By Mark A. Taylor
This is one for the history books! After being published weekly since April 7, 1866, Christian Standard will become a monthly magazine in September this year. It will be in the mail mid-August, 68 pages of information, encouragement, news, and commentary””all of it by, for, and about our dynamic fellowship of Christian churches and churches of Christ. We”re looking forward to the change! Here”s why.
The new monthly will be more appealing. Each month”s edition will provide several articles around important themes, and longer, more substantive articles when the subject warrants it. You”ll read and keep and share these issues for years because of the Bible-based insight they provide.
Meanwhile, an array of monthly columns and features will help make the church strong: “Ministry Today” by Eddie Lowen and Tim Harlow; “Group Think” for every small group leader by Mike Mack; “Christian Standard Interview” by Paul Boatman; “What”s Next?” by Brian Mavis; “Elders Meeting” by various writers; and two favorites of many readers already: “From My Bookshelf” by LeRoy Lawson; and Paul Williams”s “And So It Goes.” Watch for an expanded “4C”s,” news from our fellowship plus features and commentary by Jennifer Taylor; and “Seen and Heard,” quotes and factoids to challenge your thinking or illustrate your teaching from Simon J. Dahlman.
All of this will be together in one sleek, new magazine with a fresh, new look””plenty to keep you reading for a whole month!
The new monthly will attract more readers. Many have been reading Christian Standard for decades, and we promise to do everything possible to continue serving them well. But a dynamic new generation of church leaders has arisen behind them, and we want to reach them too. We believe our new monthly will be more like other publications they”re seeing than the 16-page weeklies we”ve been publishing.
The new monthly will exercise better stewardship. This new strategy will allow us to continue to serve you in the face of increased printing and skyrocketing postal costs.
The new monthly is a step forward. Times are changing. Reading habits are changing. Local congregations in the Restoration Movement are changing. One thing is not changing, Christian Standard”s commitment to helping local churches lift up New Testament Christianity.
This move simply reflects our promise to continue serving Christian churches and churches of Christ in the best way possible. Not only are we revamping our print publication, we”re also pursuing the best digital options to serve an expanding audience that prefers screens to paper. Keep watching. Please keep reading. And go to ChristianStandard.com to discover our offer of bulk discounts and free issues to new subscribers.
The best days””that is, months””for this magazine are yet to come!
Sounds like a great plan. I hope when they are shipped that they will come in better condition than what we are receiving them now. The August issues came without the plastic and had rubber bands around them.