Yesterday, I wrote how you could get started in blogging for 2021. You can read that post here. But it strikes me it is worth asking an even more fundamental question. Why start a blog at all? It’s all very well knowing how to do it, but why should you bother? In no particular order, here are a few reasons why you might consider it.
To glorify God
Ultimately, this has to be our goal in anything we do. Blogging is not the only, or even the main, way we might glorify God. But it certainly is a way we might glorify him. So, if you are toying with starting a blog, ask how you might glorify him through your writing. But write about what you consider to be true, write about what interests you and write about what might bless others in some way doing it all to the glory of God.
To effect change
A good reason to write is to effect change. Primarily (at least, this is what I find) writing effects change in me. I find writing helps me get my thoughts in order on a topic. Sometimes, though I think I’ve got them in order, the subsequent comments I receive help me think through things further. Writing is a good way to help you think things through and to effect change in yourself.
But, of course, it is also a good way to seek to effect change in areas that we find important. There may be things that we think need addressing in the church or wider culture. There may be arguments and ideas that just aren’t out there yet that we feel people should engage. Writing a blog is a great way to get those ideas out there and to invite the kind of interaction that might lead to some change.
Because you have something to say
Most people have something to say for themselves. Many of us don’t think we do, but if you get us on the right topic, away we go. Writing a blog is a great way to say those things. What interests and animates us, we might find, just happens to interest and animate others too. Certainly, if we don’t say it, we’ll never know! But, not only that, as we begin to write those things, and as we find others are interested in it too (though don’t confuse interest with agreement – they’re not the same thing!) we may find that we also start to build up some helpful connections with people.
To raise awareness
If there is a something that you think matters – and not nearly enough other people seem to know or care about it – blogging is a great way to raise awareness about it. I love Oldham, I love its people and I love the town. Not nearly enough people seem to know about it or care like they should about it (in my humble opinion). So, I started to blog about it and what our little church is like; the things we do and the things that we can’t do, the thigs that we need and the things that we really don’t need. As I did that, a few more folk began to hear and learn about Oldham who never knew about it before. Blogging is a great way to raise awareness about things you care about – and we all care about something! If the Lord Jesus is involved, we not only care about him but want to tell others about him too. Blogging is a good way to do that.
Because you want to write
At the end of the day, we keep doing the things we love. We don’t keep doing stuff, that we don’t have to do, over and over again if we hate doing it and don’t see the point of it. That may, of course, be your view of blogging (fair enough!) But if you love writing, blogging is a great outlet for it, whatever it is you happen to enjoy. Some use it to publish poetry, others use it to inform, others still use it to say funny stuff they thought about. But if you like writing and you think what you write might have some value for other people, even if it’s just one or two folk, then blogging is a good means of doing what you enjoy, honing your skills and serving others at the same time.
So, there are a few reasons you might want to think about blogging in 2021.