Together

When I am out and about in the Church of the Brethren, people often tell me how grateful they are that Messenger exists.

Messenger is part of the connective tissue that holds our body together. A denominational magazine brings far-away stories and ideas and news into your home 10 times a year. Not every denomination has a church magazine anymore, and—like our subscribers—the editors also are grateful that Messenger exists.

It was 10 years ago, with the March 2015 issue, that Messenger ceased having an editor and shifted to an editorial team of part-timers. It’s like a congregation moving from one full-time pastor to team ministry.

With this model, Messenger relies on the three members of the Church of the Brethren communication team, who each spend a slice of our time working on Messenger. We also contract with a part-time at-large editor. As with team ministry, we find that this way of working suits the times.

We hit a speed bump a year ago when the Church of the Brethren experienced a major data breach. The magazine’s mailing list was part of the larger database, and we had to make an emergency decision to move to an online subscription software. Thankfully, that allowed us to avoid a delay in the publication schedule.

It did require us to recreate records going back two-thirds of a year, and we lost information on our club representatives—the dependable people who handle renewals for their congregations. At the same time, we have been able to shift many of our renewals online, which quite a few subscribers have welcomed.

With this issue, subscription rates are rising somewhat. The last rate increase was 15 years ago, in January 2010. If basing the new price on the rate of inflation over those years, the updated price would be over $26. But, mindful that budgets are tight, we are setting the new rate at $21 (with the longstanding discounts for clubs, gifts, students, and those subscribing for two years at a time).

Even with an increase, that doesn’t cover all the expenses. Fortunately, some readers are willing to pay more, in recognition of the real cost of having a denominational magazine. We have launched Sustaining Subscriptions—that is, higher rates paid by people who want to make it possible to keep rates lower for others. Sustainers can choose from three tiers of support: Tier 1 is $35 a year, tier 2 is $50, and tier 3 is $75.

All our subscribers, whatever their means, help sustain the church’s magazine. We editors, in turn, labor to ensure that Messenger helps sustain the church. With all of us together, gratitude overflows.