A Little Canon History

We (that is, Canon Press) have come to a fork in the road. Or maybe it’s a crossroads. Whatever it is, it’s a point where we’ve been forced to stop and re-evaluate what exactly it is that we do.

We’ve always thought of ourselves as a ministry. This has been true since our early days—the days when How to be Free from Bitterness was still a pamphlet, before there was such a thing as the internet, and before we had used up our quota of Dutch paintings for covers. Like our sister ministry Credenda/Agenda, we’ve considered it our mission to spread the truth of the Gospel by printing books on all manner of topics, including marriage, the family, church life, evangelism, education, poetry, fiction, and more. Most importantly, we’ve always sought to live out our belief that there is nothing on this blue-and-green earth that does not fall under the authority of Christ. There is no subject you can read about or study that doesn’t need the enlightening light of Scripture.

Several years ago, however, our ministry thinking got us into some tight spots. To put it simply, we stretched ourselves a little too thin. We learned that you can only give so many books away for free, because without financial support from donations and sales, no ministry is able to stay afloat. It’s the honest truth. If we could, we’d give all our books and audio sets away for free. But we have a hardworking, full-time staff that need to provide for themselves and their families, not to mention the many authors and speakers who are (as Paul says) worthy of their wages.

Anyway, I’m getting away from the story. The deal was this: Canon Press stretched itself to the point that it was hurting. Bleeding, even. And so Lucy Zoe Jones was promoted to Operations Manager, which meant that it was her job to stop the bleeding and help Canon back to its feet financially. Over the past few years, she has unselfishly and faithfully worked to make Canon more efficient and more fruitful. It is thanks to her that we have been able to produce updated Introductory and Intermediate Logic texts, not to mention books like Protocol Matters and Building Her House, let alone all the new covers she has helped inspire and direct.

Along the way, we’ve gained a spiffier look. We have a new logo. New fonts. New advertisement (thanks to Rachel Hoffmann). From all appearances we’re a vibrant, up-and-rising, cutting edge publishing company than can compete with the best of them, Christian or not.

But see, that’s not really our aim. We’re not in this to make a buck. We’re not even in this to print bestselling books. Our mission is to encourage faithfulness through the seasons; to remind our brothers and sisters that Christ gave us the church for a reason; to provide sound advice for marriage, child-training, and education; to push fellow believers to both preach and live out a biblically Trinitarian faith.

Over the next few months you’ll see some changes. We want to make sure people don’t mistake us for an ordinary publishing company. Not because there’s something wrong with that. It’s just not what we want to be. We are a ministry, intent on serving our customers and giving more than we take. We want to walk beside you, encouraging you, helping you in any way that we can. And in turn we ask that you would walk alongside us: supporting us prayerfully, and when you can, financially.

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