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Our magazine is dying,” wrote the Romanian editor of a Christian magazine which has been published on and off for the last 10 years. “The situation in Romania is quite bleak and maybe the most disappointing business you can do is produce a Christian magazine,” he concluded.

His purpose in writing was not only to mourn the approaching demise of his magazine, but to complain that the magazine directory on our Web site listed 30 Christian magazines in Romania, which could cause the “naive people of the West . . . to believe in Romanian democracy and the ‘wonderful and dynamic’ Christian magazine market.” He was convinced that because of the difficulty of Christian publishing in Romania most of these magazines must be long dead.

In fact, we list only magazines on our directory about which we have current information. Another 15 Romanian Christian magazines listed on our database as active have not been added to the directory because they have not written recently to update information for the Web site. We have no reason, however, to believe any of them have folded.

“You cannot imagine the chaos and poverty of Romania now,” the editor stated in a letter the following week. “The worst thing you can do is to produce and sell a Christian magazine.” Presented with an opportunity to attend a business course developed for Christian magazines in Eastern Europe, he flatly replied that business plans don’t work in Romania.

The magazine had generous outside funding at the beginning, and further infusions of cash at critical junctures had brought it back to life each time it died. But eventually the Western donors expected the magazine to survive on its own. Unfortunately, survival without Western cash had never seemed an option to this editor.

Outside funding is important to Christian magazine publishers in many countries. It is especially critical in the launch phase. Even secular periodicals in the West can’t be launched without major investment of outside funding for the first few years.

However, any magazine, Christian or secular, which doesn’t make plans to survive on its own at some point down the road publishes its own death certificate.

Christian publishing in Eastern Europe and much of the non-Western world can be a discouraging business. The market is comparatively small. After all, how many Bulgarian-speaking Christians are there in the world?

People are relatively poor. The purchase of a magazine will take a much bigger bite out of the family budget in Romania or Rwanda than it will in Austria or America. And, in some countries, people are not used to paying for Christian literature. If it’s Christian, it should be free, goes the reasoning. The generosity of some Western publishers in providing free literature has contributed to the perception that Christian materials are always free. However, people will pay for what is important to them. And if a magazine is meeting a need, they will buy it.

Of the nearly 350 new Christian magazines in East-Central Europe with which we have had contact in the last decade, at least 80 percent are still functioning. This is a higher survival rate than that of new secular magazines in the West. Despite the protestations of the Romanian editor, Christian publishing in Romania is dynamic. It hasn’t been easy. Hardly any magazines had adequate startup funding. Some magazines have had to miss an issue now and then, or even take a year’s hiatus to regroup and continue.

Most rely heavily on volunteer staff. Cash flow is always a problem; equipment is not just aging; it was old when it was acquired. However, the vision for publishing is strong. There is an active desire to learn and grow professionally. Publishing training conferences in Romania always bring a strong turnout.

However, much more outside funding is needed to give magazines in Romania and other poor countries a real chance to succeed. Without adequate startup funding, publishing efforts are tentative and weak, reaching full potential only with difficulty, if at all.

I would like to see hundreds of thousands of dollars channeled to Christian publishing in poor countries. However, if both donor and recipient don’t aim for eventual self-sufficiency, the money will be wasted. Donors must supply not only funds but practical consulting help. Editors and publishers must be willing to produce a periodical that meets needs and that people will want to buy. Both groups must be clear from the beginning that the goal is eventual self-sufficiency.

Some magazines will fold along the way. Donors and publishers need to be prepared to face the closing down of well-produced magazines that seemed to have worthy goals. Even in the more prosperous West, good magazines don’t always make it. There is a time to unplug the life-support and let the patient die.

Other magazines will bloom under the infusion of funds and consulting help. For the first time, it will be possible to hire key staff, buy necessary equipment, do research, and put in place effective marketing and business plans. But always, the goal must be eventual financial independence.

Christian magazine publishing is not easy in any country. The woeful Romanian editor quoted at the beginning could find soulmates among magazine editors in the United States. The good news is that vision for Christian magazine publishing remains strong not only in Romania, but around the world. Visionary Christians are prepared to make significant sacrifices to produce magazines to teach Christians and reach non-Christians.

But for Christian magazine publishing to reach its potential in any country, more is needed. The finances and expert help of outsiders joined with the vision and determination of a local publisher-and a commitment on both sides to eventual financial independence-could be the combination to unlock the potential of Christian magazine publishing around the world.

May 24, 2002