Note: This book has already been published. You can find it here: Finding Church
I am working with a publisher to write a book about people and their experiences with church. If you have a story to tell, and would like to get your story into print, you are invited to participate.
The rest of the post contains more information, but here are the submission guidelines if you just want to start writing:
Finding Church Project Submission Guidelines (MS Word)
Finding Church
The working title of the book is Finding Church.
The project is currently broken up into four categories. These categories may change as the project develops. We encourage you to shape your submission to fit within one of these categories.
Leaving Church
Stories about personal life adjustments, theological changes, or church moral failures which led people to leave church for good.
Returning to Church
Stories about people who used to attend church years ago, but stopped for a while, and have now decided to start attending again. These stories explain why they left, and what caused them to return.
Reforming Church
Though many people are leaving the church and criticizing how church is done, some people want to stay within their church and be part of the solution. These stories relate what problems exist in the church, and how the person is seeking to reform and renew the church from within.
Changing Church
Many people leave one church to attend another. Sometimes they attend a similar church across town; other times the new church is a completely different denomination, or form of church, such as going from a mega-church to a house-church. These stories reveal what moves the person made, and why they changed churches.
We are looking for 1000-2000 word stories about your experience in one of these areas. We are not looking for theological argumentation or extended explanation of biblical texts, but simply the real, honest stories of people wrestling with their involvement in church.
We encourage you to let it all out on the page, and share in detail both the external circumstances and the internal conflicts that arise because of it. When at all possible show – don’t tell. Give us the gritty details, the emotions, the conflict, how you felt, how you responded (good and bad), and what you learned, if applicable to your story.
Submit Your Story for Publication
To learn more, check out the following links and submission guidelines:
- Finding Church Project Submission Guidelines (MS Word)
- Finding Church Project Submission Guidelines (PDF)
- Finding Church announcement at Civitas Press
- Finding Church details at Civitas Press
Announce the Project On Your Blog
If you are a blogger and think that some of your readers might want to participate in this project, please consider writing a post about it and including the following badge on your blog sidebar.
To add this badge, copy and paste the following code into a text widget on your blog sidebar:
When you have done this, let me know, and I will include a link to your blog here:
Hey Jeremy, I am interested in this project. Maybe I’d have something to contribute in the future.
On another question, how do you generate the bookcovers for your projects?
James,
There is an April 30 deadline, so if you want to contribute, don’t wait too long!
This book cover was created by the publisher’s Graphic Design team. I do not think it will be the actual cover for the book, but I could be wrong about that.
As far as my other book covers, I created those myself and used Photoshop. You can also use Gimp, which is a free online photo editing program.
Thanks Jeremy, you got a PHP layout of one of your pieces I could gander at to get some idears?
James,
Are you asking if the book covers are in php? No. I saved them as a jpeg or a png.
The eBooks I write in Word, and then convert to PDF, MOBI, EPUB, and XHTML.
The Greatest Story Ever Told is ciaertnly the most reverential treatment of the life of Jesus. The 1965 movie was based on the book by Fulton Oursler, which integrated the four Gospels into a single narrative. To appreciate this task just look at the different versions of what Jesus said on the cross according to each Gospel. Reconciling the various versions is not an easy task and while viewers may question some of the specific choices, the only really significant alteration is the death of Judas by throwing himself into the sacrificial pit of the Great Temple, a symbolism that is unnecessarily heavy handed.The choice of Max Von Sydow to play Jesus is an interesting selection to say the least. His slight Swedish accent and closely cropped beard are ciaertnly in keeping with the reverential tone of the film, but I can not help wondering if this was something of a reaction to the more populist Jesus portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter in King of Kings. After all, this was 1965 and the Beatles invasion was underway making male hair length a hot issue. This is a Jesus who is too solemn and too sedate for the most part. There is a nice moment where one of the new disciples comments that he likes Jesus name. The smile and Thank you that follow are one of the few glimpses of the charisma of the man from Galilee.
Hey Jeremy – Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be submitting something on this. Looking forward to it. Looks like it’s going to be an awesome project!
Peace & Blessings!
Jake
Jake,
Submissions are rolling in, and I am looking forward to reading yours!
Hi Jeremy,
I have a story that i could submit. My wife and I were in a small church that we became heavily involved with and then there was some fall out, we left, came back, left again. then we attended larger churches for awhile and stayed on the side lines. now we are attending another smaller up and coming church. Would this fit your book guidelines?
Scott,
It definitely would!
Write it up and send it in. I look forward to reading the rest.
I just wanted to let you know I blogged about your project for my readers. Many have painful stories from their church past and I am hopeful some will have the gumption to write. I also submitted a piece today and look forward to hearing your feedback. My blog post is here:
http://www.turquoisegates.com/2012/02/finding-church-call-for-authors.html
Good luck with the editing stage of your project!
Thanks Genevieve!
I will add you to the list above!
You write, “copy and paste the following code into a text widget on your blog sidebar” but there’s no code showing in the text box on my browser (Chrome), so how can I put the badge on my blog?
Em
Emil,
A little coding mistake there. Sorry about that. The code is back now…
Ahhh, editing my story is like taking my baby before Solomon. HA! I am very interested in this. Here is a link to my story on my blog http://www.mickydewitt.com/about-me-2/my-story
Honestly, I wish I could turn it into a book instead of cutting it down, but beggars can’t be choosers. 🙂
Hope to get my edited version submitted very soon.
Thanks,
Micky
Micky,
I am looking forward to reading your submission for the book. And who knows, maybe this process will help move you in the direction of a full-length book?!
I have been actively involved in church since the 1950’s. I am genuinely looking for “The Church” as written in The Word. If you find a church that believes the Bible is the word of God, the people there are so arrogant, so threatened because they think they are the chosen ones. They are all wrapped up in “self”. If you visit a church that doesn’t believe the Bible, these folks are the same. So God has a big task before him. The mega-church is too materialistic. and brag too much about all the things they are doing but will not publish their salaries……why? I think I am looking for love (God’s) in all the wrong places.
You are on a journey, and only Jesus knows where He is leading you. Keep following Him, and you will soon find yourself living and acting as the church to the people God brings into your life. Keep searching and following!