Relief A Quarterly Christian Expression
Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression is a print on demand (POD) literary journal publishing poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Relief is run and distributed through ccPublishing, a nonprofit independent small press not affiliated with the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) or the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). Relief strives to bridge the gap between conservative Christian writing and secular writing. As such, Relief is not "safe for the whole family," but encourages writers to write AbOUT the realities of living a faith-based life in today’s world.
Kimberly Culbertson describes the growing problem in Christian writing in an editorial statement:
The Christian writing rulebook often doesn’t have much room for imperfect characters though. For example,Heather, Relief’s Assistant Editor, posted her poem "Stricter Judgment" for critique on a popular writing site for Christians. The poem, which we’ve included in this issue of Relief, deals with a waitress who serves a group of Christians, receives a tract for a tip, and then swears under her breath. Having waitressed for many years, I can testify to the authenticity of this moment, even to the general dislike of Christians among waiters because of this type of behavior. As per the rules of the site, she bleeped out the forbidden word. It took some time before people figured out what had been omitted, but as soon as they did, the conversation was centered completely on that one word. One person even wrote something like, “That foul-mouthed waitress probably needed the tract more than the tip.” It worked to her benefit that the information superhighway separated us. There was little discussion about the Christian characters who were oblivious to her needs or the biblical reference and layer of meaning in the name of the poem; the readers missed the point. This incident seems indicative of a larger problem with Christian writing—we worry about words, and we forget about people. Christ said that we should know his followers by our love for each other, not by our perfect behavior. So if you need to, brace yourself, because Relief deals with work that does not sugar-coat or windex reality. Instead we seek to publish and honor writers who are able to authentically express the realities of both life and Christ with exceptional craft.
Submissions
Relief currently accepts submissions year-round through their online submission system only. Writers do not have to be Christian to submit. For complete submission guidelines and formatting instructions, please visit their website.
Notes
1Culbertson, Kimberly. "From the Editor's Desk." Relief: A Quarterly Christian Expression. 1.1 (Fall 2006):8