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Involvement
Grace Writers meets every Monday night from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Grace. The first hour, the team meets together in room 127 to discuss and brainstorm upcoming writing projects. The second hour, the team meets separately with the rest of the art teams in the auditorium for community and study. These meetings are a great place to get started and learn more about writing at Grace. Anyone with a passion for writing and a desire to serve is welcome to attend. For more information on Grace Writers, contact Craig at the church office 891-2006 or 684-0033
Vision
The use of writing at Grace (sketches, plays, bulletin articles, website articles, newspaper articles, short stories, etc.) is our opportunity to offer a portion of the abilities God has given us back to Him as an artistic offering that can be used for His purpose. Writing is used in worship services and outreach events with the same primary goal — to enhance the communication of the truths of the gospel.
Worship Services
In worship services, writing (drama, stories, poems, etc.) is used to help illustrate the theme of the service and lead the congregation to worship Christ. We strive to produce excellent, purposeful literature that will point someone to Christ. If the art produced only draws attention to itself, it failed. If the art leads someone to worship Christ, it was excellent art. For example, our goal with drama is to create an illustration that is believable and meaningful and to do this in no more than five minutes. We believe that when sketches are much longer than this they become the focus of the service instead of one of the elements that lead us to worship.
Another way we use writing to help lead the body to worship is through the publishing of Grace & Truth, our monthly newsletter. Through this newsletter, we write articles to communicate church beliefs, what’s going on in the church body, and what’s happening in the community. Grace & Truth is a great vehicle for keeping the vision in front of the people and can ultimately contribute to the atmosphere of corporate worship.
Writing assignments for worship services and for the newsletter are usually given at the Writers Meeting and at least a month in advance. Much editing takes place before the final product is presented to the body. The purpose in planning and editing is to strive for excellence in all that we do so that the body may be impacted. However, we realize that true impact comes from the Holy Spirit so we try to be sensitive to His leading in all that we do.
Outreach Events
Writing is used in outreach events to enhance a theme designed to lead someone to seek Christ. The purpose here is to produce excellent, purposeful literature that may be used by the Holy Spirit to stir someone to consider Christ. Outreach events are a better opportunity to take bigger risks when writing because the main idea is to lead someone to seek. It is easier in events to be more creative and current because distraction of worship is not usually an issue. Depending on the nature of the event, brainstorming and writing begins about 12 to 15 weeks in advance. Literature produced is then edited and passed on to the appropriate team.
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