Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, says he's "not a worrier." Sure, he keeps an eye on retailers' shaky health, on supply chain hiccups, on tariffs that drive up costs. Even so, he's "super-excited" about Christian publishing in 2026. "The news of the world is tough and we can provide answers and hope to people."

When PW asked executives at nine Christian publishing houses to share their plans for growth in 2026, one after another also expressed optimism. They see opportunities in building up successful lines and in launching new imprints or new platforms. All are out to expand their audience.

New Directions: PRHChristian, IVP, Hachette, Church Publishing

Campbell Wharton, SVP and publisher for Penguin Random House Christian, says their new direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform, "Grace Corner," will launch in the first quarter of this year. It will be loaded with PRHChristian titles in all formats, Bibles and related texts, and "a whole new digital component that we've not had before" — streaming curriculum, live courses, webinars, and virtual events, Wharton says.

Their foray into general market territory — the faith-adjacent Align Insight imprint announced last year—comes to life in 2026 with its first titles, Steven Reese's Read Your Color: Discover Your Reading Type and Build a Life-Changing Love of Books (Nov.), followed by Vanessa Adekoya's Richer on Purpose: Create Wealth Beyond Your Nine-to-Five with Skills You Already Have (Dec.). Align, he says, attracts Christian authors who want to publish with a Christian team that understands that their faith informs their work, even if it is not explicit in their books. Such books "broaden the scope for Christian readers," Wharton says.

Still, the twin pillars of PRHChristian are its clearly evangelical imprints, WaterBrook and Multnomah. The company is celebrating WaterBrook's 30th anniversary throughout this year by "showcasing some of their backlist gems that continue to have an impact on Christian readers all across the globe," Wharton says. Every month, they will highlight an author and title with a special marketing plan. In January, it was Joanna Weaver's Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy With God in the Busyness of Life, which has sold over a million copies since it was published in 2000.

Shane White, divisional VP for sales, marketing, and publicity for Intervarsity Press, says they're excited about "starting IVP Espanol from scratch." It began in December with their first Spanish translation of a Bible study, drawn from IVPs 15-million selling Life Guide Bible Study series. The plan is for nine Spanish titles in 2026, including five more guides between now and September.

IVP is also building on its success with the First Nations Version of New Testament: An Indigenous Bible Translation in 2021 and the Psalms and Proverbs translation in 2025. Now, White says, IVP has committed to take eight to ten years to translate and distribute a First Nations Version of the Old Testament to complete the Bible.

While "books will always be who we are," White says, IVP is also building a new digital platform, titled Wholehearted Families and featuring content from IVP authors, to launch in 2027. This spring, IVP is adding to a lineup of podcasts with Hear Women, which is "designed to amplify the voices of Christian women whose experience and stories can instruct and inspire people of faith."

Daisy Hutton, VP and publisher for Hachette Nashville, home to the FaithWords and Worthy imprints, tells PW, "We are a small house facing energetic competition from larger competitors. But this is the year we are going to put our stake in the ground about who we are now and who we aspire to be."

In March, the Hachette Book Group launches its first Bible, the Majestic Illuminated Bible. The colorful KJV edition from FaithWords is among the two imprints' 31 new front list books planned for 2026. This year promises new titles from two of Hachette's biggest authors. An autobiography by prolific and popular Bible teacher Joyce Meyer will come from FaithWords in September. In October, Worthy releases William Paul Young's Return to the Shack. It is his sequel to The Shack, which spent years on bestseller lists.

Airié Stuart, SVP and publisher for Church Publishing, the umbrella publishing resource for the Episcopal Church, describes their new scholarly imprint launching this fall, Divinity & Discourse. "It will publish books in theology and religion at the intersection with other disciplines like politics, law, history, sociology, and culture, and explore the impact of religion across these other disciplines as well," she says.

For example, one of the first titles is The Anglican Church and Palestine (Sept.) edited by Episcopal Divinity School scholar Kwok Pui Lan. The book "sheds light on the overlooked role of the Anglican and Episcopal missions in shaping Palestine's history from the Balfour Declaration to today's conflict," Stuart says.

Jesse Myers, president and CEO of Baker Publishing Group, calls this "a year of building." The operative word for him is "more."

More fiction is coming with six titles a year planned for BPG's new general market imprint, Haven. The first Haven title, Even After This, by Deborah Clack, released Feb. 3. Haven titles offer a Christian viewpoint without overtly Christian themes. Myers expects it to draw new readers and give the current audience "something we know they enjoy because they're buying it from other people. So, why shouldn't they buy it from us? Haven doesn't change the core of what Baker is. It just gives us another lane to play in."

Expect more Bible studies and Bible-related books. BPG's top-selling writer, Tara-Leigh Cobble, author of The Bible Recap titles, expands her Bible study series. And last year's acquisition of Lexham Press adds its Bible study series, Planted in the Word, to BPG.

With the addition of Lexham's front list, Baker Books and Baker Academic will make "a big push towards thoughtful, serious Christian books looking at Christianity and culture, Christian thought on social issues, and more liturgical books, " Myers says. "There are a lot of really deep cultural conversations happening in the country, but also within the church. We want to publish voices towards those kinds of topics."

To help people find those books, BPG is also sporting a fresh look online. All their imprints and their retail arm, BakerBookhouse.com, have new, "more functional," websites, Myers says.

Staying the course: Eerdmans, Augsburg Fortress, B&H, HCCP

Will Bergkamp, SVP of sales, marketing, and finance at Eerdmans, notes that their respected Pillar New Testament Commentary series, which began in 1991, will expand considerably with the launch of a Pillar Old Testament series starting with two volumes on the Psalms. The first, Psalms 1-72, releases in April. Plus, Eerdmans is initiating a line of individual standalone Bible studies under the Pillar brand with In the Beginning: A Commentary on Genesis and Its Reception in the New Testament, releasing in May.

"We also want to continue what we did in 2025 with addressing some of the really pressing issues of the day," said Bergkamp, mentioning titles that brought a Christian perspective to the wars in Gaza and in Ukraine. "We're looking to cover, or maybe even start, important conversations and bring a faith perspective to the headlines."

Andrew DeYoung, Augsburg Fortress publisher, highlights growth with their children's imprint Beaming Books increasing titles by 20% and the Broadleaf imprint upping by 10% over last year. The Lutheran publishing house will also add a new confirmation curriculum under the Augsburg Fortress brand and refresh the content for its Sunday School line, Sparks.

Broadleaf, which focuses on "cultural critiques and justice-oriented books," De Young says, has begun a new partnership with Sojourners Magazine, starting with a collection drawn from 50 years of essays by leading spiritual writers. The collaboration began in January with Light for the Way: Seeking Simplicity, Connection, and Repair in a Broken World released in January

A highlight for Fortress is "continuing the legacy of Walter Brueggermann," says DeYoung, by publishing the last manuscript the acclaimed theologian wrote before his death in June. In the book, Power in the Powers (March), he examines all kinds of cultural, political, and social powers and the ultimate Power—God.

Devin Maddox, VP and publisher for B&H, an imprint of Lifeway Christian Resources, trusts that "genuine religious curiosity and new spiritual needs in our culture" will keep sales growing for traditionally religious houses.

B&H, which publishes Bibles, saw "skyrocketing demand" for scripture in for the past three years and Maddox says they are "poised" to keep riding that wave. Meanwhile, B&H and Lifeway, both part of the media arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, are zeroing in on acquiring "the best books from trustworthy voices."

An example of what he has in mind is The Man for the Day: Answering the Call to Godly Manhood, by J. Josh Smith, which released in January. Smith's first book with them in 2022, The Titus Ten: Foundations for Godly Manhood, "absolutely took off! Churches were ordering copies by the caseload," says Maddox.

"As a Christian publisher, I'm not just asking what is the market up to, and what are our readers up to. I'm asking, What is God doing? It seems like God is answering some of the questions that the culture is asking."

Looking Back and Ahead: HCCP

Schoenwald says, "We have had three record years in a row and, midway through our current fiscal year, it looks really solid." Now, they are looking both back and ahead for ways to continue revving up growth. They're focusing on acquisitions, optimizing their massive backlist, and by attracting new readers with their general market group, HarperCollins Focus.

The year began with last month's acquisition of DaySpring from Hallmark, adding to HCCPs gift books, devotionals, children's books, and more. Marketing the backlist, he says, "isn't necessarily the most flashy thing. It's things like blocking and tackling our metadata so that we can do a better job on digital marketing so people can discover our products online with more efficiency. We want to pop up first in the search engines."

All this is part of their goal to "find more readers, new readers, you know, not always going back to the same people," he says.

Schoenwald sees fertile ground in their faith-aligned HarperCollins Focus group that includes imprints where the titles are not overtly religious. "It's educational, inspirational, motivational. It's family-friendly. It's things like entertainment or leadership or self-improvement or travel."

The Focus group, including the 2022 acquisition of general market publisher Cider Mill Press, is now "well over 10% of our business, he says. "This opened all kinds of new doors for us. Accounts that perhaps wouldn't buy faith-based content will buy these general market books from us, and then over time, a lot of them eventually do start to buy some of the faith-based core content that we have as well."

However, Schoenwald emphasizes, "At the end of the day, we're a Christian publisher, a Protestant Christian publisher. We stay pretty much in our lane."