Welcome to the final lesson of writing for ministry. I'm Adam Navis and it's been  my pleasure to be your instructor for this course. This is lesson 13, prophetic  writing, pastoral writing. This is an important lesson for us as Christians. After all, we're Christians in our writing just as much as we are in our daily interactions  with people face to face. Good writing comes in many different forms.  

There's also going to be disagreement about what constitutes good writing and  what doesn't. This is okay. Disagreement is okay. But as we grow as writers, we  want to move away from calling something good or bad because these are  terms that are oversimplifying and we want to be a little more skilled at  identifying what we don't like about something or what could be done to make it  better. This is what makes someone a good editor. They'll be able to talk about  consistency of voice or the structure of your argument or how you resort to  cliche or melodrama. 

But today, for this lesson, you don't need to worry about those things. You  should work to build your editorial vocabulary, but that takes a lifetime of reading and writing and careful study. No, today, I want us to think together about two  terms that apply to the writing of Christians. They are very different, but they're  also connected. They are pastoral and prophetic.  

First, pastoral. A pastoral writer tries to write in the same spirit of hospitality that  they would display when hosting a guest in their home or meeting someone for  the first time. It's the hospitality required when speaking from the pulpit, when  serving the bread and the wine, or in baptizing a new believer.  

Pastoral writers believe that writing can be a calling. They understand it to be  God's will that they write. Of course, now, this belief could easily result in an  attitude of arrogance, but a pastoral writer writes to build a more expansive and  a larger vision of the kingdom of God. They may write critically, but they'll do it  with tenderness. 

The good Christian writer will see what they do as a gift from God, but a gift  meant for the good of other people. You don't need to be a pastor to write  pastorally. But when you do, it can sometimes become an act of worship. Out of  God's call to write flows the drives to read, to master the craft, to embrace  vulnerability, and to live a fully integrated life. And all of this is done not for our  glory, but to build up the church.  

Next is prophetic writing. The prophetic voice has a long tradition in Christianity,  going back to the biblical prophets. Abraham Joshua Heschel, in his book The  Prophets, explains it this way. The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has 

thrust a burden upon his soul, and he is bowed and stunned at man's fierce  greed. Frightful is the agony of man. No human voice can convey its full terror. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the  plundered poor, to the profaned riches of the world. It is a form of living, a  crossing point of God and man, God raging in the prophet's words.  

The prophetic voice in writing is that voice which beholds the world with clear  eyes and whose heart cannot be still. The prophet speaks truth to power. It is  the ability to look at something and say, this is not the way things are supposed  to be, to stand on the proverbial street corner and use your words to shake  things up, to make a scene, to ruffle feathers, rock the boat, roar like a lion.  

Anne Lamott says it this way. We write to expose the unexposed. If there's one  door in the castle you've been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise, you'll be just rearranging furniture in rooms you've already been in. Most human  beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut, but the writer's job is to see  what's behind it, to see the bleak, unspeakable stuff and to turn the unspeakable into words, not just into any words, but if we can, into rhythm and blues.  

The prophet is often the voice from the margins. The prophet is not overly  concerned with stability, security and the status quo. In fact, she is often looking  to upset these things. Usually prophets are unpopular. So when do you need to  be pastoral and when do you need to be prophetic? I can't tell you that, but you  should be aware that there are deep traditions within Christianity of both of  these things. 

There is a lot of writing out there. Well, honestly, most of it on the internet, but  much of it by Christians that is neither pastoral or prophetic. It is plainly hateful  and inhospitable. It is angry and accusatory. It uses a tone that I would be  embarrassed and ashamed to see in my local church. But people act differently  when they're writing. They feel a little more detached, especially over the  internet. Don't be that kind of writer. Be kind and generous and loving to your  readers. Always remember that your words have power, power to comfort and  power to challenge.  

Congratulations on making it all the way through this course. And thank you. It's  been my honor and privilege to walk beside you as you have. I hope you feel  better equipped to write. I hope you feel excited to sit down and tackle a new  project. Maybe more importantly, I hope you've learned a little something about  yourself and that you feel more secure in who you are and letting your voice out  into the world. Let's write. 



آخر تعديل: الاثنين، 19 أكتوبر 2026، 8:35 AM