diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index f10acde..acdd98c 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+0.15 (NOT YET RELEASED)
+      - make protobuf_c_message_init() into a function (Issue #49, daveb)
+
 0.14:
       - build fix (missing dependency in test directory)
       - add generation / installation of pkg-config files. (Bobby Powers)
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.c b/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.c
index 4e4094f..3954129 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.c
+++ b/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.c
@@ -2433,6 +2433,13 @@ protobuf_c_message_free_unpacked  (ProtobufCMessage    *message,
   FREE (allocator, message);
 }
 
+void
+protobuf_c_message_init (const ProtobufCMessageDescriptor *descriptor,
+                         void                   *message)
+{
+  descriptor->message_init((ProtobufCMessage*) (message));
+}
+
 /* === services === */
 typedef void (*GenericHandler)(void *service,
                                const ProtobufCMessage *input,
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.h b/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.h
index 98bd77b..ee1af6b 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.h
+++ b/src/google/protobuf-c/protobuf-c.h
@@ -333,7 +333,8 @@ void      protobuf_c_message_free_unpacked  (ProtobufCMessage    *message,
 
 /* WARNING: 'message' must be a block of memory 
    of size descriptor->sizeof_message. */
-#define protobuf_c_message_init(descriptor, message) ((descriptor)->message_init((ProtobufCMessage*) (message)))
+void      protobuf_c_message_init           (const ProtobufCMessageDescriptor *,
+                                             void                *message);
 
 /* --- services --- */
 typedef struct _ProtobufCMethodDescriptor ProtobufCMethodDescriptor;