A New Perspective on Publishing

Sea Point Promenade, Cape Town. A giant pair of spectacles on the beachfront are pointed in the direction of Robben Island. The work is called “Perceiving Freedom.” It was meant as a reference to the sunglasses worn by Nelson Mandela because of the damage done to his eyes while working on the lime quarries of the prison island. The declared goal of the Ray-Ban sponsored artist, Michael Elion, was to appeal to us to look at the big picture and to immortalize the nation’s political icon. But the structure is controversial as many city residents feel that the piece is using the deceased president’s legacy to promote a luxury brand of eyeshades.

This raises an important question for us to consider: “How effectively do we communicate and spread ideas?”

Early April 2024, Avotra and I had the privilege of attending a Christian Publishing Intensive training organized by Desiring God a few meters away from Sea Point Promenade. It was truly a mindset-shaping event for us, and I believe a game-changer for our approach to our publishing ministry. 

Publishing jedis Rick Denham and Daniel Henderson led the workshop, challenging the traditional approach to publishing in Christian circles and inviting us to focus on spreading ideas. The workshop was attended by like-minded publishing ministries in Africa that are also in their inception phase.

Rick brought us back to the time of the Reformation when pamphlets and the ministry of Matthieu Zell in Strasbourg were instrumental in the spread of Luther’s ideas throughout Europe. Over 10 million were printed in those days around Germany. Pamphlets were the equivalent of the explosion of the internet or the current advent of AI in those days. They were successful because they were written in the vernacular mostly understood by the people, they were affordable and accessible, and they conveyed ideas both saturated with Scripture and relevant to the societal issues of the day. Finally, they were easy to reproduce and spread.

The real epicenters of the Reformation were the Scripture-based pulpits, publishing, and training. 

Rick revolutionized out thinking by conveying that the goal is to build a confessionally distinct community within a ministry ecosystem. The community must be fed continually, abundantly, and richly. 

The 4 doorways bringing people into this ecosystem are:

• Publishing (books, articles, journals, etc.)
• Web presence (website, online classes, social media, etc.)
• Events and Training where books are promoted and distributed. 
• Preaching/Teaching in the local church. Healthy local churches proclaim truth and equip their members to continue to learn, grow in their faith and live in community, and plant other churches. 

Daniel Henderson continued by emphasizing that the three central activities of a publishing ministry are:

• Quality Content development.
• Developing effective methods of spreading ideas. Content should not be fenced off but be made as accessible as possible. 
• Nurturing the community/ecosystem: The community is created as people discover ideas and connect to others who share those same values. The community is not defined by any one doorway, but by the common ideas that unite them. Change happens very rarely individually. It happens when people realize that they are not alone. The main value in an ecosystem is where the lines converge. 

Based on all we learned, our ministry new Transformative Purpose at 3M Publishing is:

“To transform lives in Madagascar and beyond through Scripture-centered resources designed to raise and equip Preachers of God’s Word, Shepherds of God’s people, and Servants of Christ in local churches.” 

We produce 3 types of books to that end:

• Books in French thanks to our partnership with Publications Chrétiennes and BLF Éditions.
• Books translated from English or French by our team of translators and therefore now available in Malagasy.
• Books in Malagasy written by Malagasy Christian theologians, pastors and teachers.

We want to make books available to as many as possible so these Bible-infused ideas will spread.

To accomplish this:

• on Saturday April 20^th, we will open our bookstore and library on the 3M Preaching Institute campus. 
• We will also be launching 2 books written by Conrad Mbewe that we have translated from Malagasy: “God’s Design for the church” and “Your Discipleship Manual”. These resources written by an African author, suitable for an African context, are completely in line with our purpose and mission. 
• Finally, we are planning to launch a quarterly magazine to be widely distributed with great content to feed the mind and the soul. 

May the Lord use all of these resources and avenues to edify His church!