LittWorld Boosts Creation of Culturally Relevant Books and Articles | Lausanne World Pulse Archives

“The strength of the national Church is in direct proportion to the strength of its body of local Christian literature,” said author Tim Stafford. The Church in Africa has expanded exponentially in the past century. However, its publication of quality, contextual Christian books and periodicals has not kept pace. Relevant African literature is needed to help the Church communicate Christ’s faithfulness and unyielding love to nations wrought with discord.

“Have you ever felt like you were walking along in a desert, wishing for water to quench your thirst, and suddenly you walk into an oasis?” said publisher Jusu-wai Sawi of Sierra Leone. “Having just come into Christian publishing, I have often had this desert experience—times when I don’t know what to do or where to turn. I went to LittWorld 2006 with many questions. But, thank God, at every stage of the conference I got my answers. I found it a really helpful meeting with people from all over the world and sharing experiences.”

Held every three years, LittWorld aims to strengthen networks of Christians who are publishing where training is scarce.

So that other African publishers can experience this “oasis” of training and encouragement, Media Associates International (MAI) is holding its next LittWorld conference in Nairobi, Kenya. From 1-6 November 2009, this unique international publishing conference will gather some two hundred Christians from 30-plus countries, within and beyond Africa for intensive training and networking.

In many countries around the globe, less than ten percent of Christian books are authored by local people. Held every three years, LittWorld aims to boost that number by equipping and strengthening networks of Christians who are publishing where training is scarce. MAI encourages them to persevere in producing the good news in their heart language and culture. Since the first LittWorld in 1986, publishers, editors, writers, and designers from ninety-four countries have participated. Past LittWorld locations include Brazil, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Potential for Africa
Few institutions in Africa offer courses specifically tailored to publishing, and offshore training opportunities are too expensive for the average Christian publisher. With God’s help, LittWorld will result in more and better African-authored books and articles that nurture the Church and advance the gospel.

“Publishers and writers in Africa were among the first to receive MAI training when the organization was founded twenty-four year ago, and the continent has remained a priority ever since,” said MAI board chair Mark Carpenter of Brazil.

Since 1985, MAI has equipped local Christians in fifty-seven countries on five continents. MAI trains and nurtures talented men and women with a passion for producing Christian literature for their own people. As a result, budding writers have developed, publishing houses have grown, periodicals have launched, and books and magazines have been produced that speak to the hearts of readers in their own languages.

MAI’s focus on leadership development for African Christian publishing and its first LittWorld conference on the continent will increase its involvement there. Given Tim Stafford’s earlier statement, the Church in Africa has some “body-building” to do. The African Church increases annually by an estimated 2.4 percent, faster than anywhere else in the world. However, many African believers lack Christian literature written by Africans. As the number of new Christians expands in the region, so does the need for contextual Christian literature that can nurture the growing Church and equip it to reach society with relevant messages of peace, hope, and truth.

The African continent holds great promise, potential, and opportunities. And yet, people in many African nations are plagued by poverty, violence, and political unrest. Roughly one-third of African countries are entangled in civil wars or trapped in cycles of civil unrest. A staggering sixty percent of worldwide AIDS victims are African.

Africa’s literacy rates continue to register well below the worldwide average of eighty percent. Of the twenty-one countries worldwide with more than fifty percent illiteracy rates, thirteen are located in sub-Saharan Africa. Gender is a major factor, since African women typically have less access to primary and secondary education than men.

Mission Associates International trains and nurtures men and women with a passion for producing Christian literature for their own people.

On the positive side, Africa’s economy is developing, giving some countries a viable chance to break the cycle of poverty—provided that political and religious figures lead wisely.

The many changes and challenges in the African Church and society point to the need for increasingly equipped and visionary leaders for Christian publishing. MAI is intensifying programs of leadership development for African publishers and authors, and collaborating with other Christian-related publishing agencies involved in the region.

“I am delighted that LittWorld 2009 will take place in Africa a year before the Lausanne conference in Cape Town,” said International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) general secretary Daniel Bourdanne, a former publisher in Cote d’Ivoire. “LittWorld is a major event and holding it in Africa will be a real blessing for the continent. Christian publishing must remain among the priorities for Africa.”

“One in Word” The LittWorld 2009 conference is bilingual, English/French. Along with seminars and one-on-one consultations, it offers dozens of small-group workshops grouped in tracks: publishing leadership, finance, editorial, marketing and sales, writing, graphic design, and training. Workshop leaders and speakers will represent the world’s top Christians involved in publishing.