Support Your Local Christian Book Store
Some of you who visit Wordwise will be living in a rural area, or in a small town. You may not have the benefit of being near a Christian book store. But even you can support the one nearest to you by ordering materials by phone and asking for them to be mailed out to you.
On the other hand, if you have access to a store within driving distance, do all you can to support it and encourage the proprietors. Here are a few ideas.
¤ You could get to know the proprietors as friends, and try to drop into the store occasionally to encourage them.
¤ You could ask to be put on the store’s mailing list to be informed of new materials and specials the store is promoting.
¤ You could go in and browse from time to time, to see what is currently in stock.
¤ You could purchase study materials for your Sunday School, or Bible study groups, etc. through the store.
¤ You could annually upgrade your church library with budgeted purchases from the store.
¤ You could review good books, videos, etc. (new and old) in the church bulletin. (Encourage your people to be discerning. Not every book that claims to be “Christian” is true to Scripture.)
¤ You could purchase books (especially Bibles) to be used as awards for Sunday School attendance, or for presentation to your high school, or college graduates.
¤ You could encourage the people in your church to consider buying materials from the store to be used as birthday or Christmas gifts.
¤ You could ask the proprietor of the store to come and make a brief presentation in a Sunday Service.
¤ You could allow the book store to set up a book table at a Christmas Banquet or other special occasion. (You might also use some books, DVD’s, or CD’s from the store as door prizes.)
¤ You could encourage your teachers and other leaders to avail themselves of workshops and teacher training sessions often sponsored by these stores.
¤ You could promote the store with an occasional poster on the bulletin board.
¤ You could encourage people to pray for the store and those who work there. (I recently talked to the owner of one such store. He said that in the past couple of years or so they have had $4,000 worth of vandalism– broken windows, eggs thrown at the side of the building, etc.) Prayer for God’s protection and guidance is important for them.