I want to tell you about two new ministries we have started through our library and some things we are doing to encourage people to come into the library.
We completely revamped our Summer Reading Program this year. The children signed-up the first two Sundays in June. They earned three Bible Bucks for signing up on time. They had reading logs to keep track of what books they read and the number of minutes. For each week they handed in a reading log, they earned three Bible Bucks plus one Bible Buck for each 10 minutes they read. They could read only books from our library. I also had a Bible Trivia question each week. They earned one Bible Buck for each correct answer. I had one of my youth committee members come up with the questions.
On Tuesday, August 10th we had a carnival to end the Summer Reading Program. We had ice cream, games, crafts, a story-time corner, face-painting and a prize table where they spent their Bible Bucks. I wrote to Scholastic Books and they donated books for prizes. Other prizes were unopened happy meal toys we had been collecting and some really nice $1 items I found at Borders Books. I’d talked with our Youth Director and she got youth (teens) to help with this. Over 25 children signed up for the summer reading program.
On the first Sunday of every month we have communion and the Director of Children & Family Ministries and my committee decided that on these Sundays, because they go longer, we would have the children come down to the library so they can take out books & DVDs. This has been a big success too.
The other thing we started is a Baby Ministry. When I went to our Administrative Board and told them what we wanted to do, everyone was so positive and excited to start this ministry! Every time a baby is born in our church family we present them with a book. The books the committee chose are: God's Little Lamb by Leslie Ann Clark; Little Jesus, Little Me by Doris Rikkers and Thank You, God by P.K. Hallinan. On the inside we put a book plate with the inscription "Presented to (name) From Mentor United Methodist Church and Mentor United Methodist Church Library Committee.”
I also have joined the Adult Education Committee as a representative from the library. This way I can let them know what resources we already have in the library for any courses they plan and can order books if we don't have what they need.
Our goal was to bring more awareness of all that our library has to offer and show it is NOT just a room with books.
—P.W., Librarian
Mentor United Methodist Church, Mentor, OH
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