Writing A Tract

"A Gospel tract is an evangelistic tool through which a reader should come to understand the need to receive Christ."

The Great Commission

Before returning to heaven, Jesus called his disciples to truly love their neighbours in their local area and beyond, by sharing how his death & resurrection had opened the way for their sins to be forgiven and for them to have a relationship with God. This is known as the Gospel, or Good News.

As long as the world has people in it who don't know Jesus as their Lord & saviour, His call to 'spread the good news' will continue to apply to those who know Him. One way for people to find out more about Jesus, and his relevance to their life, is through short written texts called tracts.

We are going to create some tracts. But before we can think about layout, fonts, pictures, and so on, we need to think carefully about the text.

Know your audience

As with any piece of writing, you have to decide WHO you're writing for before you can decide WHAT you will write (level of detail, current level of understanding) and HOW you will write it (choice of words, complexity).

WHO will read it?

Audience is to do with finding out about your reader, and writing in a way that speaks to their particular situation, way of life, etc. Jesus did this when he spoke to shepherds about the lamb of God, fishermen about fishing for men, a woman collecting water about the water of life. Start from where they are, what they know, then move on to something they don't know (the gospel).

Task 1: Being a tract tive (!)

Read through at least three of the following tracts to get a feel for the connection between audience and writing style. Look for:

Vocabulary

choice of words (simple or thought-provoking?)

Angle

how is it relevant to the audience?

Hooks

specific words or ideas designed to catch the attention of this particular group

Relevance

how is the Gospel tied to their existing understanding?

Sample Tracts

• How many days til Christmas? - aimed at parents with young children
• Dreaming Big! - aimed at athletes (current & future)
• Will I see you at the top? - aimed at business people (note how the cover looks like a 'Maximise Your Potential' type book)
• Better Looking Sinners - physical appearance is only skin-deep but God looks at the heart
• 200 further tracts - organised by topic.

Task 2: Master plan

Read Tract Writing Guidelines from the submissions page at the Good News & Crossway tracts site.

Task 3: Plan your outline

Decide who you're going to write for. Ideas:

Aim at a group of people

Footballers, business people, scouts, teachers? Your friends? Your relatives?

Aim at a specific time of year/life

Christmas, Easter, birthdays, weddings. Children? Young mums? Middle-aged dads? The elderly?

Write out the headings & bullet points from the tract-writing guidelines & answer the questions for your chosen audience.

Task 4: Flesh on the bones

• Using DTP software create a 2 page A5 document
• On the first page create two small text boxes for your title and your name
• On the second page create a large text box and type in the main headings from your outline.
• Add a 3-5 word 'reminder' of what each paragraph will be about.

Task 5 Contrast & Repetition

Two aims of creating a balanced page are creating repetition and contrast.

Repetition is about using something more than once. Repetition makes the reader feel that all the parts of the page belong together: cohesion.

Page elements you could repeat include:

• using the same font
• using the same colour
• using the same line thickness
• repeating an image, perhaps at different sizes, or cropped (partially visible)

Contrast is when you make two things look different. Why? Because they ARE different. The book title is a different object to the author's name, so it should look different.

Think of all the ways you can make two pieces of text different:

• font weight (thick / thin)
• font style (with serifs / without serifs) serifs are the little feet on some letters
• straight / italic
• plain / bold
• black / white / colours

Contrast and repetition often work together. You might use the same font for title and author (repetition), but different colours (contrast).

• Look at the designs for 'Will I see you at the top?', 'Think Big!' & 'Better Looking Sinners'. How has the designer used contrast and repetition?
• Look at this 'Christmas Prayer' design. What's unusual here regarding use of contrast and repetition?

Task 6: Apply the rules

• Open the unstyled version of the Contrast & Repetition document in Page Plus (see below). Change colours, fonts, type sizes to make the page look as close to the finished version as you can
• Now go back to your cover. Crank up the contrast ('these are different') and repetition ('these are related') on your layout
• When you're happy with your cover, show it to your teacher before continuing.

Task 7: Format the body text

• Open your document at page two (the main text, also called the 'body text'). Expand each of your reminders into full sentences/paragraphs
• Now think about how you could extend the contrast & repetition themes you've set up on the front of your leaflet onto the back - but KEEP IT READABLE! You're working with much smaller text, so you'll have to think very carefully about font & colour choices (what is wrong with the words 'Contrast' and 'Repetition' at the start of the paragraphs on my page? How could you 'fix' it?

Resources

• Contrast & Repetition PDF (1.2Mb)
• Contrast & Repetition Page Plus document
• Contrast & Repetition Page Plus unstyled document
• Font Sampler
• Free DTP software - from Serif

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Related pages: DTP, Downloads

Category: ICT, English

Author: Mr Kershaw