Sharing the Good News—with a book!

I recently completed co-writing a book that shares the Christian good news. It’s now published and available for purchase. But I’m thinking about ways to get this book into the hands of those that need it most!

When writing this book, my co-author (Bob Luhn) and I wanted something easily understandable. We wanted a short book we could give away to just about anyone.

The message of the book focuses upon God’s love and our response. We think the core of the Christian message has been often downplayed or placed as secondary in Christian attempts to witness. Our book tackles the usual subjects of sin, salvation, and the holy life. But love is the center of it all.

Now that the book is complete, we’re talking with people around the world about using the book where they live. Several African leaders want to use the book, for instance, either in its English version or in a translated version. We’re working with others in countries around the world.

The Good News in Context

What makes our venture different from others, however, is that we want our book to be contextualized.

To do this, we’re asking leaders and translators to be co-authors with us. We want them to add or subtract to the electronic version of the book before printing paper copies. By doing this, these indigenous leaders can shape the book’s content to meet the concerns and theological emphases of their region. We’ll list them as coauthors on the versions of the book they have helped produce.

For instance, some people emphasize the domain of demons and angels in their presentation of the Christian gospel. This is especially prevalent in some regions of Africa. Although we touch on this issue in the book, some co-authors may want to expand the book to address the spirit world in greater depth.

In other parts of the world, however, demons and angels play little role in how God is understood to work in the world. Emphasizing the spirit world in such contexts would actually detract a book’s presentation of the good news of God’s love. We expect co-authors in such regions to delete or not expand discussions of spiritual beings.

While we think the core of the gospel transcends culture, we want to be sensitive to the diverse ways the gospel is understood around the world!

Many potential co-authors with whom we have already talked are intelligent theologians and leaders. But most don’t have access to the kind of financial resources it takes to have large quantities of the books printed. It’s a major need!

We’re Looking for Partners

So… we’re also looking for people who want to “take on” some financial costs for translating and printing copies of the book for particular world regions. A few thousand dollars can get the book translated and about 500 copies of the book printed. That’s super cheap!

We’re looking for individuals and churches to collaborate with us.  Some potential collaborators may already have a contact somewhere in the world they would like to support. Other collaborators may simply want to give funds for whatever project has the greatest need.

We think God can use this little book to bring people to the saving knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ. We’ve already also talked with indigenous leaders who want to use our book as teaching literature.

If you’re interested in collaborating with us in this project, send me a note. I’ll send you a complimentary copy of the book. After you read it, we’ll want to talk about what we might do together. (It probably wouldn’t be wise for me to post my email address here. If you don’t know it, you can find it on the Northwest Nazarene University website.)

I am so excited about this new venture in sharing the good news of God’s love. If you’d like to join in any way, let me know!