Saturday, May 10, 2008

Library Work Day

Last week it was announced by Pastor James that there would be a church work day today - pruning some trees, working in some flower beds, window washing - you get the idea - and that breakfast would be available ("please sign-up so we'll have enough food") if we wanted to arrive at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.

I thought, "WooHoo! The library is a part of the church. What a great opportunity to get some things done and have the added blessing of BREAKFAST!"

Now, you have to understand that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I knew that Rocky was cooking. He usually cooks for the men's prayer breakfasts and being FEMALE I do not get to attend those BUT sometimes Stan has brought home leftovers: fluffy, flaky biscuits, sausage milk gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, link sausage and grits. I could almost smell it. As my father-in-law says, "It'll make you pat your feet."

(If that expression makes no sense to you, picture in your mind scratching your favorite dog behind the ear and his foot patting the floor in enjoyment. Get it? Good!)

So, understanding that there was building & grounds work needing to be done and that there was already a list of that, I asked Pastor James, "Is it better to get permission or ask forgiveness later?"
He grinned and asked, "What do you want to do?"
When I told him, he was surprised at my request. "Of course!" he said, "you are always free to have work days or training when you want. Yes, you can work Saturday & participate in the breakfast"
He is such a blessing. :-)
I'm glad he sees the library as a part of the church ministry. Many people don't understand it.

I was thrilled when five other library volunteers showed up to work this morning. I had a list of things we could do but first I explained to them the ministry of library work.

The library is the only ministry in the church that supports all the other ministries. For example: Worship Service (books for additional study, music CDs), Sunday School (topical and Bible study books), Compassionate Friends (materials on grief), MOPS (parenting books), Discipleship classes (topical materials such as finance, creation science, worldview), homeschoolers (too much to mention!), AWANA (missionary biographies), even the Easter Pageant (research on costumes, Passion of the Christ DVD) and those going on missions trips (topical books). There are materials in the library for every person in the church from babies in the nursery to senior adults, reader or not.

The library is like arms that wrap around
all the other ministries of the church.
(Sounds like a hug to me!)
They said they'd never thought about it that way before. Then they blessed me by sharing ideas about how they could picture the library materials being utilized including craft books helping VBS workers. Yea! VISION!
They spent some time just looking around (while I went in search of a fan - gotta remember to ask for the A/C to be turned on next time!) seeing how to read the spine lables and they were surprised at what they found. One new volunteer said something like, "I always just looked around in the fiction section. I never even thought there might be any non-fiction books that I might like to read." YES!
We agreed that more people would use the library if they knew what a great collection we have. I saw lightbulbs lighting up in their eyes with ideas of how to promote the library. Ideas? Excitement? Anticipation? Yea again!
Then we got to work. A couple worked on sorting through some of the boxed, bagged and dusty materials in our storage closet (Bless you, Debbie & Alex!) while the rest trained for helping library patrons, checking materials in and out and learning library procedure.
I believe it was a successful work day. Not necessarily for the amount of work that was accomplished (although the training will definately prove valuable for the library in the future) as much as for library ministry team members catching the vision, the heart of the library ministry. We are here to serve the Lord by serving the church body. We have the same mission statement as the church. We desire to help our membership connect, grow, lead and serve.
Visit your church library. It might make you pat your feet.

No comments: