ChurchSafety

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Can I contribute content?

ChurchSafety.com readers are men and women who represent a broad spectrum of denominations, degree of education, background, experience, and expertise. What they have in common is that they are deeply involved in their churches; they help lead church ministries; and they want to keep their churches safe.

Every article on ChurchSafety.com must provide practical help for churches regarding safety.

ChurchSafety.com articles are how-to articles, often based on first-person accounts of real-life experiences in ministry. They allow our readers to see over the shoulder of a colleague in ministry who then reflects on those experiences and identifies the lessons learned.

The specific personality that readers expect is that of friendly conversation rather than directive discourse—"what I learned about safety in local church ministry" rather than "what you need to do."

Our readers expect our articles to be fresh and candid, to reflect the honesty of the writer—describing disappointments and struggles as well as triumphs. Our articles should never insult a particular leader or tradition; they are to be "pro-church" in their tone and content. Each article must balance "what went well" and "what didn't go so well." We find this allows our readers to identify more readily with the situation and gives the writer more credibility.

Each article should be between 600 and 2,000 words on a safety topic of significant interest to church leaders. We're looking for articles that describe real experiences, paint vivid scenes that those in ministry can identify with, and offer a fresh perspective on the topic. Readers can see what went wrong and what went right—valuable lessons so they won't have to learn the hard way. Writers must show that they understand the complexities, joys, and pain of safety issues in local-church ministry. Then they can offer right-to-the-point counsel on the practical issues.

ChurchSafety.com articles are often handed out to leaders and volunteers in the church, so these servants can lead with faithfulness and effectiveness in their ministry roles.

We're looking for insightful, practical articles on issues that are relevant to church leaders and the issues that they face. Our key eight categories are: Children and Youth; Staff; Ministries; Money; Law; Property; Transportation; and Emergencies.

We are not looking for a formula type of writing in ChurchSafety.com, but we are looking for a readable, commanding, and fluent style. We believe ChurchSafety.com's impact is enhanced through fine and fascinating writing. We want to produce such a well-written, practical site that the reader will always approach ChurchSafety.com with a sense of anticipation.

Have you read The Elements of Style by Strunk and White? We recommend this widely read little paperback as a guide for style.

• Use action verbs. Forms of the verb "to be"—is, was, were, etc., make for dead writing. In every possible case, pick forceful verbs.
  
  
• Use anecdotes. Each point in a ChurchSafety.com article needs a carefully chosen illustration, colorfully written. By basing principles in specific experiences, we show how to minister effectively amid the complexity and ambiguity of real life.
  
  
• Use short sentences whenever possible. Variety of length, of course, contributes to good style, but writers err more often with too many long sentences than short ones.
  
  
• Use long words only when necessary. Some critics claim scholars and professionals purposely write to obfuscate meaning, to cover fuzzy thinking, or to sound intellectual. Of this ChurchSafety.com writers will never be guilty!
  
  
• Assume your reader bores easily, and that he or she has a mound of other projects to move to if necessary. Remember, if he skips the article from lack of interest, you've lost! Keep asking yourself, "What grabs my attention? An illustration? A fresh insight? A well-turned phrase?" Keep the reader with you by introducing a constant stream of interesting material.
  
  

ChurchSafety.com welcomes article ideas from our readers. Please send a brief query letter describing your idea and how you plan to develop it, along with other writing samples if you have them and why you are particularly qualified to write on this topic. We will respond as quickly as possible—almost always within two weeks.

Submit your query via our online form.

Put your name, address, telephone numbers, your church name and address, and your position at the top of the e-mail.

Only after you've sent a query. If your query is accepted, you can write the article. Please send your submission electronically. When sending your manuscript, include full name, address, and phone number, plus church name, address and phone number, and your position. Please realize that we can't publish every manuscript we receive. If we decide to publish your material, it will appear in an issue of the ChurchSafety.com e-newsletter and also will be part of the website. We'll try to give you a good idea as to what issue of the e-newsletter in which it will be published.

Possibly, as long as it's not self-published. We occasionally excerpt books on safety topics. We do not review books. With any book excerpt, we include an image of the book cover, the title, author, and a link to where our readers can read more and purchase it.

You can either (1) send us a print copy of your book with a recommendation as to what to excerpt, or (2) send us an online query with the excerpt you think would work as an article, along with information about your book.

Christianity Today International
ChurchSafety.com
465 Gundersen Drive
Carol Stream, IL 60188

Or

click here for an online form

Thanks for your interest in writing for ChurchSafety.com. Send us a query or a book excerpt, and let's get started.

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