If your church has a bookstore or lending library, you’ll probably find lots of nonfiction in there, such as Christian living resources, Bible studies, and discipleship material. But we know people also get their discipleship training through stories and songs. Almost every church has the songs covered, with singing in worship and maybe a whole ministry team devoted to music. But should church bookstores and libraries offer more fiction? We might even ask: should churches have “story pastors” to help disciple others through story, just like the “music minister” does this through music? What could this look like?

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This third role is optional; not every music pastor is a composer, so not every story pastor is an author. However, a few writers will take on this role. If so, the Story Pastor:

One hero in the Lorehaven Guild enjoyed episode 108 about resurrection:

It’s challenging to think about how the fact of physical resurrection, both Christ’s and our own future renewed life, ought to impact how we live and think and imagine.

Readers appreciated Marian Jacobs’s article Sensual Scenes in Fiction Pose Unique Temptations to Women:

Thank you for this. I have struggled with lust for years, mainly aided by books and TV. I know to look at reviews before watching now, but books are a lot harder. Even books marketed as Christian get uncomfortable sometimes and it’s often hard to know which those are without stumbling into them. By then, my emotions are already engaged and it’s hard to stop.

Thanks for this, Marian. I always find your articles thoughtful, and this needed to be said.

We’re doing an informal sequel to this episode, based on a phrase that Zack has recently mentioned about a possible coming “golden age” of Christian fantastical fiction. Stephen believers we are not yet there and may not arrive at such an age until the New Heavens and New Earth. But if we did find a “golden age” on this present Earth, what would that look like, and what kinds of stories would we expect to see flying off the shelves into the hands of eager readers?