More than a hundred writers have contributed to Messenger magazine in 2024. If you’re a close reader of the index that appears every December, you might know that this is not unusual. Though Messenger is a small publication, the number of contributors every year is large.
Some of these folks are seasoned writers. Their names have appeared on the covers of devotionals, Bible resources, and books. They write regularly for their local newspapers or for their jobs.
Other contributors are less practiced. Their articles in Messenger might be the first time their byline has appeared in a publication. What a joy it was to meet one of these first-timers in person at a recent Annual Conference. She was thrilled, and so was I.
Messenger’s editors are gratified by this range of writers, a variety that says a lot about who the Brethren are. Some names are known all across the denomination; others are known mostly in their individual congregations. There are historians and theologians; there are storytellers and essayists. Their words are woven together in a tapestry that’s uniquely Church of the Brethren.
Another noteworthy number in the index is 42. That’s the number of congregations (five of them named First Church of the Brethren!) featured in Messenger in 2024—not counting those mentioned in passing, such as in author identifications. Many of these congregations appear within the In Touch pages of the magazine, a section devoted to what is happening locally across the Church of the Brethren (in the neighborhood, as Brethren like to say).
I was once a first-time church writer, reporting in my teen years on an event in my Presbyterian congregation in Maryland and submitting it to the denominational magazine. The published piece was edited down considerably (now I understand why), but there it was—in print. That small story marked the beginning of a lasting relationship with church publishing.
Like other church publications, Messenger has provided the soil in which the words of many writers have taken root and borne fruit. The first words of the magazine’s forerunner, The Gospel Visitor, were published almost 175 years ago. I wonder how many writers could be counted among all those pages.
Wendy McFadden is publisher of Brethren Press and executive director of communications for the Church of the Brethren.