Back in January (2019) our pastor and staff started the process of assessing all the ministries of our church as to how each on aligns to the mission, vision, core values, and discipleship process of our church. They determined that our library ministry needed to move in the same direction our church family is going.
On March 27th, I officially became the library team leader with no team members. The first task was moving the collection to a new room being created by a building program. With the services of my Sunday School class, we prepared the collection for the move and made the move in four weeks. All of us have jobs and have daily commitments so most of our work was done on Wednesday evenings. The actual move itself had to be done in a few days so many of us readjusted our schedules in order to make it happen by the deadline. To God be the glory!
Our next step was unloading the borrowed carts which made the logistics possible. That took three Wednesday evenings. Members of my Sunday School class plus a couple of others have continued to set up the space. Currently we are doing an inventory to confirm what items are on the shelves. We hope to finish the inventory during the next two Wednesday evenings.
Layered on top of these actions, we are also working out a new direction for this library ministry. We are dramatically changing the purpose and mission of the collection and the actions of the ministry. Our focus is on making disciples. As we finalize our concept, I will share our two-page description with you. We are very excited about what God is doing in our midst! Hopefully, we will have our grand opening on August 11 when our new building opens.
Grateful,
Morlee Maynard
Comments
We have another first! A couple of weeks ago, a few preteens asked me if they could have a reading group this summer. I talked with our children’s minister, Melissa, about it. She loved the idea since she is a former reading recovery teacher. She found 2 dates on the church calendar to run by the parents. The parents agreed to the dates and gave us times that would work for them. Melissa emailed all the preteen parents the dates and asked them to let me know if they could come.
We had 2 families participate in the first session which was last Wednesday at 3:00 pm. You will see we had 4 girls participate who are holding their books in the photo. We also had their younger siblings with us who enjoyed the puzzles in the room.
We used the same format that we use with the adults—each participant selects his or her Enrichment Center book(s). During our session each one has an opportunity to share what they experienced while they read the book. For the first time doing such with this group, they did well in sharing the story and a thought or two.
Our next gathering is July 16 at 10:00 am.
By the way, we are adding a men’s reading group to our Fall Wednesday evening schedule. Can’t wait
Here's where I display my ignorance. What are these reading groups? How do they work? Do they all read the same book or different books?
I would not call that ignorance! Great question! A few years ago one of our CLN members shared that their book club in her church has each member read a different book then share when they meet. As a Christian educator, I loved that approach so we started reading groups right after that which involves participants to select books from our church library. Each of us reads at our own pace. No one has to buy a book. When we meet we focus on what God did with us while we read the previous week. Each of us have the opportunity to share each week. For some in these groups never get to speak during their Sunday Bible study groups because their teachers lecture. These weekly sessions are meaningful spiritual moments as we share thoughts we had while reading the previous books--fiction and nonficition. Our conversations are very meaningful in sharing our journeys while reading. I often hear members say "this reading group is the best time of my week."
We call them reading groups because our church has had 2 long time book clubs for senior adults that rarely select Christian fiction and nonfiction. When the library team decided to start a book club, we wanted to signal that our groups were different than these book clubs. And our church was and is transitioning from classes to groups so we wanted to be part of that transition. After 3 years, we now have 2 groups that meet on Wednesday evenings during our Discipleship ministry. One for men and one for women. And we have 1 group that meets Wednesday mornings during the Women's Ministry Bible study time. To say the least, these reading groups have increased our circulation.
By the way, the Senior Adult Womens Book Club now selects many of their books on their annual reading list from the church library. And they gave me their 2026 list asking me to add the books to our collection if we don't already have them. They meet once a month. Two members of our morning women's reading group are also in the women's book club so they have been champions for the church library.
I'm curious to know how many women participate in the senior adult book club and how many books do you order to accommodate this group?
Our book club has been reading the same title each month. Our library has been ordering between 5 and 10 books of the same title for the book club monthly. We are ending up with multiple copies of books that we don't have room for on the shelves. At present we are holding the excess copies in storage. It has been suggested that we offer these selections to be checked out by other churches, but the implementation of this idea exceeds our time commitment from volunteer library workers. Thoughts or suggestions?
Great questions! The Women's Senior adult book club has been around for many years. They currently have 20 active participants.
We only have 1 copy of most of the books on their annual list. Some of their books do not meet our selection criteria. An increasing number of them check out the copy we have in our collection since they only meet once a month and they are all aware of the annual list. Right now we have a few of the titles on reserve for the club members who think ahead.
We have another first! Our non-fiction shelf signage now has our church mission statement key words connected to our Dewey categlories. A win-win for sure with our pastor and church staff. Click on Fullscreen to see the pictures.
We had our first ever preschool storytime in the Enrichment Center this morning! We had no idea how many people would show up so we were very surprised to have 17 people! That included 9 preschoolers plus mothers and one dad. None of us had ever done a storytime in our church so winged it. Our preschool minister was terrific to work with on this opportunity. And our Mothers Day Out leader surprised us to help. Several MDO preschoolers came.
As the parents and preschoolers arrived, we had blocks and coloring sheets ready for them. Rachel started it with introductions and prayer. As the children continued to play, I talked over them with the Moms about the Enrichment Center. Only 2 of them had ever been in the library. Then I read 2 books with the children. Since they were a mix of toddlers up to a couple of 4 year olds, they helped me read the books. Rachel led them in music activities. Then she ended our time together with prayer. They all went to the playground and had a great time together too!
I did take pictures but I forgot to get permission to use the pictures on the internet.
Our next preschool storytime will be in May. We've already started planning that one. We were amazed that so many came today. Something new often takes a few times for the word of mouth to encourage others to participate!
For your story time experiences and tips, click here.
In mid-August we started the second year for our morning reading group which takes place during the Women's Ministry group time on Wednesdays. We now have 12 in the group which is the same number we had all last year. Basically the same group. We continue to thrive spiritually and relationally as we share each Wednesday morning what we experienced the week before while reading our books. Each of us pick Enrichment Center books according to our individual interests--fiction or nonfiction. We are always amazed how God works through our weekly sharing time and discussion. A new member of our group is blown away by this unique type of group experience. We also now have 2 young women in our midst.
In August we started a new "semester" for our evening group. We doubled in size from last Spring when we started the group. We now have 8 in the group that now includes a male college student, 2 older men, and the rest women who represent 3 generations.
Both groups love the way we read different books and have such a rich discussion based on these books.
One of the benefits of this approach is the way we all have opportunities to share our life stories. Many of the members of these 2 groups are in Sunday morning groups that are using lecture formats. People need opportunities to tell their stories. Every session is a blessing!
As of last Friday, the Enrichment Center has a new flyer/brochure that is quite different from our first edition. We are all very pleased with how it turned out how it looks and feels. Content is easy to read and to the point.FHBC Enrichment Center Practice Flyer. It is a tri-fold. Copies are available on our self-checkout counter and we give them to people we add to our online catalog when we are there.
Yesterday, was Easter. My church had 4 worship services back to back all morning. Our people were asked to go to one service then serve during one service. I went to the first service then served in the Enrichment Center the rest of the morning. I did have a few people drop in, but I had plenty of time to add 4 books to the collection and reshelve books. The awkward part for me was switching my focus all morning. Caught myself having to switch "moods" when people entered the library distracting me from the computer and the shelves to joyfully visiting with people. I was exhausted by the time I got home. Am I the only one that had a strange morning yesterday?
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 6 Next