It’s that time of year again. The end of another financial year and the time when ministry leaders sit down to write their EOFY email asking you to consider giving to their Christian cause. For me, it’s easily the hardest email to write. No-one likes asking for money or being in the position where they need to ask!

Why do we need to ask for your support?

But we do ask. We have to. But why does Matthias Media have to? In the end, don’t we sell books and resources to cover the expenses of running a Christian publishing ministry? If we can’t cover it, does that mean we need to scale back or perhaps stop altogether? I hope not. If that was the case, Matthias Media would have ceased to exist years ago. We have always relied on the generosity and support of God’s people to continue.

Let me try and explain the “why” a little more. Someone recently shared with me a Substack article: ‘The impossible task of Christian publishers’. You can tell by the title that it was a sobering read. The article mentions many of the challenges of Christian publishing, and it resonated strongly with me. Things like the length of time it takes to develop a good book; cultural changes to entertainment-style content and away from deep learning experiences; a shrinking of promotional opportunities; the financial realities of publishing. After a lot of maths, the author comes up, all going well, with the publisher making about $4.20 per book before considering overheads. That’s before paying staff, rent, freight, electricity, production. And it assumes the book sells well! I would say that number seems about right for Matthias Media. Sometimes we do better and sometimes worse.

On top of the above, our market here is small. I’ve often described it as a niche within a niche within a niche etc. Small but important. Bible-driven resources that lead people to know, love and obey the Lord Jesus Christ, that challenge and equip his disciples, are important. And to keep making them available, we need your help.

So here is the awkward question—‘the ask’, as fundraisers call it. What do we need?

How can you help the publishing ministry of Matthias Media to continue?

There are a few ways:

Pray

We recognise that in all of this we are God’s vessels. We are grateful for the way he has used Matthias Media to grow his kingdom, and pray that he continues to do so. Could you pray this with us? Could you pray that God sustains and uses us for his purpose, benefit and glory?

Buy

As I mentioned earlier, our margins are narrow and so we rely on selling in quantity. Whether you buy directly from us (best) or you buy one of our resources from another retailer (still good!), you are helping to sustain a local Christian publishing ministry. Please continue to choose our resources whenever they will be helpful. We regularly pray that God would use you and the resources you buy to grow his kingdom.

Give

It’s been a tough year for everyone, and our ministry is no exception. We approach the end of our financial year needing to ask for help. If we could find 30 people able to give $1000 each, 300 who could give $100 each, or some combination, that would help us produce more important books next year (find out what’s to come in the video below). If you find yourself able to be one of those people, we ask you to consider giving generously to our work. We continue to do all we can to sustain our ministry, but we always rely on the generosity of God and his people.

There are two kinds of donations you can make:

General ministry donation
Donations to the general ministry of Matthias Media support our publishing, training, evangelism and ministry activities.

Tax-deductible donation
Donations of $2 or more to the GoThereFor Library are tax deductible in Australia. The fund supports the development, acquisition and maintenance of resources through the GoThereFor platform.

Now that you’ve come to to the end of ‘the ask’, be encouraged and see some of the things Matthias Media has been doing this year. It will give you some idea of what we’ve been up to and what, we pray, is around the corner. I hope it will prompt you, like it does us, to thank God for his great generosity.