If a newspaper is a community talking to itself, a Christian newspaper could be the church talking to itself.

That's the hope of more than 30 Christian newspaper editors and publishers who met this month in Nashville for the first ever Christian Newspaper Summit.

They came from the East Coast, West Coast, Canada, small towns and New York City to learn from each other ways to make their publications better. They drank coffee and ate honey-dipped donuts, debated the trade-off of volunteer circulation labor versus using an outside vendor.

Not far from the debate was their underlying mission: to provide an alternative voice to readers, who represent about three million on this continent, according to Mike Beard, publisher of Minnesota Christian Chronicle and director of the Christian Newspaper Association. CAN is primarily an organization that helps publications with national advertising.

The alternative press is a strong tradition in the United States following the dominance of a Christian voice in mainstream newspapers in the 17th and 18th centuries with newspapers such as the Boston Recorder and the New York Daily Witness. These publications were mainstream but included in the news pages references to God's work in daily life.

By 1876 the religious daily was nearly out-of-business, forcing newspapers with a Christian identity to find subscribers who shared a passion for news of salvation and redemption. Some publishers sought readers within their denominations; others published under the aegis of a church-based college. But most encountered financial hardship.

The newspapers have become known as the advocacy press. They denounced slavery, called for prohibition and lobbied for the rights of African-Americans. Today the Black press, Latino Press and publications for other segments of the thrive in population centers.

So, why not a Christian press?

Marvin Olasky, senior fellow of the Acton Institute and the editor of World Magazine, sees one benefit as chief among the other advantages. He says local Christian press "gives Christians within a particular area a way of publicizing upcoming events."

Olasky's World is not shy in its holding leaders accountable to the church through the magazine's news and editorial columns. But in order to reach beyond the already churched readership, it requires additional journalistic ventures. Presenting the unredeemed with arguments for biblical thinking requires more sanitized content. The more homogenized the content, the wider the circulation and the greater the likelihood of an improved bottom line.

For the publishers at the Nashville Summit, this issue is not lost on them.

Rick Snyder of the Christian Citizen USA, a colorful broadsheet in Dayton, had communion with the other publishers as they began one day of meetings. Following that time of reflection, he wondered about the business of making a profit in Christian publishing.

But Doug Trouten, editor of Evangelical Press and a journalism teacher at Northwestern in Minnesota, had a ready response.

"People ask why we don't give it away," he said and then explained that ministries worldwide need contributions. "We don't want to take money away from them."

To survive in a web-saturated culture, Christian publishing usually depends upon advertising to underwrite their efforts. The newspapers are distributed free to churches and other venues open to the idea.

This kind of distribution is considered risky by advertisers because of the built-in suspicion that anything that a person gets for free has no worth. Not only do these publishers have to contend with threats to their content, but they are at the mercy of advertisers for their margins.

The grim truth is that publications that aren't profitable won't succeed. You and I can help.

The church profits from these newspapers. The short list includes Tucson's Good News, Arizona's Active Christian News, San Diego's Southern California Christian Times, Tennessee's Mid-South Christian Banner, Kansas City's Metro Voice, Maine's Good News Connection, Ontario's Christian Herald, California's Good News, Etc., The Wichita Chronicle, Colorado Christian Chronicle, Minnesota Christian Chronicle, the BC (British Columbia) Christian News, Buffalo's The Word, Oregon's Christian News Northwest. Christian News Ottawa, Charlotte World, Nashville Christian Banner, Oklahoma Baptist Messenger, Marion's New Voice, The Tri-State Voice , Tucson's Good News Magazine, Toronto's Christian Herald, Topeka's Kansas Christian, Christian News Today of Baltimore.

These newspaper may not speak to unbelievers but they can help the church with its dialogue and its sense of community across denominational lines. To avoid the awful lessons of publishing disasters of years past, readers must break from tradition. Instead of nodding assent to Christian newspapers, subscribe.

While most of these publications are free for the taking, it will cost for home delivery. If a subscription is too much, consider visiting a business advertised in the newspaper. Tell the manager or owner that you saw her message in the Christian newspaper. Talk to believers and unbelievers. Then the church will be talking to others as well as itself.