The newspaper and website, Eternity, that I founded, and previously edited will be shut down on April 30. “It is with a heavy heart that I announce the difficult decision made by Bible Society Australia Group to end Eternity News in its current form, marking the closing chapter of a significant era,” Grant Thomson, CEO of the Bible society announced today. “This means that effective 30 April 2024, the Eternity News print magazine, website, weekly newsletter and social media platforms, along with the Eternity Jobs website, will cease.”
On the Eternity website, Thomson adds “I’d say that a really important impact of Eternity’s ministry has been in keeping the body of Christ aware of what other parts of the body are doing and the way God is working in so many people’s lives.”
But the Bible Society, as is their right, have decided Eternity is not central to their mission. They will husband their resources particularly around making the Bible available and advocating for people to use it.
Eternity was founded by me and its first sales manager, David Maegraith, in September 2009. So it has had a life of 13 and a half years, telling the story of what God has done in Australia. actually only part of the story – because God is up to so much in out country.
That’s David and I and the table Eternity started on. For about 12 years, I edited and ran the newspaper and website. It had a print circulation of 100,000 and at the peak of the website about 5 million views a year. It was a privilege to invent such a great job for myself.
The secret of Eternity was scale. that’s why it started as a newspaper in the internet era. taking advantage off the weekly gathering together off Christians to build up an audience which they could migrate to the web. We never claimed to be the most spiritual, best written or insightful place – but simply a place that Christians could honour each other at. I hope we served you well.
I was happy to hand on the editorship in 2022, but disappointed that the newsy edge was taken away as a “good news” policy was adopted. There is actually plenty of good news to report, reflecting the nature of our God, but never reporting any failures or sin, creates a false picture. I thought there was a high risk that the new policy would reduce both audience and advertising revenue and I take little pleasure in predicting that correctly.
But today is a day to look back with gratitude – to the generosity of Bible Society and the many contributors and staff that made Eternity shine. I am writing this on the same table at home where we started Eternity. It’s been quite an journey for me and for many writers, designers, and the whole industry of ad sales people , recently Wildhive and a bunch of great advertisers.
I hope the banner of faithful Christian journalism is taken up by others. You can get some of it at my blog, theothercheek.com but there’s so much more that needs to be reported each and every day.
God, who inhabits Eternity (the real one) as Isaiah 57:15 says, is the author of truth. reporting things accurately will glorify him. There’s a gap in the market now and I hope it gets filled.
Thank you John for this :Eternity” and thank you for your comments herer. Praying for you.
Thanks for your years with Eternity and for your comments.
YOU AND DAVID MAEGRAITH SHOULD BE CONGRATULATED FOR STARTING ETERNITY. ( I KNOW DAVID WELL AS I WORKED WITH HIS DAD, PETER IN A SYDNEY AD AGENCY). I THOUGHT BIBLE SOCIETY HAD ENOUGH FINANCE TO KEEP IT GOING. DOES THIS MEAN THEIR OTHER MINISTRIES, CENTRE FOR PUBLIC CHRISTIANITY AND KOORONG BOOK SHOPS COULD FACE THE AXE? A POOR AND DISAPOINTING RESULT FOR A STRONG BRAND AS THE BIBLE SOCIETY.
Thank you for all your work and the encouragement it has been. A great ministry and blessing to many.
Thanks so much John for your faithful Eternity service. It has been a pleasure for me and for ISCAST to work with you and your successors over the years. Peace be with you!
Blessings on you John and I hope you are of good heart in recognising the conversations and stories Eternity promoted. Thanks for everything you’ve done in this space.
Thx John, we loved Eternity.
it was my weekly read that I will miss. I found it encouraging. Thank you
John and David- you created an amazing newspaper that ministered to the churches.
Well done ! It will ve missed by many.
Keep up the great work here at The Other Cheek
John, you created something wonderful and it is disappointing and sad that is has been destroyed. I too pray for the staff who are now jobless.
Thanks John for ETERNITY… a great read and an important contribution to the church. I loved being on Welcoming and handing out Eternity as people can into church Sunday mornings. Well done team. Eternity will be missed.
What a sad decision by Bible Society Australia to cease a great Christian newspaper that was created by a talented and gifted journalist and intellectually editor, John Sandeman. You reported in an unbiased manner on everything that occurred in Christian communities and events and even interviewed the Late Emeritus Auxiliary Catholic Bishop Rev Geoffrey Robinson on the subject of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. Great reading it was! May you be blessed abundantly by God Our Father always in this earthly journey and beyond 🙏🏻
Being a Christian entrepreneur, I have always found it difficult to discern which ideas are from God, and which are my own crazies. Starting Eternity was a crazy idea, but definitely of God. For me in 2009, bad news did come in 3s. Over the course of a week my son Jacob was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, I went to a funeral of a dear old friend, and I got laid off – by the Sydney Anglicans, who blew $80m or so borrowing to buy shares (margin lending) then lost it all in the GFC. It was at that time I met with John at Pyrmont, his newish Fairfax digs, and found we shared an bold idea, which turned into a brazen thing. Thanks must also go to two orgs who backed Eternity at the start, who took the risk with us – Moore College and World Vision. Thank you, and look out for Beyond Eternity, coming never.