More than writers! by Joy Margetts

  I was looking for inspiration for my personal blog  this month and I found myself ruminating on the title of the blog in general. It is great! Of course we are more than writers. We are here because we write, but that is not all we do.

Some of us are parents, or spouses, or grandparents, or carers. Some of us volunteer, have other strings to our bows, serve in church, are involved in community life. Some of us even have to work – work that actually pays a decent wage! Sometimes it is hard to juggle all that we do, and writing often comes last in our list of priorities. Unless you are one of the very blessed people who does actually earn a decent income from their writing!

But that isn’t just what More Than Writers means is it? Well not my interpretation of the title anyway. What connects us here is more than the fact that we love to write. What makes this space special is that we are connected by something much greater than even writing. We all profess a living faith in God. We call ourselves ‘Christian’. What a joy to be able to be part of such a large and varied group, knowing that for all our differences we have that one thing in common.  We might write in different genres and for different purposes, but we serve the same King.

I was intending to write more about out Writing Kingdom Stories Retreat in this post. To wax lyrical about the location, the people, the sense of oneness, the laughter and tears, the way God spoke to us and encouraged us. But that seemed a wrong emphasis for this post. For those who came they know all about it already. For those that didn’t come, there are probably some of you who would not be interested in coming anyway. And those who would have loved to come if their circumstances were different. 

(It was amazing and if you want to know more you can check out our Kingdom Story Writers Podcast. )

We ran our retreat to gather together like-minded writers under the banner of our new initiative, Kingdom Story Writers. We wanted to create space for connection, encouragement, learning and mutual support. We are a group of writers who feel called to write stories, both fiction and non fiction, that are explicitly Christian. And that is not what everyone reading this blog feels called to. And that is perfectly OK.

But as Christian Writers I do think we all have the responsibility to represent our faith well, and honour Jesus in our writing.  This verse came to mind

Let every activity of your lives and every word  that comes from your lips be drenched with the beauty of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. And bring your constant praise to God the Father because of what Christ has done for you!     Colossians 3:17.

This is from The Passion Translation; you might be more familiar with it saying something like this in more traditional versions:

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (NKJV)

I think that the ‘every activity’, or the ‘whatever you do’ includes writing doesn’t it?

At the retreat we did take some time to think about what it means to write for the Kingdom. In essence it means to write for the King. King Jesus. The one who rules and reigns, now and in eternity. He brought the Kingdom of God to earth, and that Kingdom is alive and well – in us.

Jesus said  ‘the kingdom of God is within you’  (Luke 17:21)

We are His Kingdom, and we are commissioned to serve our King, to make Him known, and to honour Him, in everything. To help grow His kingdom! What a joy there is in realising that in our writing we can do that. Even if we don’t write explicitly Christian books, we can make sure He is in our words and that we represent Him well. As we pour ourselves into our work we can ask Him to inspire us and use our words for His purposes.

We are More than Writers, we are carriers of the Kingdom of God, who just happen to be writers too.

Joy Margetts writes Christian Historical Fiction. Her debut novel 'The Healing' was published in March 2021, and her second ‘The Pilgrim’ in July 2022. Her third novel 'The Bride' was  published 20th October 2023. She has also recently published her first non-fiction book, an Advent Devotional entitled 'Christ Illuminated'.

 Joy makes her home in beautiful North Wales and takes her inspiration from its rich spiritual history and stunning landscapes. She is also wife, mother and grandmother and a lover of the Word of God. Her personal blog and more information about her books can be found here www.joymargetts.com