How Can Writing Serve God?

Bula! (that’s Fijian for ‘hello’)

If you hadn’t guessed, last week, I was on a mission trip in Fiji with my school.

Basic summary of the trip:

1. We were a team of 18 kids and a handful of teachers who were all varied degrees of crazy for God. (And the normal type of crazy too.)
2. My ukulele was played a LOT. And one dude over there learnt it in five minutes to the point that he was playing better than all of our team members could.
3. Much singing was done, and by the end, we had mastered our repertoire of eight songs, plus a few other fun ones.
4. No one died!
5. We went to a whole heap of schools and hung out with the kids there.
6. We regularly performed a skit explaining how ‘Jesus is the King Over Everything.’
7. A long conversation in the middle of the night concluded that it was impossible to ‘wake up dead,’ but we’ll forever use that phrase anyways.
8. God was (and is) at work in Fiji.

And most people will agree that what we were doing there was serving God, but more often than not, people ask me how my writing is bringing glory to Him if I’m not writing purely allegorical fiction. Hopefully, I’ll be able to quickly explain why writing for God is an actual thing.

Most of you who read this blog probably already know and believe that writing for God without writing allegories is possible, and very effective. This is seen through countless books that explore ideas that result in a ‘Christian’ (most refer to them as ‘morally correct’) message in order to sway the reader to a particular point of view.

But if the purpose of writing is to persuade, then why write fiction?

The main reason that I write fiction is because I find it more enjoyable, both to read and to write. But it also is far more inclined to persuade than non-fiction (not counting biographies) is.

As a student, I can comfortably say that I’ve written a lot of essays in my life thus far, and a lot of reports. I’ve argued for sides I’m passionate about and ones that I don’t believe in. But this remains: The most effective part of a report or essay is the fictitious aspect. The part where you give a hypothetical example of what the damage coal mining has on a family is far more dramatic and meaningful than just spouting off stats. Showing the journey of a Phoenician trading vessel and what the different people it would trade with is going to stick into people’s minds more than a list of items. Giving an example on why family is valuable is more important than just explaining the physiological effects of relationships.

As a reader (or viewer) we want to be able to relate to what is being placed before us. We want to be shown why the author wants us to believe something. We don’t want to just have the information thrown at us; we want to explore it in depth for ourselves. 

What better way is there to explore an idea than creating characters to undergo trials and explore it in front of the reader?

Ultimately, that is what I believe storytelling is about. We need to be the ones to paint hope where it can’t be reached otherwise, and to be able to do that through writing about journey. The journey of a character is written in order to make it possible for the readers to relate and feel as if they too, are on a quest and adventure. It invites the reader to take part in the pilgrimage to find out the answer of the question that the character is asking…and they’ll find the answer that you give them.

To add to all of this, Story Embers (a site I have a fair bit to do with) has just released a Christian Storytellers Manifesto. This is basically a document/vow/contract that says how we, as Christian writers, say we shall write and that all of the glory is to go to God.

Hopefully this is a decent explanation on why writers write, and why we say that we are writing for the glory of God.

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully."

~Romans 12:6-8

Why do you write? Do you feel that the deeper thematic message of a book makes a difference?