Linda Taylor

It is with great sorrow that I read about the demise of several of Christianity Today’s magazines. It’s very sad because, as CT’s building is Livingstone’s neighbor a block away in Carol Stream, that means many of the layoffs affect people I know and love.

And it’s also sad when something that has become an “institution” of sorts has to close its doors. For me, the demise of Campus Life magazine makes me feel both sad and old. I loved that magazine for helping me during my high school years to ground my faith and find humor and fun in Christianity. And, as a high schooler living in with my military family in Europe with no ability to make college visits (and decades before the Internet), I devoured my Campus Life Magazine Christian College Guide, dutifully filling in the handy postcard so that I could receive catalogs and other information by mail for my college search.

And I have similar feelings for Today’s Christian Woman—the subject of Lisa Miller’s article in Newsweek. As I matured in my walk, finished college, married, worked, had a family, TCW was always there to walk me through a tough time with my kids, or with my husband, or with my finances, or simply to offer a dose of encouragement in what at times seemed like lonesome, unfulfilling days (three children born in 33 months will do that to a woman. I know that there are a couple of years of my life that I cannot even recall . . .). So to say good-bye to TCW is difficult indeed.

I know that these are steps CT is taking strategically, and I know that they are based on financial, bottom-line considerations. Every good business has to do that. But I disagree with Miller that this signals the end of Christian publishing. Instead, I’m far more in tune with Mark Kuyper’s take on this whole situation. As Kuyper says, these times are challenging, no doubt. But they also provide great opportunities.

You see, I don’t believe that Christian publishing is no longer needed any more than I believe doctors, plumbers, truckers, and bikers no longer need their trade publications. Christian publishing is where we of likeminded worldviews gather together to share ideas, discuss, disagree, teach, encourage, and figure out how our worldview shapes our responses to an ever-changing society. Christian magazines and Christian publishing provide our “trade publications,” keeping us abreast of current thinking. And there will always be a place for this.

While some mature believers may be able to filter secular material through their Christian worldview (as Don Pape says he does in Miller’s article), I also know that my children (ages 18, 19, 20) are still developing their worldviews—and they are not yet discerning enough to do so completely on their own. They still identify themselves with Christianity, and they still want to know what a “Christian” take would be on world events and on opinions that go largely unchallenged by secular media outlets. They need to know what God’s Word says, and it’s up to us (as my children’s parents), partnering with the church, other mature believers, and the wonderful material produced by Christian publishers, to help them understand God’s Word and how it applies to their lives, their opinions, their very worldview.

You see, we Christians are different. And I for one am glad to be so. I do willingly identify myself with a coherent group that resonates with certain values and beliefs. Of course, Christians have a huge variety of opinions on a huge variety of topics—which keeps us from getting stuck and stuffy and, incidentally, from being “closed minded.” But if we take ourselves back to the Apostles’ Creed, we discover the basic beliefs that do separate us and make us unique.

So maybe some print publishing is dead. And that may be a good thing. Save a few trees, less waste. And I’m glad that Ginger Kolbaba, editor of TCW, is in the process of creating an online magazine. I mean, I still don’t curl up with my laptop at night (magazines are really better), but at least I know the material is available to me and to my kids.

The words of the early church fathers written centuries ago still teach and inspire me. We believers still have plenty of stories to tell, inspiration to give, encouragement to share, insights to teach.

We’re not dead. Not by a long shot.