Managing the Church
For council chairs, trustees, and others with gifts of administration
Stocking the church library
by April Yamasaki
Every Sunday morning, our church library is a busy place. Children troop in with their plastic bags of books and videos, ready to exchange them for more. A worship leader drops by to borrow a book of resources. The church librarian is busy reshelving books or helping someone find a book or magazine. Several other adults sit around a table, drawn in by the library’s cheerful atmosphere.
Our church library is mostly used by the children in the congregation, but we have tried to be deliberate about how the library contributes to adult formation as well. In addition to carrying Leader and other resources for worship leaders, we have made a commitment to purchase the BelieversChurch Bible Commentary as a resource for our Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, pastors, and lay preachers. Light fiction is popular with some in the congregation, but we also try to include nonfiction books like Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith (Good Books), which one of our adult Sunday school classes studied last year.
To get the word out about these and other books, our librarian arranges for displays in the church foyer on a regular basis, announces new additions to the library in the church newsletter, and recommends books to individuals in the congregation. I will sometimes refer to a church library book in a sermon or suggest that someone review a new book for our newsletter. Most recently, one of our young adults asked me to recommend a good devotional, and I was able to give her a list that included a book available in our church library.
Decisions about which books to acquire need to be made wisely.
In our congregation the education committee is responsible for the church library. The committee appoints the church librarian, helps with book selection as needed, and includes the library in the annual budget. To make the budgeted amount go further, our librarian regularly attends the church librarians night at our local Christian bookstore, where there are often book specials and give-aways. Of course, donations to the library are always welcome.
Given our limited budget, we can’t purchase every good book that’s advertised, and given our limited space, we’re not able to keep every book that’s donated. Decisions about which books to buy and which donations to keep need to be made carefully and wisely given our theology as a church and the readership of our congregation.
Because we have an experienced church librarian, she often makes these decisions on her own or by consulting with church members who use the library regularly. At other times she will discuss book selection with our education committee or ask me to look at a book for her. Most recently, she received a donation of several boxes of books from a retired lay minister and invited me to help her decide which books to keep for the church library, which books I might like as part of my own library, and which books to pass on to the MCC thrift store. With an experienced librarian supported by our education committee and with my involvement as a pastor, as long as donors know ahead of time that their donations might be passed on, this pattern of discernment has worked well for us.
Mostly children use the library, but it contributes to adult formation as well.
At this point, our church library is in transition. Our longtime librarian will be moving on to another responsibility, so we are in the process of identifying new leadership for the library. Some of us dream about computerizing our present card system so we can list what’s available on our church Web site and add links to other helpful resources online. A church library experiences change and grows in new ways like every other area of ministry, so we continue to look forward.
April Yamasaki is lead pastor of Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Abbotsford, British Columbia. She has written many articles and several books, most recently Making Disciples: Preparing People for Baptism, Christian Living, and Church Membership (Herald Press)