Why I Love the Local Christian Bookstore (by David Almack)
Article Date: 06/10/2009 21:53:48
Originally a post on Dave Almack's blog "FaithLit", this article shares ten reasons why we can still love the local Christian bookstore.
As I begin this post, I have a confession to make: I love Christian
bookstores and always have. Maybe it’s because my first job as a
thirteen-year-old was in one, or maybe it’s because I just love to read
Christian books. In any case, I’ve been dismayed of late at the rampant
media attention to the apparently imminent demise of the local
Christian bookstore. In response, I want to share ten reasons why I
still love the local Christian bookstore and probably always will.
1. It is a place of Christian ministry in the midst of a secular retail landscape.
What other retailer do you know that makes its primary purpose “to make
evangelical Christian literature available so that people may come to
faith and maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ”? This distinctive makes
sharing the good news of the gospel a primary job function for everyone
who works in a Christian bookstore.
2. It is a place of refuge in a hostile world. Having
worked in and around Christian bookstores for the last thirteen years,
I cannot count the number of times I have heard a customer say, “I love
to come here because it is so peaceful.” It may not be exactly the
same atmosphere as Panera Bread or Starbucks, but in a real way it is a
“third place” for tired and harrased people to find a moment of respite
in the midst of their day.
3. It is a place of knowledge that can lead to personal growth.
People will spend hours in a Christian bookstore exploring the
resources available to them. I have seen people actually sitting on the
floor in the aisles in our stores, not because there are no seats, but
because they want to spend time in that particular book section. There
are also pastors wh0 could not afford to go to seminary who have gotten
much of their theological education in and through Christian bookstores.
4. It is a connecting point for the Christian community.
Very often in the hustle and bustle of our lives we do not make enough
time to connect intentionally with others. I have been amazed at the
number of times that people have “found” each other in our stores. Even
people and pastors from various denominations who would not normally
ever interact find the Christian bookstore to be a neutral place to
connect. Somehow this has always seemed to me a small picture of what
heaven will be like when all the labels are gone.
5. It is an information clearinghouse. New employees in our
Christian bookstore are overwhelmed by the expectations of customers at
what they are supposed to know. They are asked to find a CD based on a
few hummed bars of a song or to find a book based on one word in the
title or even the first name of an author. Most of the time, our
employees smile and find what people are looking for or do their best
to research it. The local Christian bookstore is also expected to be
the hub of the local Christian community and therefore aware of all the
local Christian events and activities going on at any given time. What
an incredible responsibility.
6. It is a house of prayer. Our store employees begin every
day in prayer and find that prayer is the key ingredient in the life of
the store on a daily basis. It is not unusual to walk into a local
Christian bookstore and see staff praying “out in the open” with
customers. What other retail store offers prayer on the spot as an
option for the consumer? This hallmark of the local Christian store can
lead to extensive ministry opportunities in the community as people
open up about their problems and concerns.
7. It is a resource and solutions provider. It is quite a
normal occurrence for someone to come into a local Christian bookstore
with one idea of what they want and to leave with a completely
different set of products and resources. As team members in the store
assess the needs of the customer, these conversations can lead to
effective solutions to the problems expressed that would never have
occurred to the customer themselves—e.g., a person who attends a “King
James only” church may leave with a parallel KJV/NIV Bible rather than
the latest KJV they were told they “had to have.”
8. All that great Christian stuff is available in one place right now.
I am always amazed at the number of customers who come in on Saturday
needing a product for that Sunday. They seem to expect that we will
have it in stock, and very often we do, or we are able to suggest a
better alternative. How satisfying to meet a need from our wide
selection of products which are not available at the local Barnes and
Noble or available quickly enough from Amazon.com.
9. It is a great place for bookstore team members of all ages to grow in their Christian walk.
Helping other people find Christian resources is one way to grow
spiritually. I already loved books before I joined CLC, but after
working in our stores for a while, I learned to love Christian books in
a whole new way. Customers ask lots of challenging questions about
Christianity, and this provides a great oportunity for learning and
personal growth.
10. It is a place of positive influence in the local community.
I will never forget the date of September 11, 2001, as the day that we
were able to show our faith in a more public way than I had ever
experienced. Our entire team and many customers formed a prayer circle
in the parking lot of our local Christian bookstore and prayed for half
an hour, many strangers “breaking” the prayer circle as we prayed to
make the circle even bigger. When I closed my eyes to pray, we had
maybe twenty people in the circle. By the time I opened my eyes, we had
over fifty.
I pray that even with the current economic struggles we are all
facing, the importance and special place of the local Christian
bookstore will not be overlooked. I intend to visit my local Christian
bookstore (or perhaps I should call it a resource center) for years to
come.
Keywords: bookstore, local bookstore, Christian, FaithLit, reasons, love
|
|