How do I submit a query?
What is Leadership looking for?
Shopping List of Articles We'd Like to See
Writer's Guidelines
Who reads Leadership?
What is Leadership's personality?
How do I write a "how to" article?
Does Leadership prefer a certain style of writing?

Leadership is written by our readers, so we welcome your ideas. Although articles are most often requested from writers, we do publish unsolicited manuscripts with regularity either in the journal or online. However, to save both contributors and editors time, we discourage writers from sending full manuscripts. Instead, please send a brief query letter describing your idea and how you plan to develop it. We will respond as quickly as possible—almost always within two weeks. (Any manuscripts received without having first submitted a query will take longer.)

We plan issues six months in advance of publication. Please keep this in mind when sending your query. If your query is accepted we will give you additional guidelines and suggestions as you write the full article.

Send your query to:
LJeditor@LeadershipJournal.net

Please include the query as part of the body of your email and not as a separate attachment. We do not open attachments. Be sure to include your full name, address, and phone number, plus your church name, address and phone number, and your position.

Each article describes real experiences, painting vivid scenes that those in ministry can identify with. Readers can see what went wrong and what went right—valuable lessons they won't have to learn the hard way. Writers must show they understand the complexities, joys, and pain of local-church ministry. Then they can offer right-to-the-point counsel on the practical issues: the conflicts, temptations, mistakes, and successes.

A fuller explanation of writing a "Leadership article" follows this list of article-starters. Be sure to scroll down and read the Writer's Guidelines.

1. Theme articles. Half of each issue focuses on a single theme. Queries we receive that align with an upcoming theme will be given priority. Please indicate in your email if your idea aligns with an upcoming Leadership theme. Upcoming themes include:
   
   • Team Leadership
     
   • Missional Budgeting
     
   • Building Community
     
   
   
2. Non-theme articles. Each issue has several non-theme articles of general interest. We look for articles on leading volunteers and staff, developing disciples, the pastor's personal life, solutions to church problems and problem people, and true stories from personal experience.



3. Currents pieces. This section outlines trends in ministry and ideas for ministering in the local church setting. We especially welcome "Ideas that Work," short accounts telling how a new idea worked in your church, and news items that highlight the intersection of ministry and culture.



4. Toolkit articles and reviews. Leadership has always been known for offering pastors practical help in their work. The Toolkit section is a collection of short articles offering pragmatic ideas and resources in different ministry areas. This is the "How To" section of the journal. Toolkit pages include:
   
   • Preaching
     
   • Worship
     
   • Spiritual Formation
     
   • Outreach
     
   • Pastoral Care
     
   • Office
     
   
   
5. Blog posts. Writing for Leadership's blog, Out of Ur, is a great way to introduce new ideas and interact with other church leaders. Posts on Out of Ur focus on current events and cultural trends that relate to church ministry. A good blog post has three elements: it's timely, it's provocative, and it sparks conversation. Lurking on Out of Ur may be the best way to understand the culture of the blog before submitting a query.

Half of each issue is devoted to a particular theme. Our upcoming themes include:

• Team Pastoral Leadership
• Missional Budgeting
• Building Community

To spark your creativity, here are some ideas, but don't limit your thinking to these suggestions. Your experience and interests provide the best material for your article.

• Docudrama: the story you wouldn't believe if it hadn't happened to you. What happened? Tell it drama-style, and let the scenes tell us what you learned along the way.



• Homelife: Stories from the fishbowl. Tell the ministry episode that affected your family life and how you grew from it. Or, perhaps how your family life is affecting your ministry.



• Turning Point: A moment that changed my ministry. There was a moment when a relationship changed, an antagonist became a friend, the church grasped your vision, the momentum shifted. What was it? What did you do to bring it about? What have you learned from it?
  
  
• Learning to Lead: What I've learned about leadership recently. Did your latest plan work well or did it bomb? Is the vision you cast three years ago finally coming about? Tell us the transferable principles from your leadership experience that other pastors can use.



• Managing conflict. A church member blew up at you. She said she's just being honest. You said she's rude and out of control. Suddenly, everybody was taking sides. So what did you do?



• Team building: Training leaders and future leaders. How are you training deacons or team members or new staff members? What are you teaching them and in what setting. Tell how you're enabling others to use their spiritual gifts.



• The Pastor's Heart. Give us fresh insight into your ministry, something new you've discovered about preaching or pastoral care. What happened in a member's long illness or the crisis involving the youth department that made you love the calling even more?

Who reads Leadership? Who doesn't?!

Although a select group, Leadership readers represent a broad spectrum of denominations, degree of education, background, experience, and expertise. Pastors, church staff members, and lay leaders read Leadership.

Pastors, church staff members, and lay leaders read Leadership. They represent a broad spectrum of denominations, degree of education, background, experience, and expertise. Articles should be inclusive rather than targeted at a narrow audience.

Every article in Leadership must speak to the challenges that church leaders face. Leadership articles are not essays expounding a topic, editorials arguing a position, or homilies explaining biblical principles. Instead they bridge the gap between ministry theory and practice, and they assist leaders with the problems encountered in local church ministry. Many Leadership articles allow our readers to see "over the shoulder" of a colleague in ministry who then reflects on those experiences and identifies the lessons learned.

Leadership is also a forum where new ministry ideas and trends can be explored; a place of ongoing ministry education where church leaders can discover new perspectives. But even articles with a more theoretical leaning should answer the "so what?" question. What are the implications of the idea for the pastor in his or her local congregation?

Our readers expect our articles to be fresh and candid, to reflect the honesty of the writer—describing struggles as well as triumphs. We find this allows our pastor/readers to identify more readily with the situation and gives the writer more credibility. Leadership's style is that of friendly conversation rather than directive discourse—"what I learned" rather than "what you need to do."

Since Leadership articles help church leaders with pressing problems, they often take a how-to format. Here's how to structure the article in that format:

1. Select one problem that you and many church leaders have—and you've made progress in dealing with. You'll know you've gotten a topic defined when you can express it as "How to … " For example, "How to help a congregation want to reach out" or "How to preach about hell to postmodern people" or "How to restore your soul on Monday morning."



2. Identify 2-7 principles, practices, and/or understandings that have helped you in addressing this problem.



3. For each principle, tell a story, from your experience or someone else's, that shows the principle at work.

Yes. Content makes an article worthwhile; style makes it readable. Unlike some journals that don't make the effort to develop compelling and lucid writing, we believe Leadership's impact is enhanced through fine and fascinating writing. We want to produce such a well-written, practical journal that the reader will always approach Leadership with a sense of anticipation.

Have you read The Elements of Style by Strunk and White? We recommend this widely read little paperback as a guide for style.

—Use action verbs. Forms of the verb "to be"—is, was, were, etc., make for dead writing. In every possible case, pick forceful verbs.

—Use anecdotes. Each point in a Leadership article needs a carefully chosen illustration, colorfully written. By basing principles in specific experiences, we show how to minister effectively amid the complexity and ambiguity of real life.

—Use short sentences whenever possible. Variety of length, of course, contributes to good style, but writers err more often with too many long sentences than short ones.

—Use long words only when necessary. Some critics claim scholars and professionals purposely write to obfuscate meaning, to cover fuzzy thinking, or to sound intellectual. Of this Leadership writers will never be guilty!

—Assume your reader bores easily. Remember, if he flips the page from lack of interest, you've lost! Keep asking yourself, "What grabs my attention? An illustration? A fresh insight? A well-turned phrase?" Keep the reader with you by introducing a constant stream of interesting material.

After writing your manuscript, go through it and see how many action verbs you have. Mark each noun you can taste, hear, see, smell, or feel. You can see hubcaps, handkerchiefs, coffee mugs, and lightning bugs. Good writers fill their prose with objects you literally see in your mind's eye. Be as specific as possible. For instance, "Toyota" is better than "car" for conjuring up an image.

We don't want to put a straitjacket on anyone; styles do differ. We are not looking for a formula type of writing in Leadership. But we are looking for a readable, commanding, and fluent style.

After your query has been accepted, write the article. We welcome electronic submissions. When sending your manuscript electronically, you should include it as part of the body of your email and not as a separate attachment. Be sure to include full name, address, and phone number, plus church name, address and phone number, and your position.

If you submit a manuscript by mail, we prefer to read typed, double-spaced material submitted on 8 1/2 X 11 inch paper (one side only). The full name, address, and phone number of the author should appear on the first page of the manuscript with the last name appearing near the number on each succeeding page. If we decide to publish your material, we will contact you for a copy of your article on disk.

Thanks for your interest in writing for Leadership. Send us a query, and let's get started.

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