How can Christians begin writing?

We’ve finally made it to the last article in this series on Christian writing (you can find all of the articles here ). Up until this point, my goal in writing these articles has been to help us think critically about what and why we write. At the end of the day, our goal in writing should be to steward what God has shown us in his Word by writing content that edifies and encourages the church.

Additionally, while I mentioned this in a previous article, but I’ll mention it again: before you write, make sure you’re fulfilling your other responsibilities first. Study God’s word, be involved in your local church—not for the purpose of having something to write, but because these are disciplines all Christians should practice.

If you’ve got all these things in order, then it’s time to get started. Below are a few tips on beginning to write. Note that these are focused on writing digital content (i.e. a blog).

1. Start by deciding what you want to write. Are you focused on a particular theme? Do you want to write about a lot of different things? This will help you determine the next step.
2. Decide how you want to write. Do you want to create your own blog? Or do you want to write blogs for other websites? Note that these aren’t mutually exclusive, but you’ll want to decide where to focus most of your efforts.
   • There are pros and cons to each. A personal blog allows for more flexibility in the kind of content you write. However, it creates additional work as you determine how best to promote your own writing. A personal blog will likely get less viewership at first, and may require more frequency, depending on how much you want to put into it. You don’t want to invest time and maybe money in starting a website that you’ll not actually work on.
   • Writing blogs for other websites may get you more viewership and require less frequency, but you’ll be confined to the site’s content and editorial policies.
3. Start writing. Tim Challies suggests starting by writing 10 articles for yourself, just to see if you can do it. Then, test those articles by sending them to friends and family first.
   • Get a friend, spouse, or other family member to review your writing before you publish it. This person can provide accountability, proofreading, checking for readability and tone, etc.
   • 3a. Then, write for people you don’t know.
     • If you choose to create a personal blog, test a free hosting site first. If you maintain a regular habit of writing, then you might later choose to invest some cash in a website like Squarespace, Wordpress, or something similar.¹
     • If you choose to write for other sites, research websites that accept unsolicited submissions and review the kind of content they publish. Don’t just submit whatever you have written—make sure it fits the theme of the site to which you’re submitting.
4. Finally, promote your writing. Considering the theme of this entire series, this can seem contradictory to everything I’ve said before. Promoting your own writing can get a bit murky. However, if you really are seeking to steward God’s word for His glory and the benefit of others, then I think you can promote your writing with a clear conscious. If your motivations are in check, then you posture will naturally be one of humility as you share your writing.

_{Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash}