About

Together magazine is the bi-monthly Christian resources publication for the UK.
Connecting Christian suppliers, retailers, authors and church leaders.

History of Together

In September 2012, Premier Christian Media and CCP announced their decision to cease the publication of Christian Marketplace, their trade magazine for Christian resources. With the recent closures of two bookshop chains and a major distributor, it was a challenging period for the industry. However, the magazine’s editor, Clem Jackson, approached Steve and Mandy Briars of Cedar Tree, with the idea of launching a new trade magazine.

Steve and Mandy had already established Christian Resources Together, with the recently launched annual Retailers and Suppliers Retreat. Their vision was to bring the industry together in mutual support and fellowship, and they perceived how a regular trade magazine could effectively complement this work. It was a step of faith, however, as there were no immediate funds available for launching a magazine.

With a small team, and Clem Jackson as Editor and Eddie Olliffe as Consulting Editor, they published the first magazine issue in February 2013. Over the years that followed, the team changed as others contributed to the work, including John Watkins, Fiona Lloyd and Kevin Campbell, as well as several regular columnists. The marketing and fundraising business Yeoman’s also played a significant role in the success of the magazine by overseeing its design, print and dispatch for a decade.

When Steve and Mandy decided to retire in 2022, they began to look for a new business to continue the publication of Together. At the eleventh hour a home for the magazine was found at Onwards and Upwards, a young Christian book publisher and member of the Evangelical Alliance, directed by former missionary Luke Jeffery. The company had recently employed magazine designer Leah Jeffery as its new Design and Marketing Manager. With Luke’s background in bringing churches from multiple denominations together on mission, youth work, and prayer and worship, and with the skills and capacity for taking on a new Christian resources venture, Together magazine seemed a perfect fit.

Together was relaunched in May 2023 with an additional vision – to respond as a whole industry to what God is doing across the church and nation today, and to resource church leaders and their teams. As well as informing retailers of the best of the latest resources, each magazine has a theme connected to a key opportunity or challenge for the church, with articles from key Christian leaders outside the industry, and carefully selected new resources that connect to the theme and will help equip the church.

The magazine continues to receive strong support from across the trade, including sponsorship from the Bible Society, and has a growing readership, particularly amongst church leaders.

Luke Jeffery and Leah Jeffery at Onwards and Upwards Publishers

Luke Jeffery and Leah Jeffery of Onwards and Upwards Publishers

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