Do you have an interest in sharing the gospel of the Kingdom of God and God's way of life through writing? Are you developing your skills with the written word? Do you like to share stories and Christian living tips? If so, there may be ways you can serve as a volunteer writer or editor for the Church's publications and Web sites. Earning Your Education Much of the craft of writing can be learned through high school and college classes, so the Church does not try to duplicate these foundational lessons in how to write clear sentences, concise paragraphs and logically arranged articles. We cannot teach grammar, spelling, transitions, structure, readability or word choice. These can be learned in a good community college class or through helpful books on English composition and article writing. UCG is a small church and cannot afford to create and staff a complete training program for writers. We encourage potential writers to take charge of their own educations, to study English and communications skills, as well as to broadly educate themselves. But instruction is not enough. Real writing education comes through reading widely as well as writing (and rewriting) regularly. UCG does offer some specialized training for writing specifically for Church publications and Web sites. Training has been offered at ABC and at the Winter Family Weekend in Louisville, Kentucky, and we plan to offer some of this material again as an e-mail writing course open to those who have not taken it before. To apply for this program, send the following information by e-mail to mike_bennett@ucg.org: your name, pastor's name (we will contact the pastor for a recommendation), writing-related education and experience. Also, in 100 words or less, please tell us why you would like to take the course and attach a sample of your writing. Only a limited number can be accepted. Getting Guidelines After you have developed your writing skills, consider your interests and talents. Do you prefer to write to teens and young adults (through Vertical Thought), to Church members (in United News) or to the general public (through Virtual Christian Magazine, many of the Church's Web sites, etc.)? Are you interested in writing articles, commentaries, tips or Bible lessons? For these publications and sites, you can receive writer's guidelines by e-mailing mike_bennett@ucg.org. World News and Prophecy and The Good News are mostly staff written and are generally not the first place writers would get published. Prepare a Proposal After getting guidelines, read the publication or Web site and look for topics that would be interesting and helpful to the readers while helping to fulfill the mission of the Church. For longer articles and lessons it's a good idea to submit your idea in a paragraph-long proposal to the managing editor. Explain the specific purpose, introduction, points and conclusion you plan to use. Ask for approval to write the piece and for any suggestions from the managing editor. Write and Rewrite Writing is hard work, but with an approved proposal and any suggestions from the editor, you've got a good start. Research carefully, construct logically and rewrite relentlessly. Let it sit overnight and read it again. Get constructive criticism from someone in the target audience or another trusted friend. After you have polished your article, send it off to your local pastor to approve and send on to the managing editor. Then comes the hard part. Sometimes this involves facing rejection. Sometimes it means a long wait. Sometimes it includes extensive editing. All of these can be part of the learning process. Our editors want your writing to be effective and for you to improve. Our need for new material often outstrips our time and ability to mentor and even communicate in great detail with potential writers. This is frustrating for us, and we wish we could adequately thank and train those who willingly donate their time and mental energy to this challenging task. If your article does not get used, please know that we do appreciate the labor of love that went into it. Some items may appear later, but some may just be part of your writing education process. We have the greatest message and the most important information to share with the people of this dying world. If you are up to the challenge, we encourage you to take the steps in this article to help create the new, interesting, helpful and relevant content that magazine readers and Web searchers will be looking for. UN