Here are the steps for what the article-writing process looks like:

1 Initial brainstorm

Read through the ‘Beliefs and Values’ section on our ‘About’ page. Spend some time in prayer and see what God places on your heart to write. Then, get in touch through the submission form and let us know about your idea!

2 Meet with the Creative Editor

If the team is on board with the idea, our Creative Editor Juliette will be in touch to find a time where you can meet or video call to discuss the idea in more detail and think about what an article on that topic could look like.

During this meeting, you may come up with several main points that will form the skeleton structure of the article. It’s fine to deviate from this later if you change your mind, but it can be good to have an initial sense of how the article will be structured to help you get going!

3 Write the article

Word count: 600-700 words for a one-page article, and 1,200-1,500 words for a 2-page article (up to you which one you choose).

Please include a short bio that gives your name, age and occupation written in the third person. For example: Juliette Porter (23 years) is currently studying law and theology.

Once you’re done, send the draft through!

4 Strangers team editing process

The editorial team will meet to discuss the article, and get back to you with any feedback.

As a team, we reserve the right to make form-related edits to the article. This includes things like spelling and grammar corrections, shortening the article if needed, and re-phrasing sentences to make it more concise and give it a better sense of flow. After these edits are done, we’ll send through the revised article for you to check over to make sure that it hasn’t deviated too far from the original.

The editorial team may also come up with content-related edits that we would like you to make to the article. This might include asking you to re-think a particular idea or the way that it is expressed. We will specifically flag these with you and ask you to consider making those changes yourself. Depending on the gravity of the changes, if they are not made we may end up not publishing the article.

5 Publication 

Once you have approved our form-related edits and made any content-related changes, the article will be ready for publication!

Please note that sometimes along the way we discover other small changes that need to be made after you have approved the edits that have already been made, which we won’t be able to check with you.

Questions

Can I just send in a finished article instead of going through the whole process?

Yes you definitely can! We just can’t guarantee that we will publish it…

How old can I be?

Most of our content is from people in the 18-30 age range. However, we do also publish articles from people who are not teenagers/young adults but are focused on a topic that is relevant to young people. (For an example, see Kristen Williams’ article ‘Life, Hope and the Pale Blue Dot.’)

A testimony is essentially a story of what God has done in your life, without necessarily needing to be focused around a particular scripture passage like an article. In Strangers, we generally publish two types of testimonies:

• Salvation Journey: This kind of testimony details someone’s journey in coming to know Jesus/how they became a Christian. 

• Topical: This kind of testimony is focused around a particular topic — for example, someone’s journey with mental health, or a recent overseas mission trip. 

Process for Contributors

1 Write your testimony

You are welcome to just send through a finished testimony — we would love to read it!

However, some people have awesome stories to tell, but can feel unsure about knowing where to start with or what to include. If this is you, our Creative Editor Juliette is happy to chat with you and help come up with some ideas. Please be in touch through the submission form and we will be in contact!

2 Strangers team editing process 

The team will discuss the testimony and get back to you with any feedback. 

As a team, we reserve the right to make form-related edits to your testimony. This includes things like spelling and grammar corrections, shortening the testimony if needed, and re-phrasing sentences to make it more concise and give it a better sense of flow. After these edits are done, we’ll send through the revised testimony for you to check over to make sure that it hasn’t deviated too far from the original.

The editorial team may also come up with content-related edits that we would like you to make to the testimony. This might include asking you to re-think a particular idea or the way that it is expressed. We will specifically flag these with you and ask you to consider making those changes yourself. Depending on the gravity of the changes, if they are not made we may end up not publishing the testimony.

3 Publication

Once you have approved our form-related edits and made any content-related edits, the testimony will be ready for publication!

Please note that sometimes along the way we discover other small changes that need to be made after the author has approved the edits that have already been made, which we won’t be able to check with you.

We love publishing art that links into scriptural themes and looks pretty cool! 

We often include Bible verses with the artworks, so you can let us know if you would prefer for a particular verse to be included with yours. 

Let us know if you have an instagram page or website link you would like us to include with your work.

We mainly publish nature photography that shows the beauty of God’s creation. If you have other creative ideas (e.g. a photo essay about homeless people with some thoughts on what we are called to do about this issue as Christians), we would love to hear about them too!

Let us know if you have an instagram page or website link you would like us to include with your work.

Really, the possibilities are endless! You could interview a refugee or a family living off the benefit, present your case for the best Christian YouTube channels, compose a poem or new worship song, or even write a Christian satire column…(one of our team wanted to include a page of the best Christian memes in the first issue, but it got vetoed by everyone else…maybe one day).