{"id":18094,"date":"2025-04-14T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/?p=18094"},"modified":"2025-07-23T16:15:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T21:15:44","slug":"fifty-years-in-christian-publishing-owen-salter-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/fr\/fifty-years-in-christian-publishing-owen-salter-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifty years in Christian publishing: Owen Salter, Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s been almost 50 years in Christian publishing for Australian editor and former MAI-Asie<\/a> Board member Owen Salter. He shares highlights from his journey and how books have impacted his life.<\/em><\/p>\n

The story I\u2019ve thought about since 1983<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 1983, I had the privilege of going to Amsterdam \u201983, the first Billy Graham conference for itinerant evangelists from all over the world, as part of the press pool.<\/p>\n

A young Australian evangelist was there who shared a story with me about his African roommate. Every morning, when his alarm went off, this man would grab hold of his blanket and roll straight out of bed onto his knees to pray.<\/p>\n

That story has motivated me since 1983! That African guy never even knew that he was observed, or that this observation impacted someone, who passed it on to someone else. And I\u2019ve passed it on to other people.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the terrific things about serving God. There\u2019s a chain reaction that sets off ripples in the pond, and we can rely on God to do that. Occasionally, when it\u2019s good for us, He lets us see some of the ripples.<\/p>\n

Beginnings: editing a start-up Christian magazine<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I got involved with a fledgling Christian magazine in 1977, fresh out of university. \u201cPeriodically inspired,\u201d we called it; it only came out when there was enough money, and we were making the whole thing up as we went along.<\/p>\n

It was called On Being<\/em> and sought to ground the activist Jesus Movement of the time in solid theology\u2014that is, our actions come from our being, rather than the other way around. It was the first of its kind. The idea of an interdenominational Christian magazine was quite radical in Australia at the time, and people came to really respect it in that space.<\/p>\n

Eventually, On Being<\/em> grew in professionalism and went to being published bi-monthly, then monthly. I was editor for 14 years. That\u2019s where I learned the foundations of everything I know about editing.<\/p>\n

It was all done on a shoestring budget, almost a backyard kind of operation\u2014the sort of thing a lot of places around the world have to do to keep going. It wasn\u2019t something handed on a plate. But as long as God gives you something to do, you keep doing it.<\/p>\n

Just the right books at just the right time<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The big life impact books are not necessarily the well-known ones. They\u2019re the ones that come along at the right time for you and that God uses for you.<\/p>\n

Many of the books I\u2019ve worked on as an editor have circulated primarily in Australia as home-grown Christian literature. One by a Bible teacher named David Boan, The Framework<\/em>, was a masterly overview of how the total story of the Bible fits together and how Christian life works. It\u2019s out of print now, but it was absolutely life-forming for me.<\/p>\n

Why Warriors Lie Down and Die?<\/em> was about the devastation of Australia\u2019s Aboriginal cultures in the face of the dominance of western culture. It was a very influential book and widely read. That was a very satisfying book to work on.<\/p>\n

In 1984, I read a book called Companion to the Poor<\/em>, written by a New Zealander named Viv Grigg who was pioneering a new way of doing mission in the Philippines\u2014living in a Manila slum. That book impacted me enormously, and put in my heart a desire to serve people in the majority world. Thirty years after reading it, my wife and I spent 2.5 years volunteering with a Christian group in Cambodia working to prevent child trafficking.<\/p>\n

It was also part of what led me to MAI\u2014the long influence of that book shaped our attitudes to be lovers of Jesus, lovers of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will not tell us anything, we will ask you questions.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 1991, around the end of my time as editor of On Being<\/em>, I was introduced to Larry Brook, a well-known writer trainer with links to MAI. He offered me the opportunity to do some volunteer training in Indonesia for 2-3 weeks.<\/p>\n

I was coming off many years of editing a magazine which was already very much a champion of majority world voices. We\u2019d interview people or ask them to write to get those voices from the emerging global church in the magazine. And so I\u2019d been primed for this work.<\/p>\n

I helped conduct a magazine production workshop for a Bible college running a media course. After that, I visited the Christian publisher Bina Kasih to spend time with a group of publishing trainees. When I met the director, Bapak Oppusungu, the first thing he said to me was, \u201cYou will not tell us anything, we will ask you questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the most stimulating time. I got the questions they wanted to know. It pulled so much out of me I wouldn\u2019t have thought to give otherwise. That experience really captured my imagination and gave me the taste to pass on what God had taught me to other people.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had little formal training in how to train others; it has mostly been learned in the trenches over the years. That\u2019s actually a good way to learn it, so you can pass it on to others who don\u2019t have the advantage of getting to do some high-flying course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my tribe.\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In 1993 I moved into freelance book editing. I started receiving MAI\u2019s newsletter in 1998 from John Maust, who had just become CEO after Bob Reekie. As I read, the idea started to grow that I would love to be involved in MAI\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n

My first LittWorld was in the Philippines in 2004, and it was absolutely perfect. Back home, when you say you\u2019re a book editor, most people\u2019s eyes glaze over, but at an MAI event they say, \u201cReally?!\u201d and want to know what comes next. Then you get to share back and forth.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the things I love most about MAI. The ethos Bob and John established in the beginning\u2014that collegial body life, the mutual honor and respect for one another and one\u2019s another\u2019s gifts, and recognition that everyone has something to bring to the table. It\u2019s not just experts teaching novices what to do\u2014even novices have something to teach.<\/p>\n

\"\"MAI is one of the places where I experience the body of Christ working the way it\u2019s meant to work. The culture is self-perpetuating; people pick it up by osmosis. I love seeing that aspect of it.<\/p>\n

When I walked into that first LittWorld, I felt, \u201cThis is my tribe.\u201d I told John, \u201cIf I can be useful, I\u2019m available.\u201d<\/p>\n

I next went to an MAI \u201cTrain the Trainers\u201d workshop, again in the Philippines, then to LittWorld in Brazil in 2006. Since then I\u2019ve helped with training in editing and writing for MAI in Nepal, Pakistan, Mongolia, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Fiji, as well as at a number of LittWorlds.<\/p>\n

When I was invited by Bernice Lee to join the MAI-Asia Board, I was very surprised\u2014because I\u2019m not Asian! Bernice told me she had a wider vision for the whole Asia-Pacific. I thought and prayed about it, and it seemed to be something that God had opened up, so I said yes.<\/p>\n

Emerging trainers from the Majority World\u2014and other joys of serving with MAI<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The most encouraging things about serving with MAI have almost always been people related\u2014fellowship across cultures, people groups, languages, church traditions and so forth.<\/p>\n

The thing that really stirs me is to see the way that God continues to put passion for the written word into people\u2019s hearts. It\u2019s not just something you whip up from outside. I keep meeting people with fire in their heart, people who have that God-inspired passion for something, prepared against the odds to give it a go.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s pretty inspiring. You want to do what you can to encourage people like that. Because that\u2019s the background I came from. People with a passion and just giving it a go. Somehow, by God\u2019s grace, He makes things work.<\/p>\n

Another thing I\u2019ve found really encouraging is the perseverance of people facing huge difficulties. It\u2019s not easy to publish in some places. Many countries aren\u2019t Christian, and the Christians who are there are not necessarily readers. But people are really stirred and strengthened by the Holy Spirit to keep going. It\u2019s like reading the NT\u2014the apostles just kept getting up, and the whole early church. That\u2019s pretty inspiring.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 20 years since I went to my first LittWorld, and in those years\u2014not just in MAI-Asia but across MAI\u2014I\u2019ve seen the emergence of trainers from within the majority world. People who themselves came for training are now trainers, and are raising up the next generation and doing it in a way that in turn will raise another generation by God\u2019s grace. To me that\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n

Passing on the baton\u2014tips for Christian publishers and editors<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The thing I\u2019ve learned in nearly 50 years in the Christian writing, editing and publishing sphere is that the most important thing by far has nothing to do with your professional skills\u2014it\u2019s your personal walk of discipleship.<\/p>\n

The things that have impacted my ministry most profoundly have been the life lessons that God has provided\u2014lessons that apply not only to my \u2018calling\u2019 or my professional work, but to every part of life. The work that God by His grace has done to grow and change me: the trials, the valleys, the ups and downs\u00ac. Those are the lessons that have equipped me to fulfil the calling on my life most effectively.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good to do training, to upskill, go to events\u2014all that\u2019s fantastic. And it\u2019s great to share expertise and wisdom. But in terms of passion for the work, persevering in the work, spiritual maturity for the work, discernment\u2014it\u2019s really the things that you allow God to do in you as a person that most significantly grow your effectiveness.<\/p>\n

When I look at MAI, it\u2019s the character of people that stays with me. I love their work\u2014but it\u2019s the mark of Jesus on their lives that lingers. They allow God to mold their lives, and that\u2019s why they\u2019re able to be effective.<\/p>\n

People teach you lessons they didn\u2019t even intend to teach, almost as a side effect of their quality of faith and life. I learned one pivotal lesson from an African lady called Rose Bugusu, who founded a children\u2019s home and school in western Kenya for very poor village children. One day she said to me, \u201cThe road of discipleship is the hardest road, but all the blessings are on that road.\u201d<\/p>\n

That has stayed with me, like a touchstone of my walk. It is so true. The road of discipleship, the road of obedience\u2014it\u2019s got its tough times, its valleys, its troughs. But all the blessings are on that road.<\/p>\n

You take the easy road, not a lot of blessings out there. God still looks after us\u2014He\u2019s Emmanuel, \u201cGod with us\u201d, no matter what choices we make, if we belong to Him. But to walk the road of discipleship, the hard road\u2014that\u2019s where the blessings are that are worth talking about.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I would pass on\u2014not any particular lessons about editing or publishing!<\/p>\n

Impact is up to God<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of my favorite stories is about Amy Carmichael, who was a missionary to India and a great writer.<\/p>\n

For the last 20 years of her life, she was bedridden and had to write on a tray. Then the time came when she couldn\u2019t hold a pen and had to dictate her books. But her books kept coming out! She was stuck in bed, but God has allowed her work to still reverberate today.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be concerned about whether you can produce the next great Christian book or be the next C.S. Lewis. You give God what you\u2019ve got, and it\u2019s up to Him what He does with it. Then all the glory goes to Him.<\/p>\n

Praying for next steps<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In terms of writing, my main work has been collaborative writing and ghostwriting. That\u2019s a way I can serve with the particular gifts God gave me.<\/p>\n

I am currently collaborating with a Christian leader in Melbourne on a book about discipleship. It\u2019s about getting past our preoccupations and western concepts of what discipleship means, and learning lessons from the vibrant church in the majority world\u2014getting back to Jesus\u2019 idea about what disciple is, becoming like Him and the outflow of what that means.<\/p>\n

Additional resources<\/strong><\/h5>\n