The Write Corps
Writing

School

A new
Adventures in Missions training effort

“My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life.” 1 John 5:13 (The Message)

“Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many.”
The National Commission on Writing

Writing is a basic skill, essential as an aid to meaningful expression, vital as a path to personal understanding. “If students are to make knowledge their own, they must struggle with the details, wrestle with the facts, and rework raw information into language they can communicate to someone else. In short, if students are to learn, they must write.”[1] Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle John knew the power and potential of the written word. Good writing can change lives. It was true in the first century. It’s certainly true today.

Writing is an essential skill.

But much of today’s writing is essentially weak.

Writing is an essential skill, and good writing is an agent for change. Books, weblogs, newspapers, movie scripts, e-mail correspondence, song lyrics and instructional manuals are all forms of writing. The volume of written material is staggering. But so is the absence of quality. Educators are concerned, and business leaders and government agencies are as well. Their search for remedies has been costly. Consider the following:

• “More than 50 percent of [all] entering college freshmen are unable to produce papers relatively free of language errors. Analyzing arguments and synthesizing information are also beyond the scope of most first-year students.”[2]
• “Employers spend billions annually correcting writing deficiencies. Writing problems may cost American firms as much as $3.1 billion a year.”[3]
• “Despite the high value that state employers put on writing skills, a significant number of their employees do not meet expectations. These deficiencies cost taxpayers nearly a quarter of billion dollars annually.”[4]

Poor, inaccurate writing is costly. Corrective remedies are too.

A legacy in the written Word offers the church a unique chance to respond.

Employers collectively spend billions on remedial writing programs, but
everyone pays for the expense of institutional mistakes caused by inaccuracies and misinformation. If this is true in industry and government, what is the situation in our churches? Surely, effective communication of the truth
is essential. We believe God has granted us a trust, a call to share the Good News resident in the written word. “The written Word of the Lord leads us to the living Lord of the Word.”[5] Doesn’t the church have an opportunity to help address the problems of a skill-strapped culture? Complex problems like this often present unique opportunities for involvement. Does the church have a role? Is there anything we can do? We think so.

AIM mobilizes and equips thousands of short-term missionaries.

Some write. Others want to. They simply need opportunity and training.

For more than a generation, Adventures in Missions has served people in need all over the world. In the process, God has empowered us to provide ministry training to scores of young people and adults. Communicating about the organization’s programs and the work of thousands of short-term missionaries has long been an important aspect of this ministry. And now, advancements in technology allow us to share updates from the field every day. Dozens of correspondents, short-term missionaries actively serving on ministry teams, submit personal stories on a regular basis. They challenge and they encourage. They inform and they educate.

At a time when other institutions have publicly acknowledged the need for practical training in writing, we want to be intentional about the opportunity before us. We invite you to consider your support and involvement in a new ministry initiative, the Adventures in Missions writing school, The Write Corps.

On assignment, each Corps student will write as part of a ministry team.

Over the course of a year, each student will assemble a personal portfolio.

Popular NCAA television ads remind viewers that most athletes pursue professional careers in something other than athletics. The same is true for AIM’s many short-term missionaries. Some become career missionaries. Most do not. And yet, all take with them the lessons learned in mission service.

We know that people who write well are desperately needed in virtually every field of endeavor. “Two-thirds of salaried employees in large American companies have some writing responsibility. Writing is both a marker of ability and a gatekeeper of opportunity.”[6] We can train many of them. Imagine the addition of gifted writers, serving with teams of committed young missionaries, passionately sharing stories of God’s work and faithfulness, educating readers and encouraging the church. As they do, each will begin to assemble a personal portfolio of material published on AIM’s website and elsewhere.

A professional writer will mentor each Write Corps student.

A rigorous curriculum will help develop excellent writing skills.

The latest technology will permit stateside mentors to serve student writers scattered across the nation and the world. Write Corps staff will employ a detailed syllabus, a dedicated, interactive website, e-mail correspondence, and regular phone contact to train and to encourage each student no matter the location of a particular mission site.

Each one a working Christian writer or editor, members of the Write Corps staff share a desire to honor God through the writing craft and are familiar with the standards of the profession. Students will write articles and create stories, all while serving at established Adventures in Mission site locations around the world. We understand writers want to develop their craft, acquire experience, assemble a portfolio, develop relationships with other writers, and make professional contacts in the field of writing.

Through the ministry of the Write Corps, we believe you’ll experience all that and more. If those are goals you share, we invite you to contact us. Find out how you might invest a year of your life, serving the Lord, meeting the needs of others, and shaping your skills as a writer in the process.

Consider serving the Lord as a writer.

Writing is a spiritual act.

There is a relationship between serving as a missionary and working as a writer. Eugene Peterson, pastor and author of dozens of books including
The Message, has written of such a relationship. “Being a writer and being a pastor are virtually the same thing for me: an entrance into chaos, the
mess of things, and then the slow mysterious work of making something out of it, something good, something blessed—poem, prayer, conversation, sermon, a sighting of grace, a recognition of love, a shaping of virtue. The recovery by creation and re-creation of the image of God. Writing is not a literary act but spiritual. And pastoring is not managing a religious business but a spiritual quest.”[7] Join us. Become a writer with the AIM Write Corps and pursue your spiritual quest.