Agents routinely receive proposals from aspiring authors that are the only creative writing they have ever attempted. At the same time, someone who is eventually published successfully likely has a half dozen other things in a file they’ve never shown to anyone.
If you are an experienced or aspiring writer and are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have the opportunity (or responsibility?) to chronicle several things that only someone with spiritual insight can write.
Disclaimer: These are likely not commercially viable for publishers, but each will add stones of remembrance to the area where you live and your church’s spiritual legacy.
Here are three books any Christian writer can write:
1. The History of Your Local Church
Every church has a story; and since it is much more than just a building, the stories of people need to be researched and written down. I guarantee your church has pivotal moments that would make a riveting novel if they weren’t true.
Stories of God’s faithfulness, of changed lives, the time when the congregation sang and the walls seemed to tremble, the year when things looked bleak and what God did during and after, a story of humble servants who taught a generation of six-year-olds, and the pianist who used their talent for the glory of God until the day before they passed into glory.
Writing your church’s story is not only an exercise to give you writing practice; it is part of your calling to use your talent and ability to edify and build others up.
2. A Biography of a Faithful Christ-Follower in Your Area
This book could involve someone well-known or not at all. A visible Christian in your town who has done many things to benefit the community is worth mentioning for all to read about and be reminded of.
But there is also the untold story of the humble prayer warrior who gave their financial “mites” to the church and community but did quiet things that left a lasting impression on those in the town by allowing their fruit of the Spirit and spiritual gifts to do their talking.
Of course, no one is perfect, but showing how God uses imperfect people never gets old. This could also be a collection, 10 People Everyone in ______ Should Know.
3. The Spiritual History of Your Town
Every town or city has a “spiritual” history. Because it inevitably involves people, the story is not a straight road from one glorious event to another.
Why are roads named as they are? Why is there a cross on the top of the hardware store? What was the first church in the town after it was established? What was the second? Were there church splits? What happened long ago when the itinerant evangelist showed up and ruffled some feathers? Are there any memorable or famous occurrences that people need to know about? What used to be on that property where the Walmart and Applebee’s currently reside?
Life everywhere is full of stories, good and bad, exciting or boring, that need to be remembered. That’s what writers do. They record the stories and give perspective.
So, there’s your assignment.
Tension: The Key Ingredient for a Novel That Readers Can’t Put Down With Cara Putman
We all need to have a place
with a sense of history
of its pursuit of God’s sweet grace
beneath His arc of mystery.
We all need to be among
the heroes of worship and prayer
who, while they might remain unsung
smooth sharp edges with their care
and reach out in community
to those who’ve not yet found belief
because they know that they can be
stalwarts in joy, stalwarts through grief
and let church and example show
the Lord that all can come to know.
We can all be a community of prayer warriors today, for those who lost loved ones in the dreadful crash of Air India 171.
##
On their way to London
and then a turn of fate
from what was to would become
a walk through Heaven’s Gate.
In that last stark blinding fear
I pray they felt embrace
of the One who holds them dear
and beheld His face,
and of those left here to toil
in memory and weeping,
please let them feel anointing oil
and hear, “They are but sleeping,
and will awake in My strong arms
to wait for you, now safe from harms “
Intriguing ideas! Thank you, Mr. Barlow!
Dan, I hope to write the story of my great aunt and call the book Miss Katherine of Dickson First. Right now, I’m writing a fictional series and am on my fourth book. The third just came out last week, but I hope to work on the story of my great aunt; she was a prayer warrior and an awesome lady. She worked in the church office for 40 years and knew everyone; then she went to work for the local undertaker. She knew where all the bodies were buried.