Q4U: Fiction and Ministry

>Everyone needs downtime to relax and unwind.

Providing entertainment is relaxing and an opportunity for someone to escape from the daily routine of everyday life for a few hours is a gift. If you don’t think so, offer to babysit for a friend for a few hours so she can get away then ask her what it meant to her.

Everyone writes with a unique worldview and, whether it’s a mystery, suspense or romance, our stories offer a unique perspective.

>I would like to rephrase what I said originally.

Jesus told many of His truths in parables. Modern brain research proves that knowledge carrying an emotional “tag” is more deeply embedded in the brain than memorized facts. I think most writers and readers agree that a good story creates emotion, which carries the lesson, theme or meaning into long-term brain “storage”.

Our marvelous Savior was, of course, ahead of the research.

Also, Rachelle, I appreciate your thoughts on Christian romance stories. This romantic-at-heart will not derail your post by blathering on about the great gift that is Christian marriage, but if you’re ever inclined I would love to hear your thoughts on the status and direction of romance novels and storylines in the CBA.

Thanks for starting my day off with such great thoughts.

>I received this email last week that confirmed something deep inside. My heart was to write Watching the Tree Limbs to minister to folks. This was a confirmation:

I finished the book Watching the Tree Limbs about two weeks ago. The first day I received it in the mail I read it for 3 hours and the next day I couldn’t put it down and read it for 6 hours and finished it. I felt like I had stepped back into East Texas and fell smack into the world of this little girl. I definately think I read it a little too fast and probably should have paced myself, but I couldn’t put it down.

It was a very good book and I have already lent it to a woman here.

I cried the whole time I read it, and when I finished it, I was so overwhelmed with the weight of this story I cried harder than I have ever cried in my life. I think my soul was touched by the extreme loss of this girl’s innocence and childhood that it reached down into my soul and pulled out all the loss and put it right in front of me to grieve. I felt like I was grieving for myself more than the child’s story. Her story helped me see mine.

I really liked the book. I am still digesting it. She is a brilliant writer. I know it says that it is fictional, but the way she describes this girls life I can’t help but wonder if she didn’t paint a bit of her own life into the picture. That maybe it wasn’t her exact story, but a working out of it through this fictional story.

I just wanted to write and tell you what I thought, great recommendation.

Grace and Peace,

>I love what Kate H wrote. I was going to write much the same thing, only probably less eloquently.

When I think about the books I love the most, the Christian books that touched me most, they are not necessarily “preachy” ones. They are ones with great characters that deal with really difficult, but realistic, conflicts, and have faults, and conflicting emotions, and sometimes fail. But always, always God is faithful, and they make me want to be a better person, to have more faith, to pray more, to believe more that with God, all things are possible.

Scripture is ministry. But so is seeing God work in people’s lives. Even if those lives aren’t real.

>I believe that a novelist dealing with feelings of love and sexual desire in a tasteful, discerning way is of tremendous ministry value if we approach it with plenty of prayer and apply biblical thinking to the situation.

I have an element of overwhelming feelings of love and desire in my current novel. I hope to show characters who recognize their struggle with temptation and grow in their understanding that they need to rely on Christ to overcome temptation in their lives. I would hope that this message translates into any area of temptation.

Yes! Romance is a beautiful opportunity for a Christian novelist to minister to people about purity of heart, the value of love and the power of Christ in our lives.

>Our curent culture thrives on deception. From air-brushed photos of half-starved starlets to steriod use among athletes, we digest tons of deceit and half-truths by just living here on earth. Secular fiction continues along those lines many time, by painting a beleivable story but completly ignoring the roles that God and faith in Him play.

Good fiction to me, whether secular or Christian, simply shows life as it REALLY is, with all our failings yes, but including all our heart yearnings for God, too. Showing us often how we could choose to live when we turn to God during our major crises.

Christian fiction is a ministry to whoever reads it if it is HONEST. Is it showing human nature as it really is? Is it showing Christians as they really are or as they could be? Does it include the work of God as He moves and directs in the life of each person?

It grieves me that secular fiction has turned so sharply to the dark and ungoldy, when humanity still yearns for the Holy. I think that’s our job. To be that Salt and Light in the fiction world, seasoning it with Truth.

>Mary Demuth, I hope my novel will touch others like that.
I think a writer should always have something to teach whether it’s fiction or non-fiction.
I think in fiction, the struggles and victories of the characters should be tools to teach the reader valuable lessons. A good writer will incorporate the lessons so that the reader doesn’t even notice the “lecture”.

>Chopping wood would not be a ministry for me because I’d only be able to supply a handful of splinters with my ax-wielding capabilities. And while I don’t know if it would ever be a ministry (noun), I certainly think it could minister (verb) to someone who needs the warmth the wood provides.

Perhaps the ministry of my books won’t be equal to that of a pastor or Sunday school teacher. There are those, however, who don’t hear sermons on Sundays or attend Bible study classes who read fiction. And the fiction that I write, I pray,as Lea Ann said, would show “how we could choose to live when we turn to God…”

>My stories don’t provide much comfort. They are just as likely to set a reader on edge (in a good way, I hope.) I guess that’s the difference for me. Perhaps the level of ministry depends on genre?

Again, though, I think of ministry as something that directly addresses the spiritual need of someone. I owe a lot to C.S. Lewis, but I wouldn’t say his fiction ever “ministered” to me (although his theological non-fiction certainly has).

I don’t pick up fiction when I’m in need of spiritual counsel. I read it because I want a good (that is, “well-told” as well as Good) story.

Perhaps it is the semantics that confuse me. In any case, I certainly don’t see myself in a ministerial role as a writer (although I do in other aspects of my life – helping someone out of a jam, praying with or encouraging people, sharing the GN, etc.)

But just because it isn’t ministerial doesn’t mean I see it in some way as a secular or temporal activity. My relationship with Jesus is often strengthened during the writing, and sometimes I feel that the writing of a good story somehow makes me a better person inside (or at least feel better). I just can’t make the connection between writing for readers and ministering to them.

>Rachelle, you’ve done a marvelous job answering that author’s question. Society has skewed the definition of romance into something that’s far from what God created. I’ve come across so many books that can’t seem to show a romance without the couple jumping into bed at least once because they find each others’ bodies irresistible. There’s no true love involved and nothing beautiful about it. Christian romances are a wonderful way to show what God intended love and romance to be.

In answer to your question, I see my writing as a way to show readers, especially teenagers since I write mostly YA, that Christians can have fun and experience romance and love just like everyone else. My characters (both Christian and non-Christian) struggle with the same things real people do, and as others have said, it’s easier to show the inner workings of the heart in fiction than if I were to write an article on it.

Most of my fiction isn’t written for the Christian market, though it is written from a Christian worldview because I can’t set my faith aside when I write. Since I am writing for the mainstream market, I see my writing as a way to give people hope and show them how faith in Christ can make a difference in their lives. I pray that my writing will be able to touch the lives of people who might not otherwise be exposed to Christianity. My father once summed it up pretty well: my writing is intended to open the door to the reader’s heart. Once that door is open, then the reader will be more willing to listen to the Gospel.

>I write because I want Christians to know that despite life not being perfect, it can still be good. We all hit low points in our lives, and it’s a shame when we let that derail us in our walk with the Lord and our relationships with our loved ones.

I wrote what I consider a simple story. Searching for Spice is about a married woman who wants to have an affair–with her husband. I also write with humor, and I believe that humor helps to balance out the mood of the story when you’re traveling to the deep places.

Three reader emails I received have warmed my heart and confirmed that my writing is a ministry:

“I just finished reading your book (I got no housework done once I started it yesterday!) What a fabulous read. I have a special needs daughter and I so related to the couple that comes in to view the photos of their pregnancy with their beautiful daughter who has Down syndrome. Thank you for writing that particular scene so beautifully.”

“You touched on so many issues and emotions that we all face at times. I am inspired by your words.”

“I can honestly say that one of the most refreshing things about your book for me was that it was Christian fiction. I didn’t realize that when I first read about your book. After reading your book it definitely reminded me how important it is to keep God in your relationship and to know that he is there always! In our busy, hectic lives I think it is easy to think that we are fighting our battles alone, when really we are never alone as long as we let him into our lives. Thanks for reminding me of that!!”

Can I get an “Amen?”

A prisoner of hope,
Megan

>Perelandra, Narnia and even the Great Divorce are excellent stories first and foremost. I believe they can even have a hand in directing a person’s heart toward God…as a side effect.

In fact, good novels can be very good at attacking or building a new worldview. But I simply can’t write with “worldview change,” “message” or “ministry” in mind. That isn’t my stated purpose for writing. Now, I will be delighted if that stems from my work organically.

But the story comes first.

Maybe it is a question of perspective: when a man builds an altar to God, is he thinking “this is my ministry” at the time, or is he thinking “I think I need to measure this piece before I cut it.”

I’m simply measuring pieces and cutting right now. I don’t really think about in the context of ministry.

Let me put it another way: believe it or not, and I’ve been writing for 20 years now, I never have “had a message to give.”

I’ve always had a story to tell. I don’t see it as ministry (except in the very broadest sense – where a man’s work is part of his ministry), or at the very least I don’t understand the need to justify fiction as a ministry in order to write it.

Some may have an overtly stated ministry through fiction. I don’t. The art must be first for me, or it doesn’t get done. If I get tangled up in wondering if it is “minstering enough” or on the other hand “too preachy” I lose steam in a New York Minute.

“Walking on Water” actually says this much better than I can hope to.

>I agree with Pam Halter. I’ve always believed that God didn’t call me to be a best-selling novelist (although I wouldn’t mind that), He simply called me to be obedient.

Any ministry value that can be attributed to my novels arises from my world view as a follower of Jesus. It just is there, but not in a contrived way.

A prisoner of hope,
Megan