How to Write an Article

Introduction: Why Write?

Writing an article for Hope of Heaven for Teens could be a great way to help support other people in their grief journeys. Sharing things you may have learned so far as you’ve grieved or been supporting a grieving friend could help inform, comfort, and inspire others to stay strong in day-to-day struggles, anchor their faith in the real hope Heaven is, and find ways to connect with God on their journeys.

First … Thank You!

In this article, we’d like to share some tips and guidelines for writing your article. Before that, we want to say thank you for considering writing an article. God will give you the words to write if He has called you to write an article for this online community.

What a Hope of Heaven for Teens Article Is 

A Hope of Heaven for Teens article can be as long (or as short) as you would like it to be. As of 2026, most articles have been 5 Google Docs pages. Yours can be any length that feels most natural to your writing style and topic.

As you read about potential topics (and brainstorm your own), please know that we love seeing your thoughts! You can submit as many articles as God calls you to write.

Generally, articles are thoughtful, objective writing pieces featuring scriptural reflection, a theological perspective, personal thoughts based on experience, reflection on quotes you have found meaningful, or any other way to share insights you think may benefit another teenager on a similar journey to yours. 

You are absolutely welcome to share your own theological perspective as you write, but please remember that everyone comes from a different faith background. On many topics, including Heaven, no single perspective can be fully determined as true. We won’t know many details until we arrive. However, discussing details can be helpful for setting our thoughts in the same direction as our hope. (However, theological insights are not required.)

Your article structure, layout, and topic are all yours to decide. Our writing guidelines are flexible (Although, our Management Team may make minor edits for readability when publishing, see more below.). However, there are a few important guidelines to be aware of when writing. Unfortunately, we cannot publish your article if three guidelines are not followed:

1. We do require that whatever you write contains no bad language and is consistent with our statement of faith. (Linked here: Our Statement of Faith) If the content is not God-honoring, we reserve the right to not publish it.

2. If you plan to use quotes that are not Bible verses, you need to formally cite your source to avoid breaking copyright laws. (You do not need to formally cite Bible verses, but please list the reference and translation so that readers can find the passage for themselves if desired. Example: “Work willingly as if for the Lord and not for man.” Colossians 3:23 (NLT))

3. The writing and image need to be entirely your own. Please do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) at all. Your thoughts and experiences are valuable.

Citing Sources

Adding endnotes to your article is an easy way to cite your sources clearly. Typically, you can do this by adding a note in parentheses at the end of the quote stating ‘see endnote __’ and making a category titled ‘Endnotes’ at the end of your article. (You can view the image below if that explanation was unhelpful to you.)

In the article:

On the bottom of the article:

(We do ask that you consistently use a formal citation style, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago so that the information is clear to a reader. You can find specific information for citing different types of sources in your preferred style on Welcome to the Purdue OWL - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University )

Potentially Helpful Advice

Now that you know the guidelines, we would like to share some brainstorming, writing, and submission tips.

Writing Tip: Topic-Choosing

If you are having trouble deciding what to write about, you could try reflecting on these questions:

• What is one thing God has taught you so far?

• Do you have advice to pass along to other teens?

• What is one thought, truth, or insight you wish you’d discovered earlier in your grief journey?

• Has there been a scripture passage that has brought you peace, encouragement, or hope? What about the passage does so?

If this method doesn’t help, you could try considering some broad topics, such as:

• Heaven

• Honoring your loved one’s memory on ordinary days or special occasions

• Communicating with God during grief

• Navigating social relations during grief

• Emotions - handling tears, anger with God and others, grief-related fears, etc.

• Helping a friend who is grieving (Whether you have been the one grieving or the one supporting a grieving friend or family member, your advice could be very helpful for someone else.)

• Catholic Theology and Grieving (If you are Catholic, it could be helpful to write on the meaning and hope of your traditions and theology, especially to help a reader who has not yet been confirmed understand what you may know from confirmation classes.)

• Protestant Theology and Grieving (If you are in a denominational Protestant tradition, sharing your perspective on doctrine related to death or church traditions that have impacted you could be helpful to a reader from your background. If you are nondenominational, sharing your church traditions or thoughts on scripture passages that have impacted you could also be helpful.)

• Eastern Orthodox Theology and Grieving (If you are from an Eastern Orthodox church branch (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ethiopian, etc.), sharing your church community’s perspective on death, grief, or Heaven or the meaning behind some of your traditions could be helpful to a reader sharing your background.)

There are so many other topics revolving around relating to God in grief, going through it on a daily basis, or supporting someone else in their journey. If you have an idea not already mentioned, go ahead and start writing as long as it follows our three guidelines. 

Submission Tip: Add a Picture

This is optional, but often helps the article look appealing to readers. You could use word art to illustrate a key point or scripture passage, draw a symbol / object that you talk about in the article, or make a design representing the subject of your article. It does not need to be a monumentally gorgeous art piece, but it does need to be:

• Your own work (With absolutely no AI use)

• An image involving no distinguishable person’s or trademarked fictional character’s face.

You are welcome to use a hand drawing, digital drawing, paint piece, photograph, or any other medium.

Pre-Submission Steps

1. Final Edit: Please read over your testimony a few times before submission to make sure it’s clear and to fix any typos you may have missed.

2. Title: Giving your testimony a title is optional, but highly encouraged. It is helpful for your title to be short, but descriptive. Try to summarize the testimony with your title in 4-10 words.

3. Reread the guidelines before submitting:

4. Must be God-honoring and consistent with our statement of faith

5. Make sure you cited all quotations 

6. Make sure the writing process did not involve AI 

7. Make sure you kept all names and locations generic

Please keep in mind:

Hope of Heaven for Teens reserves the right to edit your article by fixing grammatical errors and/or typos, deleting or adding words, and editing the length or structure of the article itself. We also reserve the right to not publish your article if it breaks one of the four  guidelines listed above.

4. Pray Before Submitting: We highly encourage you to pray that 

5. God will use what you share in your article to bring hope to someone in need of the reminder that He is with them 

6. For everyone who reads your article to continue to grow closer to God in their situations and find peace, hope, and healing in Him

How to Submit A Finished Article

You can submit your article here (Article Submission Form) in this Google Form or you can go to our ‘Contribute’ page to access our form that way.

The Google form will ask you to provide your email address. This helps us contact you if we have questions for you about your article. If you choose not to provide your email, please be aware that we may not be able to publish your article if we have questions or substantially edited it. (At the current time, we do not send marketing emails. You would only get an email from us if we had a specific question about your content submission or in reply to an email of yours.)

It may take a week or two for your article to be published. The management team does read each submission carefully and occasionally edits them if we feel edits are necessary.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for considering writing an article! We pray that you do, that your writing process goes well, and that these tips and questions help you feel more confident about writing if you choose to do so. We look forward to supporting the many ways God can use your words to bring healing, hope, and peace to other teenagers if you are called to serve this way!