When I started a blog during the long tail of Lockdown in 2020 it was already a long dead medium. I’d been encouraged to write regularly as a way of improving my writing and had tried working regularly on a few projects without managing to build a rhythm.
I stumbled across Tim Challies’ article on starting a blog and wondering if the public facing nature of it would help keep the regularity for me. I followed Tim’s advice and got started without being public about it, then going public in 2021 when I’d proved I could actually do this twice a week. That allowed me to build a public backlog so my ‘cold takes‘ are possible.
I don’t think everyone has to do this, but would encourage more Christians to write thoughtfully about things in a way that is enforced by not being ‘allowed’ to write about the thing in this week’s Twitter cycle. No one cares in two weeks anyway, and most of my readers aren’t on Twitter so they didn’t care in the first place. As an aside, since Christian Twitter is inhabited primarily by Pastors it can massively inflate the importance of certain issues and twist our thinking away from the congregation in ways that aren’t always that helpful. I’ve also made genuine friends, so I’m glad it exists. One of the best things about Twitter is when you’re sat in someone’s house you met on Twitter and you’re not on Twitter you’re just talking. The digital works when it propels us into the real.
Mostly the cold takes are good for my soul.
Blogging continues to be a dead medium. The Substack revolution has shifted this a bit in favour of newsletters; these are the ways that writers best connect with their audiences. If you regularly read my writing and you’re not on my email list, do sign up to that (scroll all the way to the bottom). The other platforms you encounter my stuff on are ephemeral and may not exist tomorrow; while email isn’t solid, it’s much more lasting as a way of connecting than the vagaries of the algorithms.
Blogging may be dead, and the times of getting a book deal based on your hits are long gone, I’ve found this to be a very helpful way of thinking out loud. That’s what I consider a blog post to be, some thoughts that I’ve sat on long enough to be sure I want to say them (you should see the stuff that doesn’t make it through the cold take filter, it does exist!) but that I might change my mind on after they’ve been tested in public. These are posts not articles, and this is a blog not a journal.
It means that I think in circles a bit. I sometimes wonder if I should post something which is a topic I’ve already touched on from a very slightly different angle. I’m learning to get over that. It does mean that increasingly everything I write sits in a body of thought, but blogs don’t work like that they’re one of snippets someone reads. I sometimes get pushback for not saying x, when I think I have said x, 6 months ago. It’s not that persons fault they haven’t read that, and it’s not reasonable for every blog post to caveat my thoughts away at great length. It’s not good writing either. Suffice to say that circle can’t be squared.
I think these distinctions are less clear than they used to be on the internet. After all, some of the stuff in the bar at the top of the site (or the menu if you’re on a phone) are articles, and you can certainly find links to what I’ve published elsewhere. I’d stand behind my published work in a stronger way. Or, you can read the journal I edit. Sometimes you encounter a blogger who calls his posts articles and equates them with something that’s actually published somewhere. I find that a little pompous. I know that the difference between one website and another is notional, but I do think it matters.
This little preamble is partly to say ‘thanks for reading my thoughts!’ and also to introduce what might be the customary summer slow down (as this is the second year I suspect that makes it a verified tradition).
Over the Summer
It’s been a long year, and my cold takes buffer is eroded more than I’m comfortable with. Through July and August, I’m going to post one new post and one old post each week. This year the old posts will be a selection of my favourite posts from previous years. The new posts will all, I think, be exploring what I’ve called ‘The Discipleship Crisis,’ as I try to think around that problem to define it, describe it, and suggest some ways to deal with it.
I think that’s the biggest challenge facing the UK church at the moment, so we’ll spend some time on it. This will be a more formal series where the posts follow on from each other. From experience these are less well read (understandably) and the summer is a terrible time to expect continuous reading, but I think this is vital for all of us to think through together.
I’d particularly welcome guest posts connecting to the issues I pick up or pushing back on my thinking.
Summer Giveaway
My blog is reader-funded. The costs are modest, but my hosting is paid for by you. Thank you. If you’d like to contribute too you can here.
I’ve got a small opportunity for a new subscriber. I blogged through Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians earlier this year with my friend Adsum Try Ravenhill, and Adsum has had those back-and-forth letters we wrote to each other printed into a little book, bundled with Polycarp’s letter and the story of his martyrdom. The next subscriber at either the £5 or above level (this will appear in your local currency) will receive a copy posted to them.
If that’s not appealing, well, you can read all the content via these links at Adsum’s Substack.
Thanks for reading
I’m always pleasantly surprised that I have a small but consistent readership, it’s particularly fun when you email me and tell me about how you’ve interacted with my writing or ask a question.
One of the first people to get in touch has become a firm friend. Others have made connections I hadn’t spotted or asked interesting questions. I’ve had a couple of people approach me in public and say they read my blog (at church events, though its still surreal). Let’s keep thinking together.
Jesus is really kind.
Photo by Ethan Robertson on Unsplash
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