Reach into a bag of fortune cookies, pop one into your mouth and chew it up real good, and spit into a little bowl for everyone to eat.
That’s basically what a devotional is.
I just don’t get it.
It’s time to retire this Christian genre.
There is one exception I will get to, but first:
I worked at a Christian bookstore for a while and I never understood why I would ever buy Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost for His Highest.”
Structure: Half a Bible verse + Mini Sermon
I don’t understand how this sold millions of copies.
Maybe because everyone had a hard-to-understand KJV back then.
I don’t know.
Or the whole Sarah Young’s “Jesus Calling” devotional that somehow ended up in our house. Borderline blasphemous speaking as Jesus.
Also, millions sold.
What am I missing?
The Bible can now be read in easy-to-understand translations like the NLT. Even brand-new Christains can pop it open and start wrestling with the scriptures.
I can’t ever imagine needing to hand another Christian a devotional.
My advice to you as a Christian writer.
Don’t offer green-pea baby food Bible-thoughts to your subscribers.
Think of your subscribers as people you are discipling minimalistically.
Minimal Viable Disciples
Don’t hand them a slice of Neapolitan pizza, help them believe they can make it themselves, right?
Then they buy your book which has all of the step-by-step.
Okay, I mentioned an excption. Here it is:
C.S. Lewis’ “Screwtape Letters”
Lewis created a kind of devotional satire written in the voice of Screwtape, a senior demon, to his understudy Wormwood about how to corrupt this guy.
Because Lewis veils his convictions behind a fictional satire, his convictions are never spoonfed like a typical devotional.
The effect is that you find yourself amused, but then you realize it’s a challenge to your faith in particular.
Much like Jesus’ parables.
Should you do this for your emails?
I would rather enjoy a satire of that level in a book, but emails would be great testing grounds for such a bold approach.
I just wouldn’t treat your emails as devotionals.
And you likely already have a book or an idea for a book anyways, so you need a freebie to grow your email list.
One way I can help you is by creating a 5-day educational email course for your book. The course would aim at turning your subscribers in to an MVD, who will naturally want to go deeper by buying your book.
Here are the details of my offer:
https://blairjohnlee.substack.com/p/done-for-you-email-course
Blair