I have a subscription to one Christian newspaper, Evangelicals Now, it’s also a newspaper that I’ve contributed comment pieces to from time to time. In addition, I’m signed up to other Christian magazines including Premier Christianity that allow you to read a few online articles each month. I also follow a number of blogs, some which have multiple contributors for an organisation such as The Gospel Coalition. Others are provided by individuals. The main ones I tend to follow are:
Building Jerusalem – Among these dark satanic mills
Psephizo – scholarship. serving. ministry.
Chris Green’s blog :: helping pastors build healthy churches
I wanted to share a few thoughts on why following and subscribing to blogs and magazines (online and paper) can be helpful.
First of all, I think it’s worth observing that the internet has led to a democratisation of writing and publishing whilst at the same time it’s becoming harder for authors to get published via traditional methods. Publishers, especially specialised ones carry high overheads and high risk when commissioning new books. They are therefore generally conservative and prefer to stick with known authors and to focus on specific projects they are pursuing. So, people with time to write may be providing materials not available in books to go on your shelf. There may be other reasons too why they are doing this. For example, I’ve chosen mainly to focus on providing resources here on faithroot.com that are free to use in order to make theological and teaching resources accessible to those who might not be able to afford or access traditional resources including books and theological training. The downside to democratisation is that you do need a lot of discernment because people can quickly stick stuff online without any vetting and checking. Of course you can pick up rubbish in print too.
However, with wise discernment these resources can be helpful as they will enable you to dig deep into specific issues, you can deepen and widen your own reading. Some blogs will have a particular focus. Chris Green focuses on practical church leadership, Andrew Wilson at Think Theology on theology and Ian Paul at Psephizo more on Biblical Studies. Fathroots has a focus on applied or practical/pastoral theology especially for urban contexts. In each of those cases though the focus is not exclusive.
The second reason for reading blogs and articles is to help you with pastoring and preaching. When applying God’s word, we want to be aware about what is happening in the world and in the wider church. These are often the places where people have space to think further about issues and so for example you will find blog articles that deal with everything from death through depression to marriage and relationships.
Linked to that, it helps us to keep an eye on what is happening around the wider church because we have a responsibility to guard and protect the flock. So, it is often online that we become aware to dangers, unhealthy practices and false doctrine that are creeping in.
And that means we also need to be reading and watching because in an internet savvy age, it is more likely that church members are reading blogs, watching YouTube channels and listening to podcasts than reading books. Indeed, they may be picking up more and spending more time there than they are from our own sermons!
So, there are a few good reasons to give attention to blogs and magazines, though I suspect if you have found your way here then I’m preaching to the converted!
Faithroots 