Covenant

Submit an Article

If you are interested in submitting an article for Covenant publications or for the web, please carefully read the article guidelines below for Covenant Matters, Cornerstone, and the website. Once you have read the guidelines, click the Agree link to access the submission form for the appropriate publication.

Article Submission Guidelines

Covenant Matters is published on the first and third Sundays of each month (unless otherwise noted) and is placed in the Narthex of the church. The following guidelines apply to articles submitted for the weekly newsletter.

• The deadline is 5 p.m. on the Tuesday before publication.
• When entering the publish date, be sure to select an actual publish date, typically the first or third Sunday of each month. If the date is entered incorrectly, the article may be lost in the system and will likely not be published.
• Articles for Covenant Matters should not appear more than twice in a row. Printing them beyond this frequency is counterproductive and leads to the intended audience reading over the article.
• Articles advertising events should appear in Covenant Matters no earlier than a month in advance.
• Article length should be 120 words maximum. Note that the online form will allow for 130 words, but the communications staff may need to cut that length down in order to fit more articles during the busiest months of the year. The longest articles will be cut first.
• Covenant receives a high volume of articles for publication. To ensure proper space for all articles in our publications, please limit the wording of your article. The shorter the length, the greater the chance your article will be read. Always use complete sentences.
• Insert only one space after periods, exclamation points, etc.
• Use only one exclamation point at the end of your sentences. As exciting as something may seem, the level of excitement is not measured by the number of exclamation points!!!
• Use the ampersand (&) only when it is part of a company's name. The ampersand should never otherwise be used in place of and.
• Times should be formatted in the following manner:
  12 p.m.
  12:45 p.m.
  Please remember to use periods after each letter. Also, avoid redundancies such as 6 p.m. tonight or this morning at 8:30 a.m.
• Dates should not include a suffix. For example, “Dec. 1” is correct, and “Dec. 1st” is incorrect.
• Graphics are no longer used in Covenant Matters.

If you are unsure of how to write your article, consider the following tips:

• For events, you should begin with where and when it will take place, and then describe what will happen at the event and/or what is expected if a person attends. Indicate what attendees should bring, if applicable. Provide contact names, numbers, and emails so interested parties can request additional information.
  Example: “For more information, contact John Smith at johnsmith@covenant.org or 555-1234.”
• For classes, you should begin with the title of the class and who will teach it. Indicate where the class takes place, what time it starts, the dates of meetings, and the class’s duration. Be sure to describe what will be taught or discussed in the class. If there is something about the teacher that warrants comment, please indicate it. Tell people how they can sign up to join the class, if applicable. Add contact names, numbers, and emails so interested parties can request additional information (example above).
• For news, summarize the news in the title. The first sentences of the article should expand on the title. State facts or anecdotes to support your news. Provide contact names, numbers, and emails so interested parties can request additional information (example above).

I agree, please take me to the Covenant Matters Submission Form.

Cornerstone is published bi-monthly and mailed to the home of members who request the publication. It can also be found online at covenant.org/publications. Cornerstone focuses less on announcing upcoming events, and more on providing news and interesting feature stories to the congregation. The following guidelines apply to articles submitted for the monthly newsletter.

• The deadline is 5 p.m. on the 8th of the preceding month. For example, if you want to publish your article in the December issue, submit your article no later than 5 p.m. on Nov. 8.
• Article length should be roughly 400-600 words, with a maximum of 800 words. Note that your article may not be published exactly as it was written. We may edit for space and content.
• Stories should have an emphasis on telling a story or providing insight to something or someone involved with Covenant. Simple announcements for events and short articles should be submitted to Covenant Matters (see above). If submitted to Cornerstone, these short articles are not guaranteed to be printed, but will be used if possible.
• Always use complete sentences.
• Insert only one space after periods, exclamation points, etc.
• Use only one exclamation point at the end of your sentences. As exciting as something may seem, the level of excitement is not measured by the number of exclamation points!!!
• Use the ampersand (&) only when it is part of a company's name. The ampersand should never otherwise be used in place of and.
• Times should be formatted in the following manner:
  12 p.m.
  12:45 p.m.
  Please remember to use periods after each letter. Also, avoid redundancies such as 6 p.m. tonight or this morning at 8:30 a.m.
• Dates should not include a suffix. For example, “Dec. 1” is correct, and “Dec. 1st” is incorrect.
• Graphics should be sent via email attachment to publications@covenant.org. In the body of your email, indicate the title of the article your graphic applies to. Please refrain from sending pictures that are greater than 5 megabytes (5 MB) in size.

I agree, please take me to the Cornerstone Submission Form.

The Covenant website is updated as needed. The website is a great place for your ministry or event to provide in-depth information, downloadable forms, and rich media. If your ministry or event page needs to be updated, please complete the website updates form linked below. While major events are published on the web calendar and sometimes on the home page, these areas are updated automatically or by the publications team when necessary.The following guidelines apply to updates submitted for the website.

• There is no deadline. Updates are welcomed daily. Typically updates will publish to the website within one week after they are received.
• Articles for the web do not have a word limit. Please keep in mind, however, that longer articles will often be skipped over by readers. A recommended length for web articles is 200 words.
• Always use complete sentences.
• Insert only one space after periods, exclamation points, etc.
• Use only one exclamation point at the end of your sentences. As exciting as something may seem, the level of excitement is not measured by the number of exclamation points!!!
• Use the ampersand (&) only when it is part of a company's name. The ampersand should never otherwise be used in place of and.
• Times should be formatted in the following manner:
  12 p.m.
  12:45 p.m.
  Please remember to use periods after each letter. Also, avoid redundancies such as 6 p.m. tonight or this morning at 8:30 a.m.
• Dates should not include a suffix. For example, “Dec. 1” is correct, and “Dec. 1st” is incorrect.
• Graphics for publishing to the web need to be in .jpg format, 72 dpi. Graphics should be sent via email attachment to publications@covenant.org. In the body of your email, indicate the title and URL of the page your graphic applies to. Please refrain from sending pictures that are greater than five megabytes (5 MB) in size. Graphics are not necessary to accompany an update for the website.