c. 1998 Religion News Service

CHICAGO _”In the beginning was the Word,”wrote the Apostle John in his Gospel. The Christian magazine industry, which seeks to promote biblical values through a flurry of printed words and images, came much, much later but still tries to link John’s Word with the millions of words it sets in print each year.

Hundreds of writers, editors, designers and publishers from church denominations, Christian organizations, missionary groups and private publishing houses gathered in Chicago this week to see how they were doing.

At the same time, they marked the 50th anniversary of the Evangelical Press Association, which, with some 300 member publications with a combined circulation of over 20 million, is the nation’s largest religious newspaper and magazine association.

The group’s annual meetings typically combine fellowship and technical training for members, who publish everything from multi-million-circulation magazines, such as Focus on the Family’s glossy monthly flagship publication, as well as smaller, more specialized periodicals, like the 7,000-circulation Christian Camp & Conference Journal.

This year’s gathering also provided plentiful opportunities for debate and soul-searching among religious journalists like Jon Walker, editor-in-chief of the 500,000-circulation family-oriented Home Life magazine. Walker, like many of his peers, describes his work as”a calling.” Walker elicited knowing nods from other denominational and organizational editors when he talked about the challenge of balancing the often conflicting roles of journalist and publicist.”There is always some tension there,”said Walker, whose magazine is just one of nine published by the Nashville-based Baptist Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.”It’s not like being a corporate shill,”Walker said.”It’s more like working within a belief system you already embrace. And most of the time, what we do falls within the 40-yard lines of what Southern Baptists believe.” Consolidation and the growth of niche publishing are two of the Christian magazine industry’s big trends. The Southern Baptists publish nine different periodicals with a combined circulation of over 1 million.

Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family produces 11 periodicals with a circulation of over 3 million, including titles for young boys, young girls, medical doctors, pastor’s families, school teachers and conservative Christian activists.

But Christianity Today, Inc., in Wheaton, Ill., will soon be publishing more religious magazines than anyone else. In addition to Christianity Today magazine, which was founded by Billy Graham in 1956, and Leadership, a journal for pastors it started in 1980, the company has launched or purchased magazines for youth (Campus Life), church administrators (Your Church), couples (Marriage Partnership) and other specialized titles like Christian History, Christian Computing, and the thoughtful journal, Books & Culture.

CTi recently purchased Christian Parenting Today and the women’s magazine Virtue from Cook Communications Ministries. And within a few months the company will launch its latest title, Men of Integrity, which is designed for members of the growing Christian men’s movement.

The Evangelical Press Association was founded in 1948 during a decade of evangelical activism and self-definition. Desiring to carve out ideological ground between both fundamentalists and liberals, theologically conservative Christians founded the National Association of Evangelicals in 1942, and then followed up with the National Religious Broadcasters in 1944 and other associations for Sunday school teachers, missionaries and Christian schools.

In the past 50 years, EPA-member publications have become much more professional.”In the early days, most editors were retired pastors, and many magazines published sermon excerpts,”says Doug Trouten, editor of Minnesota Christian Chronicle, one of the association’s many member newspapers.”Today the organization is dominated by journalists who have little theological background.” And as evangelicalism has become more of a mainstream presence in American culture, the association has abandoned much of its defensive rhetoric. In the early years, EPA members passed resolutions opposing formal diplomatic ties with the Vatican, interstate liquor advertising, and federalization of school funding. While members of the National Religious Broadcasters still pass ideological resolutions _ in January they supported marital fidelity and national revival, but gave thumbs down to a late-term abortion procedure and free airtime for political candidates _ members of EPA don’t seem able to agree on much besides the core creeds of their faith.”We have not done very well in speaking about the things that divide us,”says Ron Wilson, the EPA’s executive director.”We have shied away from the sticky issues.” Some members are trying. At a well-attended conference-opening panel called”News Priorities: Advocacy, Balance, or the Party Line?”, Joel Belz of World magazine, published in Asheville, N.C., debated with Jim Wallis of Sojourners, based in Washington, D.C.. World has cited numerous Bible verses in its attacks on welfarism, while Sojourners has quoted other verses in its pleas for compassion for the poor.”I believe God has an opinion on just about everything,”said World’s Belz.”The question is how easily we discern what he thinks.” Wallis replied that there was greater agreement on issues like abortion than there was on the question of”Whether Chile should be part of NAFTA.”Meanwhile, Wallis urged Christian editors to”be careful in charging that people who differ with you are not biblical, or not Christian.” Advice on finding the proper balance between passion and grace was given at a workshop called”Speaking the Truth in Love.””There are two great temptations,”said workshop leader Doug LeBlanc, editor of United Voice, a conservative advocacy publication within the Episcopal Church.”We can say cultural questions are irrelevant and hide our heads in the sand. Or we can engage these questions in a belligerent way. There is also a middle way, which tackles these subjects, but does so in the spirit of Christ.”

DEA END RABEY