How is writing a form of ministry?
This question has accompanied me since I first heard that writing can be, for some, a vocation, a calling.
It seems reasonable to begin answering this question by defining writing and ministry separately before looking at the relationship between the two. Over the next two blog posts, I aim to outline writing, distinguishing between literary writing and what I call plain writing and testimony.
So: plain writing and testimony. In plain writing, the goal is to communicate an idea to the reader or readers as directly and effectively as possible, which the writer can best do through clear and concise language. For example, in this post I attempt to write plainly. I may use some literary devices such as metaphor or allusion, but the purpose of doing so is to help illustrate my point.
Academic essays are written plainly. One might expect them to be not plain at all, but complex and difficult to understand, but that’s likely because the writer communicates poorly or because the essay is intended for an audience of which the reader is not a part, as in the case of papers published in scientific journals which use specialized vocabulary and equations. Essays, like other forms of plain writing, are functional, practical, direct communication between writer and reader. Other examples of plain writing include emails, newspaper articles and lists.
One genre within the category of plain writing is testimony. When someone testifies, whether through speech or writing, they tell their story truthfully; they tell the truth, usually in the form of a story—perhaps how they discovered the love of God for them in Jesus, or how they witnessed something tragic or wonderful. Again, while their story may have elements of creative non-fiction or may resemble a memoir, the purpose of it all is to faithfully tell what happened to them, what they experienced. This is best done with plain language. If their communication in any way hinders this, then they have not effectively testified.
For examples of plain writing as forms of ministry, we have the epistles such as the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. More recently, Christian authors who have argued and expressed in this style include Henri Nouwen and Eugene Peterson.
For an example of testimony as a form of ministry, we have the Gospel of John—not an autobiography, but a witness to Jesus’ ministry and identity as the Son of God, the Anointed One, who “takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Saint Augustine’s Confessions can also be considered testimony. While offered in prayer, they narrate the author's spiritual journey to God. Other examples include The Journal of John Woolman and Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain.
Now that I have (briefly) defined plain writing and testimony, establishing them as potential forms of ministry, what needs explaining is how they can minister to people. But before that, we must move onto the subject of my next post: literary writing.
This question has accompanied me since I first heard that writing can be, for some, a vocation, a calling.
It seems reasonable to begin answering this question by defining writing and ministry separately before looking at the relationship between the two. Over the next two blog posts, I aim to outline writing, distinguishing between literary writing and what I call plain writing and testimony.
So: plain writing and testimony. In plain writing, the goal is to communicate an idea to the reader or readers as directly and effectively as possible, which the writer can best do through clear and concise language. For example, in this post I attempt to write plainly. I may use some literary devices such as metaphor or allusion, but the purpose of doing so is to help illustrate my point.
Academic essays are written plainly. One might expect them to be not plain at all, but complex and difficult to understand, but that’s likely because the writer communicates poorly or because the essay is intended for an audience of which the reader is not a part, as in the case of papers published in scientific journals which use specialized vocabulary and equations. Essays, like other forms of plain writing, are functional, practical, direct communication between writer and reader. Other examples of plain writing include emails, newspaper articles and lists.
One genre within the category of plain writing is testimony. When someone testifies, whether through speech or writing, they tell their story truthfully; they tell the truth, usually in the form of a story—perhaps how they discovered the love of God for them in Jesus, or how they witnessed something tragic or wonderful. Again, while their story may have elements of creative non-fiction or may resemble a memoir, the purpose of it all is to faithfully tell what happened to them, what they experienced. This is best done with plain language. If their communication in any way hinders this, then they have not effectively testified.
For examples of plain writing as forms of ministry, we have the epistles such as the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. More recently, Christian authors who have argued and expressed in this style include Henri Nouwen and Eugene Peterson.
For an example of testimony as a form of ministry, we have the Gospel of John—not an autobiography, but a witness to Jesus’ ministry and identity as the Son of God, the Anointed One, who “takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
Saint Augustine’s Confessions can also be considered testimony. While offered in prayer, they narrate the author's spiritual journey to God. Other examples include The Journal of John Woolman and Thomas Merton’s The Seven Storey Mountain.
Now that I have (briefly) defined plain writing and testimony, establishing them as potential forms of ministry, what needs explaining is how they can minister to people. But before that, we must move onto the subject of my next post: literary writing.
