We follow the Associated Press Stylebook for Gleaner style, with the exception that we follow the Chicago Manual of Style for book titles, magazine titles, musical works, footnotes, etc.
Download the Gleaner Style Guide
MAGAZINE STYLE:
Feature and Column Style: Proper personal names are spelled out completely in first use. First or last names are acceptable for second use depending on article style.
News: Please refer to the Associated Press Stylebook for other questions. Proper personal names are spelled out completely in first use, with last names for second use. If two or more people with the same last name are mentioned, then use first name in second mention. EXCEPTION: in family announcements, use the first name. News article headlines or subheads should form an active phrase of no more than 5–8 words: “Pathfinders Wash Windows in Spokane,” NOT “Clean Windows, Warm Hearts.” Photo captions must use complete information in order to stand alone without article context.
USAGE STYLE:
Abbreviations: Abbreviations of months can be used for dates. Eg: Oct. 22, 1844.
A few universally recognized abbreviations are required in some circumstances. Some others are acceptable, depending on the context. But in general, avoid alphabet soup. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms that the reader would not quickly recognize. Abbreviations and most acronyms should be avoided in headlines.
AVOID AWKWARD CONSTRUCTIONS: Do not follow an organization's full name with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses or set off by dashes. If an abbreviation or acronym would not be clear on second reference without this arrangement, do not use it. Names not commonly before the public should not be reduced to acronyms solely to save a few words.
Spell out names on first reference (e.g. school and conference names), then abbreviate on next reference where appropriate. Eg: The Upper Columbia Conference welcomed a new president. The new president came to UCC from Florida Conference.
Academic degrees: Use full spelling if necessary to use: bachelor’s degree; a master’s; Bachelor of Arts; Master of Science.
Academic grades: Eighth-grade student; 11th-graders; fourth- and fifth-grade students.
Ages: Numerals for people but not for inanimates. Use hyphens for adjective use. Example: He was 8 years old; 8- and 9-year-olds; the 50-year-old building; or five-year-old church.
Author attribution: List person’s full-name, organization and position, in that order. Schools: Those who regularly submit articles are listed as: John Doe, CAA Gleaner correspondent. Occasional writers or those whose identity is more clearly specific: Sam Johnson, Milo Academy Church pastor; Susan Smith, HVJA principal; Tiffany Jones, UCA sophomore. Churches: Those chosen by their church to regularly submit articles are listed as: Joan Smith, Canyonville Church communication leader. Otherwise use more specific identity: Joe Johnson, Enumclaw Church head elder; Kristy Allen, Hillside O’Malley Church member. Conferences/Organizations: Writers from local conferences or various organizations who submit articles are listed as: Heidi Baumgartner, Washington Conference communication director; John Smith, ASI Northwest president.
Bible Chapters: Abbreviate Bible chapters in news articles: Genesis (Gen.), Exodus (Exod.), Leviticus (Lev.), Numbers (Num.), Deuteronomy (Deut.), Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel (1 Sam.), 2 Samuel (2 Sam.), 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles (1 Chron.), 2 Chronicles (2 Chron.), Ezra, Nehemiah (Neh.), Esther, Job, Psalm, Proverbs (Prov.), Ecclesiastes (Eccl.), Song of Solomon (Song of Sol.), Isaiah (Isa.), Jeremiah (Jer.), Lamentations (Lam.), Ezekiel (Ezek.), Daniel (Dan.), Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah (Obad.), Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk (Hab.), Zephaniah (Zeph.), Haggai (Hag.), Zechariah (Zech.), Malachi (Mal.), Matthew (Matt.), Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans (Rom.), 1 Corinthians (1 Cor.), 2 Corinthians (1 Cor.), Galatians (Gal.), Ephesians (Eph.), Philippians (Phil.), Colossians (Col.), 1 Thessalonians (1 Thess.), 2 Thessalonians (2 Thess.), 1 Timothy (1 Tim.), 2 Timothy (2 Tim.), Titus, Philemon, Hebrews (Heb.), James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude and Revelation (Rev.).
Bullets: Leave off punctuation for a simple “laundry list” of bullets. Use periods for anything that is a complete sentence or completes a sentence with a longer phrase. Examples:
We should consider three things:
- Style
- Consistency
- Readability
When talking to children, it's importand to:
- Be clear and still kind.
- Offer consistent praise.
- Make suggestions for improvement.
You will feel healthier if you:
- Exercise: This can include fun things like dancing and playing with your kids, not just jogging or lifting.
- Drink water: Try to forego the sugar and diet drinks. Pure water is always the best way to hydrate.
Capitalization: Official proper names such as full church, school, institutional names: Portland Adventist Academy; BUT Portland and Columbia academies. Departments: Walla Walla University university relations department; BUT Walla Walla University School of Theology. Also: God, Jesus, Christ, He, His, etc.
Churches and Districts: Capitalize as part of the formal name of a building, a congregation or a denomination; lowercase in other uses. Do not use Adventist (in print edition) — it is assumed: Omak Church, in Omak, Wash.; Omak and Othello churches; Canby/Estacada District; the Adventist Church; the church. If a church is within a conference which covers more than one state, or the location is not obvious within the name, add the location: Breath of Life Church in Seattle.
Committees: Names of committees are usually lowercase. This includes school boards, nominating committee, executive committee, administrative committee, etc. Only capitalize the name of a committee if it is formal, such as the Senate Select Committee or House Appropriations Committee.
Courtesy titles: Do not use "Elder" in front of pastor’s names: NOT Elder James Smith, BUT James Smith, pastor. Generally we do not list academic or professional degrees in abbreviated form preceding or following a name unless, in the opinion of the editors, the nature of the article demands it for credibility: NOT Dr. John Smith, BUT John Smith, physician. Exception: ACCION (Spanish) page.
Dates: Don’t set off with commas ... when using only a month and year or only a month and date: October 2008 or Oct. 8. Use commas between a month, date and year when together: Oct. 8, 2008. Use commas with day, month and date: Sunday, Oct. 8. Years can start sentences: 2008 was an exceptional year …
Articles (web edition): include the year with the date as much as possible for the world wide audience.
Dashes:
- Em dashes: are used with phrases within sentences — especially ones like this. Leave a space on either side of an em dash.
- En dashes: are a short way to say "through" in bridging a span of time or other numbers: 50–60 widows; 1970–1971; pp. 37–59. Unlike the em dash, there is no extra space on either side of the en dash.
- Hyphens: create compound words. Use AP Stylebook for examples of what to hyphenate and what not to hyphenate.
Dimensions: Use figures: 5-minute trip; 4,273-foot peak; 8 inches; 105 mm; the new church van gets 4 miles more per gallon.
Distance: Use figures for 10 and above, spell out one through nine: He walked four miles; the trip spanned 43 miles.
Ellipses: Put one space on each side of ellipses ... just like this. If ending a sentence, punctuate, use a space and then insert the ellipsis. …
End notes and Footnotes: Rather than showing the references for books and Bible texts within the body text of articles, Gleaner prefers to place references in end notes at the end of the article. These references should follow the Chicago Manual of Style in their appearance. DO NOT simply cite the initials of a book without first spelling out the complete title. There are always Gleaner readers who are new Adventists — not familiar with all of the commonly used book titles. Always give the author’s complete name, full title of the book or magazine, the location, publisher, and date of publication, and the page number in the first reference. For instance: Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy (Nampa: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2002), 234.
Height: Always listed in numerals: He is 5 feet 6 inches tall; the 5-foot 6-inch man; the 5-foot man; the basketball team signed a 7-footer; the storm left 5 inches of snow. Use abbreviation marks such as 5’6" only in very technical terms. Feet=’; Inches=".
Italics: Italicize the following: All book titles; magazine titles [The Great Controversy, Adventist Review, Liberty, Signs of the Times, Letter 33]; major musical works [Handel’s Messiah]; a series of programs on TV, radio, DVD, CD, podcast, video [Voice of Prophecy, New Beginnings, Native New Day]. Do NOT italicize the following: Ministries, when the reference is not referring to the media program itself, but to the organization or some other part of its ministry [Voice of Prophecy’s Discover Bible lessons, meetings sponsored by The Quiet Hour or Voice of Prophecy].
Months: When abbreviating months of the year, use the AP Stylebook. Capitalize the names of months in all uses. When a month is used with a specific date, abbreviate only Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov. and Dec. Spell out when using alone, or with a year alone.
Phone Numbers: Use the AP Stylebook. Example: 360-555-1234.
Quotation marks: Remember in typical sentence structure, periods and commas always go inside quotations marks. The dash, semicolon, question mark and exclamation mark go within quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside the marks when they apply to the whole sentence. Use quotation marks to set off book chapter titles, magazine article titles, movements within major musical works ["Halleluiah" from Handel’s Messiah], hymns in the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal or other collections of songs ["Sleepers Awake," "Kum Ba Ya"] and sheet music titles; individual titles, themes and slogans within a series of programs on TV, radio, DVD, CD, plays, podcasts, video, ["Gathering of the Nations" from the Native New Day series, "How to Know the Future" from the New Beginnings DVD seminar materials] and titles of leaflets; Themes for retreats, events, week of prayers, etc. [NPUC 45th Regional Convocation “Changing Seasons, Unchanging God”]
Seasons: Lowercase spring, summer, fall, winter unless part of a formal name or title: The 2010 Summer Bash.
States: Spell out state names. Postal codes are used only within a full address.
Time: Use figures except for noon and midnight: 11 a.m.; 3:30 p.m.
Time zones: Capitalize full name: Pacific Standard Time; BUT Pacific time. Abbreviation is acceptable: PDT; PST.
Titles: Gregg Reference style. Captialize all elements except article, short prepositions, and short conjunctions.
Trademarks: Unless a trademark symbol is embedded as part of an actual logo design which must be used, the Gleaner style is to ignore any such marks in regular references within articles and other content throughout the magazine.
Website: As short as possible. Preferred examples: gleanernow.com, wallawalla.edu.
Years: No need to reference in an news article (print edition) unless it would otherwise be unclear — i.e. in an issue just before or after a new year. Do include the year in the web edition.
The following are certain words and phrases commonly encountered, some unique to Christian or Adventist usage. All are listed with Gleaner style recommendations.
A
About preferred instead of approximately, or around
Adventist Book Center (ABC)
Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA); or ADRA International
Adventist education
Adventist Health refers to the network of hospitals and health facilities in the North Pacific and Pacific unions
Adventist Health System refers to a network of hospitals and health facilities in the Lake, Mid-America, Southern and Southwestern unions
Adventist Healthcare refers to a network of hospitals and health facilities in the Columbia and Atlantic unions
Adventist Information Ministry is the telephone answering service used by many of the TV and radio ministries. It is sometimes referred to as A.I.M. in second reference.
Adventist News Network is a General Conference entity that supplies news about the church to the public, and supplies a news feed to church websites
Adventist Review is the official church publication for the North American Division
Adventist World is a monthly edition of the Adventist Review, which is distributed worldwide
Adventist world church
Adventist World Radio (AWR)
AdventSource
Adventurer club used without the name of the specific club; Orchards Adventurer Club used with the name of the local church (NOT Adventure Club)
Amazing Facts (TV series)
Amazing Facts (the organization)
And: It is always and instead of &. Exception: use & if it is part of an organization title.
Andrews University Theological Seminary; NOT Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University; (NOTE: The term Andrews University by itself refers to the undergraduate level institution on the same campus as the seminary.) (This is a change as of August 2024.)
ASI (Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries), ASI International; in subsequent mentions: ASI International, ASI Northwest Chapter, or just ASI when location/scope has already been defined
B
Bible
biblical, biblically
Breath of Life (TV series)
Breath of Life (the organization)
C
camp meeting, not campmeeting. Proper names capitalized: Gladstone Camp Meeting.
CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) in first mention; CHIP in subsequent mentions
church communication leader, no "s" (NOT communications, NOT church communications director or secretary) Green Lake Church communication leader is the preferred usage in bylines following articles.
CognitiveGenesis
Columbia Gorge Church pastor when referring to the pastor of a specific church (This usually follows the pastor’s name)
church pastor without reference to a specific church
conference communication director
cross lower case when referring to the cross of crucifiction
D
Daylight Saving Time
E
e-book
Earth referring to the planet; earth referring to dirt
Ellen G. White is the Ellen G. White Estate’s preferred first usage for her name — rather than EGW, E.G. White or Ellen White, though all are registered.
end times, no caps
enewsletter
evangelism is a noun.
evangelistic is an adjective.
evangelistically in an adverb.
evangelize is a verb; variants include evangelizing and evangelized.
evangelization is a noun.
F
Faith For Today (TV series)
Faith For Today (the organization)
Faith For Today’s Lifestyle Magazine (TV series)
foot washing (noun)
foot-washing (adj) foot-washing service
G
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, General Conference for use in church magazines only. GC in subsequent mentions.
Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, for use in non-church publications.
General Conference president, use Adventist world church president instead
Gleaner is published by the Atlantic Union
Gleaner, self-reference, published by the North Pacific Union
NWAdventists.com
GleanerWeekly (previous name of weekly email newsletter)
gospel (generic) or The Gospel of Mark
Great Commission
Great Controversy, The (when speaking of the ongoing war between Christ and Satan — The Great Controversy is capitalized the same as World War II or The Great Depression)
Great Controversy, The (the book title)
Guide is published by Pacific Press Publishing Association
H
handbell
healthcare
heaven, heavens, heavenly
Herald is published by the Lake Union
Hope Channel
I
It Is Written (TV series)
It Is Written (the organization)
M
Magabook, capitalized when referring to the program, i.e. Magabook program; otherwise, "they were selling magabooks around the ..."
Maranatha Volunteers International in first mention; Maranatha in subsequent mentions.
Master of Art in media ministry; master’s in media ministry
Messenger is published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada
Mission Projects, Inc.
N
news reporter, news writer
NEWSTART program
noon (never 12 noon)
Northwest Religious Liberty Association (NRLA), to be used in place of North Pacific Union public affairs and religious liberty department.
North Pacific Union Conference (NPUC) for use in church magazines only.
Seventh-day Adventist Church Northwest headquarters in Ridgefield, Washington, for use in public media
NWAdventists, name for social media accounts connected to the Gleaner. Use hashtag: #NWAdventist
O
One-Day Church
Oregon Conference women’s ministries director [notice the department and title are not capitalized, and the department comes before the individual’s title]
Our Little Friend is published by Pacific Press
Outlook is published by the Mid-America Union
Over/Under, do not use to compare size or measurement: NOT "… over 10,000 people," BUT "… more than 10,000 people." Use "less than" or "nearly" instead of "under."
P
Pacific Press Publishing Association is located in Nampa, Idaho; Pacific Press in subsequent mentions.
Pathfinder club when used without the name of a specific club; Vancouver Pathfinder Club when used with the proper name of the club. When referring to a group of kids and/or adults who are members, use Pathfinders (plural). It is always a proper noun and thus capitalized.
Pathfinder honor, example: Quilting honor
PlusLine (part of AdventSource)
Primary Treasure is published by Pacific Press
Project PATCH
Q
Q & A
R
Record is published by the Southwestern Union
Recorder is published by the Pacific Union
S
Sabbath School, no abbreviation and especially NOT S.S. Lower case indiviudal classes (kindergarten, earliteen, etc.)
scripture lower case scriptural lower case
Second Coming or Second Coming of Jesus
Seventh-day Adventist [person] in first mention; Adventist in subsequent mentions.
Seventh-day Adventist [church] in first mention; Adventist is preferred over SDA in subsequent mentions.
Seventh-day Adventist Church North American headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland for use in public media
North American Division for use in church magazines, only in first mention. NAD in subsequent mentions.
Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland for use in public media only in first mention; Adventist Church world headquarters in subsequent mentions.
world church for use in church magazines
Seventh-day Adventist Church headquarters for Oregon in Gladstone; or Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for use in public media
Oregon Conference for use in church magazines
Green Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church for use in public media
Green Lake Church for use in church magazines only in first mention. (It is assumed that all churches mentioned in the Gleaner are Adventist churches unless otherwise identified.)
ShareHim
Signs of the Times is published by Pacific Press
Spirit, Holy Spirit
Spirit of Prophecy, not encouraged for general use as a description of Ellen G. White’s writings.
spiritual
stepson, stepdaughter
step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren
T
T-shirt
The Quiet Hour (radio series)
The Quiet Hour (the organization)
Third Angel’s Message
Three Angels’ Messages
Three Angels Broadcasting Network, use 3ABN on second reference
Tidings is published by the Southern Union
U
Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, regional headquarters for the Adventist church, for use in public media
Upper Columbia Conference for use in church magazines. UCC in subsequent mentions.
V
Vacation Bible School or VBS
ValueGenesis
Vibrant Life is published by Review and Herald Publishing Association
Vibrant Native Life is published by Review and Herald Publishing Association
Visitor is published by the Columbia Union
Voice of Prophecy (radio series)
Voice of Prophecy (the organization)
Voice of Prophecy Discover Bible lessons
W
website, web, web page, web feed, webcam, webcast, webmaster
week of prayer
week of spiritual emphasis
Women of Spirit is published by Review and Herald Publishing Association
123
5K, 10K
References
Associated Press Stylebook apstylebook.com
Chicago Manual of Style chicagomanualofstyle.org
Gleaner Style Guide nwadventists.com/styleguide
The Gregg Reference Manual