Guidelines for Authors
(Adapted, with permission, from "Guidelines for Writers" for the Evangelical Missions Information Service, Wheaton, Illinois)

Author Guidelines in PDF Format (72K)

Sample Article in PDF Format: Restoring Mission from Israel to the Nations 168K)

IJFM Distinctives

Prospective writers for the IJFM should recognize, and if possible, further the Journal’s distinctives. The IJFM is published in the name of the International Student Leaders Coalition for Frontier Missions, a fellowship of younger leaders who are committed to the purposes of the twin consultations of Edinburgh 1980: The World Consultation on Frontier Missions and the International Student Consultation on Frontier Missions. As an expression of the ongoing concerns of Edinburgh 1980, the IJFM seeks to:

  • promote intergenerational dialogue between senior and junior mission leaders.

  • cultivate an international fraternity of thought in the development of frontier missiology.

  • highlight the need to maintain, renew, and create mission agencies as vehicles for frontier mission.

  • encourage multidimensional and interdisciplinary studies.

  • foster spiritual devotion as well as intellectual growth.

  • advocate “A Church for Every People.”


Mission frontiers, like other frontiers, represent boundaries or barriers beyond which we must go yet beyond which we may not be able to see clearly and boundaries which may even be disputed or denied. Their study involves the discovery and evaluation of the unknown or even the reevaluation of the known. But unlike other frontiers, mission frontiers is a subject specifically concerned to explore and exposit areas and ideas and insights related to the glorification of God in all the nations (peoples) of the world, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.


IJFM Readers

Subscribers and other readers of the IJFM come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Mission professors, field missionaries, young adult mission mobilizers, college librarians, mission executives, and mission researchers all look to the IJFM for the latest thinking in frontier missiology.


Guidelines for Choosing Topics and Writing Articles:

Fresh ideas that:

(a) plow up new ground.

(b) fit the purposes of the Journal.

(c) are useful to our readers.

(d) contain keen insights, sound wisdom and judgment, and careful analysis and interpretation.

(e) make interesting and compelling reading.



Missiological perspective and principles grounded in sound missiology.

Calls to commitment and involvement in frontier missions.


Practical Tips

1. Write to the editor first about your article, giving a brief summary of what you propose to send, the subject matter, how you would treat it and how many words you expect you may need for the article.


2. If you have sent your article to another publication, please indicate which one. We don’t like to use another publication’s material without permission.


3. When the editor gives you encouragement to proceed:

  • Before you begin, please review the next section, “A Few Comments on Text Formatting.”

  • Type your article in your favorite word processor, but save it in Word or in Rich Text Format (.rtf).

  • Count the words and indicate the total at the top of first page.

  • Enclose a biographical sketch.

  • Include complete bibliographical data for all quoted materials.

  • Indicate which Bible version(s) you are quoting.

  • Write a brief (3-4 sentences) summary of your article (unless it is a book review).

  • E-mail your paper, as an attachment, either to the guest editor who solicited your paper, or to [email protected] (if you are submitting your paper on your own). If you need to communicate securely, contact us for our public key.

  • After your paper has been flowed into our layout program, we will e-mail you a copy of your formatted article in PDF format for your final review. You will have up to one week to respond with changes should you notice any errors that were inadvertently introduced in the layout process. If you do not own a copy of Acrobat Reader, please download the latest version at http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep2.html.

A Few Comments on Text Formatting

Please observe the following guidelines (and thereby gain our enduring gratitude):

  • Do not double space after punctuation (or anywhere else). Please run the Find & Replace function of your word processor to make sure you have no double spaces.

  • Do not indent paragraphs.

  • Never underline anything.

  • Use italics sparingly.

  • Do not use all caps for headings or subheadings.

  • Please have three other people read your work and make suggestions/corrections since even good proofreaders miss mistakes in their own work. We suggest you use a spell checker and a grammar checker, but don’t rely on them exclusively. Though helpful, they’re not perfect and are no substitute for a good human eye.

  • For guidance on general matters of style, please consult the The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition. For specifically Christian questions of style, see Robert Hudson’s The Christian Writer’s Style Guide (available by request from the editors).

  • 1. Normal maximum length of article: 5000 words (six Journal pages).

  • 2. Minimum length of article: 1,200 words (two Journal pages). 
Note: One full journal page, without graphics or titles, etc., consists of approximately 850 words.


Responsibilities of IJFM Staff

  • To give your article a fair review.

  • Our answer may not always be a “Yes” or “No” but a “Maybe.” That means that we would either like to see more revision or work done on your article, or we need more time to see how various ideas jell and which other articles would cover that subject.

  • We regret that we cannot pay honoraria at this stage of the Journal’s life. If your article is accepted, we will send a few free copies to each author.

For further information on guidelines and suggestions for writers, contact:

Brad Gill, IJFM Editor

PO Box 41450
Pasadena, CA 91114-8450

Tel: (734) 765-0368

E-mail: [email protected]