The Bookstore Ministry

Most likely your bookstore already has a dedicated volunteer or team whose role it is to manage inventory and bookkeeping, staff the bookstore, and become familiar with everything offered in order to assist customers and make recommendations. Many of these ideas are familiar to bookstore management:

1. Display items in creative ways. For example, set up a sample prayer corner.
2. Offer hospitality–coffee and/or tea–for patrons while they browse.
3. Create a “Basics of Orthodoxy” display with introductory books about Christianity and Orthodoxy.
4. Create a “Book of the Month” or “Author of the Month” display with staff/volunteer reviews.
5. Establish a Summer Reading Program and use a theme or goal to motivate parishioners to plug into Orthodox literature during vacation months.
6. Create a children’s corner, where children can sit and color or read while parents browse.
7. Bring in art and gift items that support Orthodox Christian culture and way of life.
8. Consider enlisting volunteers to open the bookstore during the week and advertise–on parish signage, in the local paper and on the website.

Role of the Missions & Evangelism Ministry

Your team can assist the bookstore team to reach a wider audience, recruit additional volunteers and subsidize or promote specific programs.

1. Market bookstore and hours on external parish signage and website.
2. Ask the bookstore team for permission to hold small meetings or book studies in the bookstore, if the store can accommodate it. This brings potential customers into the bookstore and takes advantage of the pleasant atmosphere of icons and liturgical items.
3. Offer book reviews to the bookstore team and for publication in monthly newsletter.
4. Recruit additional volunteers for reading and reviewing books.
5. Set up a system allowing the bookstore director or clergy to freely give certain books or pamphlets, as appropriate, to inquirers and catechumens.
6. Promote the bookstore during retreats or guest lectures with a corresponding display.