that could be helpful to others in Christian work.

I hope by now you're saying "Why, I could do that! I have things to share too." Of course. I have detailed my experiences, hoping to encourage other ministers' wives to try writing.

Getting started

If you've always had an urge to write but have never started, give it a try. One way to begin is to write short teaching tips. Many Christian education magazines use these. For example, I wrote about 10 ways to use a paper plate in Sunday school. Think of a problem you solved, a craft idea that the children loved, a new way of presenting a Bible truth. Write it as if you were explaining it to a friend.

Perhaps your expertise in Bible study would enable you to make up puzzles and quizzes for children's and young people's take-home papers. Such puzzles are not just space fillers but can be a means of helping young minds retain Bible knowledge.

Anything sent for publication must be typed, double-spaced. Always, always, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. At the end of this article are names and addresses of a few Christian education periodicals. Writer's Market, which can be found in bookstores and probably your library, will tell you the specific requirements of these publications: length of articles, type of fillers, and so on.

A most helpful sourcebook is Religious Writer's Marketplace, by William Gentz. It is published by Running Press in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and it lists many religious publications for all age groups with addresses and requirements.

Most libraries have some books on the how-to of writing. Your bookstore will probably carry one or more writer's magazines with articles on many specifics of the craft. The Christian Writer maga zine (P.O. Box 5650, Lakeland, EL 33807) is like a writing course by mail, and all from the Christian viewpoint.

There are teaching tapes and writer's seminars and workshops in many areas. However, the most important thing you can do is to start writing! Write up a teaching tip. Write a description of a craft your Vacation Bible School enjoyed. Write about an experience with answered prayer. As you write you'll learn how to express yourself better each time.

Writing is not for everyone, but for me it is a way to minister. I am not a public speaker by choice. I would rather write a note than telephone someone. The written word is my vehicle for sharing my thoughts. People have written to say that a devotional met a specific need one day or that my advice on moving was helpful. As long as God can use my words on paper, I'll keep on writing them.


Ministry reserves the right to approve, disapprove, and delete comments at our discretion and will not be able to respond to inquiries about these comments. Please ensure that your words are respectful, courteous, and relevant.

comments powered by Disqus
Eleanor P. Anderson, from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, assists her American Baptist pastor-husband in teaching Sunday school and leading church choirs.

March 1987

Download PDF
Ministry Cover

More Articles In This Issue

Religion and Communism

MINISTRY'S editor reports on religious freedom and the advance of Adventism in the Soviet Union, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.

Reconciling faith and reason

Reason is not necessarily antithetical to faith. In fact, it can aid it though faith must go beyond reason. We can deal successfully with doubt.

To ordain or not

Looking at the issue of ordaining women from a sociological perspective provides insights on Third World objections and raises questions about the church's current ordination practices.

The small church advantage

If you were trained to serve a large church, but find yourself serving small congregations, you may find it difficult to understand the advantages small ones can have. But small can be beautiful.

Alcohol and the pregnant woman

On Health and Religion

View All Issue Contents

Digital delivery

If you're a print subscriber, we'll complement your print copy of Ministry with an electronic version.

Sign up
Advertisement - SermonView - Medium Rect (300x250)

Recent issues

See All