It is a question, it seems, only needed for churches without libraries. I believe every church I been involved with has had some kind of library made useful to others in the congregational. Some of the libraries are those of the pastor(s), others are small, mostly because of space allowcations. The last church library I was involved with had over 2200 volumes for a membership of a little more than 200 persons, including a section of more for children, perhaps over 500. Then I went to a larger church. the first one had expanded and built a very large new building, seating in the sanctuary, perhaps 700 or more. It has a choir room, a robe room, a kitchen, an office, a large foyer, and off that an overflow room, and a fairly large library room containing perhaps 1,000 volumes; it has expanded to another area on the second floor. Then there is another very large church which had a library room; not large, but in remodeling and repurposing some areas the library was eliminated.
I wonder if it leadership? My own take is that most ministers talk often about books they've read and mention them in sermons. But without a library there is little way of checking it out. It seems that if the pastor thinks books are important to reference, why not have them available in a library on site?
Just a thought.
