“I give thanks to the Lord and OC for inviting me to this Writers’ Workshop”

OC partnered with Langham Literature once again to host the second African Writers’ Workshop in Accra, Ghana, last month. Fourteen aspiring writers, seven of which were French speakers, came from eight countries and 11 institutions to receive the training and encouragement needed to write and publish much-needed books. The need for textbooks written from an African perspective is critical, as most textbooks used in African seminaries are written in the West and address the Western context.

Book topics included violence in Nigeria, tribalism in the Church, leadership that transforms societies, a model of cooperation and unity and Christian/Muslim relations. Two others are writing commentaries for the new Africa Bible Commentary Series.

The participants had two two-hour writing sessions a day, two training sessions and shared their writing in small groups. The training was conducted by Isobel Stevenson of Langham Literature, which addresses the lack of evangelical books available to Majority World pastors by distributing biblical commentaries and reference works in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as fosters the creation of needed texts.

One participant said, “This workshop has given me confidence in writing,” while another said, “I appreciate the follow-up plan to help us to write.” Others said the small groups were very beneficial, and another said, “I give thanks to the Lord and OC for inviting me to this Writers’ Workshop.”

In January 2009, 15 writers attended the first Writers’ Workshop in Nairobi. One will finish his manuscript this June about childhood in Africa, while another has finished his book on preaching. One other is focusing on writing for academic journals. Click here and here to read about the first workshop.

 

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