Here is a conversation I ran across about a year ago:

“Why aren’t more Christians reading and sharing articles written by members of the church?” To which another person wrote, “We will, when you write something worthwhile.”

I will admit that there are some articles on the Internet by our fellowship that are either poorly written, or are tactless in tone. Writing good stuff, in any format, is the result of hard work, numerous revisions and prayer. Good writing is no accident. I would add that it is important that the writer cares about the church, and cares about the lost. There is far too much ranting and wrath spewed by those who are supposed to be God’s children.

I can only guess at the motives of the second speaker. It is just too easy to take wild, roundhouse swipes at the church. It is harder, much harder, to be constructive, and to become better. One advantage of articles by our brethren on the Internet is that publishers of books and magazine articles cannot publish all the worthwhile material that is out there. There is a lot of really good and uplifting stuff out there that publishers will not get around to publishing.

We all try to write good stuff. Relevant articles, and most of all, true to the Bible. In a sermon feedback is instantaneous, whether positive or not. It is hard to know who, or how many read a blog. Yet there is potential for immense good to be done, if we write well, and biblically.

May I suggest some good sites you might benefit from reading, by people who love the church?

* Wes McAdams, who writes in Radically Christian. (Radicallychristian.com). McAdams deals with a variety of doctrinal and moral issues and does so with compassion and clarity.

* Mike Benson, appropriately titled KneEmail. He writes clearly and with an evident love for the church.

* Forthright, features a variety of writers, one each day (forthright.net). Articles range from evangelistic in tone to edification.

* Jennifer Gerhart, fills a niche for mainly young Christian women (Godscout.com).

* Tracy Watts also writes to a particular niche, young moms with kids (wattsupwithkids.wordpress.com). To their credit, our Christian sisters are avid readers of spiritual material.

* The Ruffled Mango provides a collection of articles designed to encourage Christian women. (Theruffledmango.com).

* Children’s Bible class teaching aids come from Kim Higginbotham: (teachinghelp.org). For small churches or individual teachers who cannot afford elaborate printed curriculum, these are good options.

* Hands On Bible Teacher by Ronda Duval, as the name suggests, designed to be a resource for Bible class teachers (handsonbibleteacher.blogspot.com).

* Debbie Jackson provides free printables for Bible classes: (biblefunforkids.com).

* My colleague at Freed Hardeman University, Kevin Moore writes a mixture of Christian evidences and doctrinal material and missions in his aptly named “Moore Perspective” (kmooreperspective.blogspot.com).

* Ben Giselbach writes Plain Simple Faith, (plainsimplefaith.com), with articles that are well written and easy to digest.

* And, if I can offer my own efforts on Higher Grounds. Please appreciate the play on words – I am a dedicated coffee drinker, and, well, there’s the spiritual nature of the articles (highergrounds.live).

Can you think of other online resources that are edifying, well written and helpful to the church? Let’s do two things: First, avail ourselves of a positive use of the Internet (sure, there is a lot of negative aspects of the format), and second, let’s encourage those who serve the church by taking the time to study and write for our edification.