Christian writing opportunities: How to submit your story to Faith Storytellers
At Faith Storyteller, we share Christian short stories about your personal experience with God. If you’re looking for Christian writing opportunities, consider submitting a true, first-person faith that follow our submissions guidelines below.
We seek stories that share the small and large ways that God has influenced your day, your beliefs, or your perspective of him.
Top 3 things to know about submitting your story
We publish true, first person short stories about the Christian faith. Please follow these three guidelines before writing your story.
Read 3-4 published stories. This will help you get a sense of the type of story and format we are seeking. Writers who take this extra step are far more likely to have their story accepted. You can read stories here.
Write your story in the format we teach. You can download our free story structure cheat sheet, which quickly summarizes our framework, or go deeper by reading our book, “Faith Storytellers: Unleash the Power of Your Story.”
Your short story should be 900-1,200 words. We will ask you revise and resubmit if it’s longer than this. If your story is long, you may be a “Story Carver.” Take our quiz to find out.
Our 7 submission guidelines
Please follow the following steps when submitting your faith story.
Start with prayer: Many storytellers have said God prompted them to tell a different story than they originally intended. Starting with prayer is the first step in our Faith Storytellers Framework.
Make it yours: Write in first person (“I thought…”) and let your voice shine. This is your story — own it! Read through our framework or book for a more detailed explanation of how to write (and revise) your story.
Stay true to who you are: Share the real stuff — what you felt, doubted, or discovered. Allow yourself to be vulnerable in your story because it allows God’s strength to shine through.
Follow our structure: This is important, as we only publish stories that follow our framework, which we teach in our book, “Faith Storytellers: Unleash the Power of Your Story.” You can also download a story structure cheat sheet here.
Length: Keep it between 900 and 1,200 words — long enough to tell a whole story but short enough for a reader to enjoy it during the morning quiet time while waiting in line, or just before bed.
Keep it clean: Stories should be PG or PG-13. You can review our Faith Story Guardrails or learn more about how to apply these concepts in our book. Your story can include darkness — just don’t dwell on it.
Fresh Stories: Send us original work that hasn’t been published by a third party such as a magazine or website. Stories from your own blog or SubStack may be reworked to match our Faith Storytellers structure (use our book or cheat sheet for how to revise it).
➡️ For more information, please review our FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need writing experience?
No previous writing experience is needed! That’s actually why our editor, Mackenzie Ryan Walters, wrote the book “Faith Storytellers: Unleash the Power of Your Story.”
Mackenzie put everything she knows about Christian storytelling and writing in her book, including how to address fear or apprehension about preparing and sharing your story for the first time.
In addition, she teaches Christian writing workshops you may consider attending. Check out our events page to connect with her in person.
Can I submit a story that’s been published elsewhere?
We prefer to publish unique stories that have not yet been published elsewhere. This is for a few reasons:
We want to bring our audience a unique story and reading experience that they haven’t read elsewhere.
Other publishers may have the rights to your story. In the Materials Release Agreement, we specifically ask that you acknowledge that you have the right to enter into the agreement and do not need permission from a third party to do so.
We believe we each have many stories to share about our relationship with God. Pray about other stories that explore how God deepened your faith our grew your relationship with him. Maybe this is an opportunity to share a smaller, “mustard seed” story, which our readers love!
What story should I write?
Generally speaking, there are four faith story genres that we publish. Pick one and let your Christian writing journey begin:
Miracle Seed stories: Reflect on a seemingly small moment or coincidence that reflects God’s care and attention to the details of your life when you pray through it. These are stories about ordinary moments that reveal big truths about God. Looking back, what do you know to be true about God that you didn’t before?
Journey stories: Remember a time that grew your faith and relationship with Jesus. Journey stories can be physical journeys (such as a mission trip) or spiritual journeys (such as confronting a misconception you had about God). As you pray through your story, ask God what he wanted you to know about his nature.
Valley stories: Pray through a particularly challenging time in your life. How did your relationship with God change as you experienced grief, pain, or devastating circumstances? As you write your story, ask God to reveal where he was and how he cared for you personally during that time.
Miracle stories: How did God interrupt scientific laws with divine intervention? As you pray through God’s miracle, how did he use this sign and wonder to deepen your faith? How did God’s miracle shift your perspective or deepen your relationship with him?
Can I write under my pen name or without my full name?
No. Because we publish true stories (testimonials), we want you to share your real name with our readers. This builds trust and helps our readers know that what you are sharing is true and really happened.
How do I send my story?
Email your story submission with the subject “Faith Story Submission” to mackenzie@faithstorytellers.com.
Please attach to the email:
A Word or Google document with your story (follow the guidelines above)
Three (3) photographs of you that you have permission to share
What happens after I send my story?
If your story fits, we’ll let you know that we’d like to move forward with edits. Here are some key things to know:
We do not offer payment, but we’ll give you a spotlight on our site and a link to share with your people. We will also include relevant links to your book, social media pages, and website in your bio.
We edit stories three times and ask writers to update and revise their stories based on our feedback. For questions on capitalization or word choice, please review our style guide.
We will ask you to sign a Materials Release Agreement asks you to grant us the right to use your story.
We ask you do not repost or republish the edited version that was created specifically for Faith Storytellers. You may share the link to the story on your blog; for example, you might write a post about your experience writing for Faith Storytellers and then share the link.
How do I download the story cheat sheet?
Fill out the form below and you’ll see a link that will allow you to download our most popular storytelling resource as a PDF.