Moving Cultural Mountains, One Word at a Time

As Christian writers, we often hear the question “Why do you write? What behind the desire to sit in a room and pound out words?” Besides the somewhat vague answer of “feeling led to write” or “being inspired,” burned deeply in the heart of most Christian writers is a desire built on the following two verses.

Habakkuk 2.2 says “Take the vision and write it down, so he that reads it will run.” Proverbs 29.18 completes the idea: “Without a vision, the people perish,” or “cast off restraint.”

If anything is true about today's post-modern culture, casting off restraint has become an American hallmark. Post-modern American doesn't lack for a vision. We spend our days chasing goals cast by our multimedia society. Still, the vision increasingly lacks a consistently Christian worldview.

A generation ago, the most influential cultural force in American culture was the family, and Christian church. From homes and churches, parents influenced their children, affected positive expectations of schools and ran businesses by Christian principles. However, over the past half century, a new vision has become dominant. Sown in the 60's and 70's, a secularized vision of life and culture has now come to harvest. According to most polls, the majority of American's pursue a world apart from God, and a new vision revolves around "me and my desires." A new culture has been created and the media machine churns out words and images into the marketplace, influencing our minds with a secularized, me-centered culture.

Onto this stage steps the Christian writer, in many ways laboring against the cultural tide. A writer labors to plant a new idea into the culture's collective mind. Individually writers lack the resources and platform to significantly affect secular culture. Consequently, writers can easily become discouraged. We settle for floating haplessly in eddy pools near the shoreline rather than swimming in cultural mainstreams, intent and equipped to cast a new, or renewed, vision of Christian life. For this reason, the Word Weavers West Michigan (WWWM) was formed. Together each member contributes to their own success and the success of the other members. Like a woven cord, together we are stronger and can create a lasting impression on the secular world than we can individually.

Formed in 2009, WWWM meets bi-monthly in multiple locations across Grand Rapids. The group provides encouragement, education, inspiration and accountability for established and aspiring writers. In just over 30 months, the group has grown from two or three to 40 plus active members. Some members have been published locally and nationally, while others are working hard writing blogs and devotionals. 

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matt 17:20). For this reason, the Christian writer crafts words. Stepping into an unknown, a Christian writer believes that his or her words will have an impact on the secularized culture. As a Christian, we believe that Jesus crafts a better vision for life than a secular, me-first paradigm. As a writer, we believe we can move this postmodern, post-Christian mountain and begin to replace it once again with Christ's vision for the world. As Christian writers working side by side, we work to move the mountain, one word at a time.

For more information about the WWWM, visit our Meetup page. The group meets in five locations throughout the greater Grand Rapids area, and we warmly welcome new members to any meeting.