The Briefing, to go

Back in the mists of time, before mobile phones, before the internet, even before Michael Jackson's Thriller, there were ‘The SOCM Papers’. SOCM, which stood for ‘School of Christian Ministry’, was a leadership training programme that ran for two hours on a Tuesday evening at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Every week, the students would work through a discussion paper—a SOCM paper—that Phillip Jensen had dictated on Monday afternoon and that I had turned into half-decent prose by Tuesday lunchtime. A SOCM paper was a little essay about anything: music or marriage, prayer or predestination, religion or resurrection. It was always biblical, it was usually provocative and it was often a bit rambly. It wasn't designed to answer every question on a topic, but to lay down some biblical planks and then see what could be built on them. The SOCM papers expressed strong opinions—but as a means to stimulate conversation and debate, not to close it down. They were discussion papers. And they were the birthplace of The Briefing. The SOCM papers were not only where I learned that I could edit, but where we wrote what turned out to be first drafts of many of the articles that appeared in the first few years of The Briefing. They also set the tone and direction for what we were trying to do in The Briefing—to provide clear, strong, shortish biblical essays that would form the basis for evangelical discussion and growth. As our long-term readers know very well, The Briefing has never been afraid of the blatant expression of opinion! But like the SOCM papers, the goal has always been to provoke discussion and conversation among Christians, not to close it down. My mental picture of a successful Briefing issue has a husband and wife sitting up in bed, having a lively and helpful discussion about an article they've just read—what they found helpful, what new thoughts it prompted and what bits they disagreed with. Or it might be a couple of students over coffee, or a small home group, or a pastor talking with some ministry trainees. Our constant hope and prayer is that The Briefing will be a resource for ministry—for learning and discussion and growth in knowledge and godliness. And we know from your feedback that God has answered this prayer in many places. However, one of the problems with a monthly publication is that once it's been and gone, well ... it's gone. A periodical has limitations as a discussion paper because back issues run out, old copies get lost in cupboards and really top notch material gets buried in the past. What's more, say you want to discuss a topic with more than just one or two people—with your youth group, student fellowship or whole church: then the mechanics of copying and distribution become a hassle. It occurred to us recently that we could solve these problems and provide an incredibly useful ministry resource if we gathered the very best Briefing articles from the past into cheap, convenient packages for discussion. We've called them ‘Matthias MiniZines’, and that's what they are—full colour miniature magazines, smaller than The Briefing in dimensions, just 16 pages long, with three articles on a particular topic, plus a discussion guide. And because of the format and the size of the print run, they're also very cheap: prices start from just AUS $1.50 each for bulk orders (see our ad on page 35 for full pricing details). The first two MiniZines are due back from the printers in mid-August. One is on Purity in the Age of Porn (with articles from the very popular Briefing on this topic earlier this year) and the other is on Help for a Sick Prayer Life (with articles from various past issues on this perennially important topic). Our hope is that these new MiniZines will prove to be really useful resources for ministry. But we'd love to know what you think of them: how could we improve the format, and what topics would you like us to cover? Grab some copies, tell us what you think and start the conversation.