Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
Hebrews 3:6.
Recently I’ve helped start a new Christian Writing Club in Fort Wayne Indiana. I already co-lead one in Bluffton Indiana. The distance between the two cities is approximately 25 miles. In the 1990s I belonged to a Christian Writing Club in Ft Wayne. It helped me so much that I’m now returning the favor. I’m including photos of people who helped me then, including Linda Wade (our leader) and Jim Watkins.
The Bluffton group has met for five years and we have a steady following of approximately 8 people per meeting. We pray for God’s blessing on the meeting, share writing news, then allow people to read for five minutes and we gently critique for 10 minutes. Several members have self-published books and others are writing for magazines and other publications. Rhonda Maller is my co-founder.
Fort Wayne is a much larger city and so I probably should not have been surprised when 27 people showed up for our first monthly meeting in August! A local small business admin’s well-written press releases had advertised the group in all local newspapers. Thanks, Scot and Mary!
We meet the 4th Tuesday night of each month at Waynedale Public Library, 2200 Lower Huntington Road. We meet at 6:00 p.m.
At the first meeting we shared names, types of writing we completed and what we hoped to find in the group. My friend Laura Burger thankfully took notes of everyone’s comments. That helped tremendously to serve as a reminder of ways we can pray for everyone.
With 30 minutes left we broke into groups of 5 to get to know each other and encourage each other to write with God’s blessing. We might not always write about God, but we need to pray for His presence in what we do write.
The next month we will meet as one group to begin and share news, then split into smaller groups for critiquing.
This devo is to hold myself accountable to these groups. I don’t really see myself as a leader but with 22 years of writing experience I would like to share my knowledge of writing with those who may be beginning and have a desire to learn but no one to teach them.
I’m not a world famous writer. Not everyone who attended the first meeting will return because I suspect they’ll be disappointed that we’re not handing out advice that will guarantee publication.
But for those who will work at their writing and are willing to persevere, I can say there will be rewards. It may be completing an effective paragraph for a story. It may be finding a good angle for a story. Other people can lend fresh eyes and ears to a piece that could prove to be invaluable.
There is no cost to attend either meeting. We’re friendly groups that seek to put Christ first in our lives and our writings.
If you’re interested in knowing more about either of these groups, please let me know. We’ll offer you a seat and say Welcome!
If you’re already in a Christian writing club, what benefits have you found? If you’re looking for a critique group, what steps are you taking to organize one?
Writing of Kayleen Reusser 
I am very much interested in joining this Tuesday if at all possible. Thank you.