Hello Nina, what are you doing?
I’m sticking labels on envelopes.
What do you do next?
I put a magazine in the envelope, remove the little piece of paper and close the envelope. And I do it again and again and again.
Do you know how many brochures there are to make?
A thousand
Do you know what the magazine is called?
No, but I know it helps people learn more about Jesus.
Does it? What happens when you’ve finished?
Someone at the office takes them to the post office, then the post office sends them to each person and the people receive them and learn about Jesus.
Why do you do this?
To help Dad with his work and because I’d like to work in the office when I’m older.
And because if lots of people get to know Jesus, he’ll come back sooner.
Like Nina, we’re regularly full of enthusiasm at the idea of distributing brochures or literature around us. But are these magazines suitable for the audience we want to reach?
This week, let’s take the time to (re)discover ‘Contact’ magazine, which comes to us from the Dutch Union and whose content is particularly well suited to its target audience.
Created in 1951, it will be publishing its 74th issue in September 2024. The primary aim was to keep in touch with former students of the ESDA (now Woord van Hoop) correspondence Bible courses and to inform them of new courses available. Contact’ is divided into various sections. In addition to the editorial, there are biblical reflections, articles on health, ecology, interpersonal relationships, etc. Each term, a particular theme is tackled and presented from different editorial angles. These articles can take the form of an interview, a more systematic Bible study or even a report on an interesting excursion. This variety of sub-themes and approaches makes it a pleasant and easy read for a varied readership keen to learn more about the biblical world in relation to our society.
A calendar is also included with the magazine. It lists the weekly Sabbath School topics for the current quarter, as well as the addresses of churches in the Netherlands and Flanders. Anyone wishing to join a Bible discussion group can easily find the topic of the day and a meeting place. In the Netherlands, former students meet from time to time on special ‘Open Sabbath School’ days to exchange ideas.
The ‘Contact’ magazine currently has a print run of 2,200 copies. In Flanders, it is sent to more than 430 people, mainly old or new correspondents, but also to several of our church members.
If you would like to receive the paper version, please don’t hesitate to ask us.
A digital version is also available here.
And if, like Nina, you’d like to help send out this magazine, please don’t hesitate to offer your assistance using our contact form. Every quarter, we’re looking for label stickers for 2 to 3 hours of work. Thank you in advance for your help.