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Members of a Christian Book Club or Christian Reading Group do not have to be all male, or all female, read the same type of books or even be in the same age group. The only common denominator for members of such a book club is a deep love of Christian books (and the actual reading of those books!).
I recently started a Christian Book Club in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. I will be using the model we decided upon to illustrate a working solution to you. Please remember that you and your fellow members need to decide what will work for you, and you have complete freedom about what you want to do.
Our model is only given as an example.
We meet once monthly. The meeting takes place wherever the host for that month decides. This may be in the host’s home, in a coffee shop, or at the church that the members of the book club attend (if applicable).
The host for the month is one of the members, and the host changes every month so that every member gets a chance to be host. How the order works and where new members will fit in will need to be decided by the club members. We use alphabetical order according to member surnames.
At the monthly meeting, the following month’s host receives all other members’ financial contributions, and then uses this to buy Christian books of his/her choice during the month between meetings. Any books that he or she likes and would enjoy reading. Let’s assume that your Christian Book Club has 10 members. Thus, the host would receive $150 to spend on Christian books of his/her choice.
Quite a few books...
Are you still following along? Am I going a bit too fast? OK, I’ll slow down a bit... ;-)
These books then go into the club’s library at the next meeting. The names and authors of the books are recorded in a book club journal (any suitable journal can be used), together with the name of the host who purchased the books.
Possibly, you could arrange that a member who decides to leave the Christian Book Club for any reason may take the books that she contributed with her.
The club’s library and where it will be situated will need to be discussed. Maybe a large suitcase will work initially. As the number of books grow, I think it is a good idea that every person takes the books he or she contributed home with them after every meeting and then bring it with to the next meeting again.
This will mean quite cumbersome transport after a while, but a solution will need to be decided depending on your unique circumstances.
As members borrow books from the Christian Book Club’s library, the details of the book, the book club member and the date need to be recorded.
What happens at meetings? Good question. I guess this is where you have the most freedom. What we do is to give each member a chance to discuss the book he or she is currently busy with (or just finished) and to talk a bit about what reading the book meant to him or her. Did it have an impact on her understanding of the Christian faith, or of God? Did it improve his relationship with God?
You get the point...
Christian fellowship is important for many reasons. Not the least of these reasons are accountability and the opportunity to learn from one another. This is why starting a Christian Book Club with like-minded Christian friends is such an excellent idea.
If you have any further questions on the workings of a Christian Book Club or Christian Reading Group, I invite you to make use of the BookDisciple.com Contact Form to contact me. A link to the contact page is provided on the taskbar to the left of your screen. We can have a nice long e-mail chat about your plans.
May God bless your attempts and use your effort to bear fruit for His kingdom!
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