Small Group Ministries and Coordinating With the Library Ministry

Jo, Great topic for discussion.

When I was a small group pastor at a previous church, I made it a point of knowing what was in the library to let our groups know. I stumbled upon it by accident when I went to check out the church library and discovered a host of resources. I created a list of valuable resources for our groups that could be found in the library and my office. Then we would talk about them at our leaders meetings as we discussed what groups were studying or wanted to study.

I think it's important for churches to have some place to pool resources and get a list to people. Personally I think a well-run small group ministry knows what each small group is studying at any given time and may even preview material to make sure it is soundly within our Reformed world view.

I preview material regularly -- espec DVD study material -- regularly so I have good suggestions for our groups.

BTW, we don't currently keep small group material in the library since it's too small. I've reserved a big section in my study for those materials which is always accessible. Most of our groups are doing sermon based study at this time.

Wow that is great that you promote the library and resources. Librarians for the most part I am finding do not feel supported from the other church ministry groups. Our small group ministry has just asked me for a list of resources and was suprised when I gave them such a long list. 

Listing, compiling and maintaining a good library does take a significant amount of time and research to compile. That is one reason I belong to a Church Library association. To get help and support in Library as a ministry.