Editorial

Jim Coggins
Statistics

Some questions from readers caused me to analyze the list of the writers of our feature and opinion articles. In 1998, we had 153 authors write 223 articles for the Herald. Although these figures are not precise (they involve some judgement calls), this is what I discovered:

50% of the authors were Mennonite Brethren; 22% were Mennonite; many of the remaining 28% were evangelicals. Mennonite Brethren writers tended to write more than one article each, so 56% of the articles were written by MBs, 18% by Mennonites and 26% by others. Mennonite Brethren are evangelical anabaptists. These statistics show that half of the Herald is written by ourselves, with about a quarter being contributed each by our Mennonite brothers and sisters and our evangelical brothers and sisters.

65% of the authors (representing 64% of the articles) were Canadians, 33% (32% of the articles) were Americans, and 2% (4% of the articles) were from other countries. A good number of the American writers work for MB or Mennonite agencies, such as Mennonite Central Committee.

59% of authors (69% of articles) were males, and 41% (31% of articles) were females. These figures have not changed much in the last few years. They are partly skewed by the fact that the Herald editor and our only regular columnist are male. I might wish the figures were more balanced, but I don’t have immediate plans to change our policy of evaluating articles, rather than authors, when deciding what we will print.

While this is harder to discern, I estimate that about half of our writers are or have been in full-time Christian ministry of some kind; half are clearly lay people. Of the 153 authors, 9 work full-time for a Mennonite Brethren Conference or its agencies (including 3 Herald staff); 9 are currently MB pastors, and 3 are MB academics. That amounts to about 14% of authors. There may be several reasons why this percentage is relatively low. MB pastors and Conference leaders may be too busy to write; they may be afraid to stick their necks out by writing an article; or they may be waiting to be asked. (We commission relatively few articles, since the best articles come from what is burning in the soul, and what is burning in the soul people will often write and submit anyway.) These statistics do demonstrate that, unlike many denominational magazines, the Herald is written for lay people, as well as (perhaps even more than) for Conference professionals.

At the end of 1998, the Canadian Baptist, denominational magazine for the Convention Baptist denomination in Canada, was closed down after 144 years of publishing. The magazine had previously been cut back to 10 issues a year with a half-time editor, and subscriptions had dwindled to 7000 (in a denomination of about 100,000). The magazine will be replaced by a quarterly newsletter to members (distributed in the churches), a newsletter to pastors, and "electronic communication" (e-mail and the World Wide Web).

The North American-wide Brethren in Christ denomination is in the process of revamping its publishing. In the process, its main periodical, the Evangelical Visitor, will be closed down after over 111 years of publication. A new periodical will be established, run by a "communications coordinator" responsible to that denomination’s moderator and Leadership Council (whereas the editor of the old magazine was hired by the Board for Media Ministries). The new periodical will "promote" the denomination and be written by denominational leaders, whereas the previous magazine was more of an open forum. The denomination will also put more emphasis on "electronic communication". The change in direction took place at the same time as a new plan was approved to encourage more church planting in the denomination.

It was recently reported that the Evangelical Baptist, monthly magazine of the Fellowship Baptists in Canada, will soon cease publication. It will be replaced by a glossy, five-times-a-year publication aimed at church leaders.

So what’s going on?

I think I can discern some trends:

1. People are reading books and magazines less. Books and magazines now compete against radio, television, movies and the Internet. Especially, the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web has cut into book-and-magazine-reading time at least, for a significant segment of the population.
2. Loyalty to denominations is declining. Members will no longer subscribe to a magazine just because it is produced by their denomination. The Canadian magazines that have folded were magazines that depended on selling subscriptions, not those sent to the home of every church member.
3. In our increasingly pagan society, and with the rise of the church growth movement, many denominations realize they should put more resources into evangelism and church planting.
4. Publication costs are rising. Printing technology and computer typesetting and layout capabilities have actually lowered the cost of publication. However, this has more than been offset by demands for increasingly higher technical quality. Readers now demand more interesting (and more entertaining?) magazines; more colour and graphics (people are used to the colour in Time and Maclean’s); and better editing, with shorter, snappier articles (think Reader’s Digest people don’t have time to read long, meandering articles). As well, more money is required to "market" magazines (selling subscriptions in the face of increased competition from other media).
5. At the same time, it is hard to get more money (or even the same money) from denominational leaders. With denominational loyalties declining, denominational leaders want vehicles that will do direct promotion and fundraising. Unfortunately, denominational magazines are being caught between the need to serve readers better and the push from denominational leaders to serve the denominational organization better.

Am I discouraged? Not really. A number of denominational magazines are doing very well, even flourishing. (For instance, the Evangelical Mennonite Missions Conference has just decided to expand its periodical, the EMMC Recorder, after some years of cutbacks.) Christians still read more than non-Christians, and the number of magazines is increasing in Canada, including new magazines which serve as guides to the Internet. Denominations are also realizing that, if they wish to survive, they will have to serve their member churches well. If a denomination produces a good magazine, focusing on ministering to needs of readers rather than the needs of the denomination, I suspect this will in the long run produce deeper denominational loyalty and a deeper sense of ownership than will promotional material. A good denominational magazine is also not an enemy to evangelism. It can promote evangelism and church planting programs, offer evangelistic editions (such as Encounter) and help disciple and incorporate new believers.

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