ChristianStall: How to Start a Christian Book Club

Step 1 - Planning

Start by planning where you'd like to hold meetings. Decide where you want to
have the book club. Consider the size of the space where you'll be meeting.
There may be a meeting room at your church your pastor will let you use.

Step 2 - Who is in my team

Think about who you'd like to be in your club. A consistent group of five makes
for a more productive, cohesive book club, than a very large club with unconsistent
members. Who will you recruit and from where? Should gender be a qualifying
criteria. Would you prefer a group of your close friends? Do you want to include
family members? Or, do you want to keep it to your church? The downside of same
church member is usually they share the same viewpoint regarding biblical verses
and less chance to learn. Another alternative, if your goal is to meet new Christians,
you might want to open up membership. Also, appoint member to be part of the
team by assigning treasury, meeting minutes taker and rotating the roles.

Step 3 - Setting Objective and invitation

This is perhaps the most important part of any grouping, yet often forgotten:
Set objective. Once decided on the objective, have it printed out and placed
on some prominent place so that everyone knows where they are heading for.

Cap membership and get a commitment from everyone who says yes. Even those with
the very best intentions can take on too much and your book club membership
will suffer. Are you going to allow members to invite others? In your original
invitation (which can be a follow up to a phone call, especially if you want
initiate contact "in person") -- it should be written, via email is
the easiest way these days. Let them know that while everyone has to miss a
meeting here and there, that you hope that they'll set that time aside for your
Christian Book Club. Your membership may be directly tied to the space you're
using.

Step 4 - Meeting Consistently

Be consistent right from the start. Will the meetings always be held at your
house or the church? Once that's established, decide what day and time you want
to hold it and keep to that day (or night) and time. Logically, you will probably
want to meet every four to six weeks to give members time to read the book.

Step 5 - Books preference according to weaknesses

Decide how you will choose books. Will you let members make suggestions? A good
way is to do a simple survey, finding out what is lacking in the member's christianity
foundation, such as faith, worship, devotional, bible study, prayers, missionary
works. It is, your club, after all, and if you want, you can actually choose
the books categories that you want.

Step 6 - Reminders via email or sms

Send out an email or an Evite to each member. Require they rsvp by at least
a week before that next book club meeting. Include in that email or Evite a
way for members to tell you/other club members to let you know (if you do potluck)
what they're bringing., sharing what they have learned from the books.

Step 7 - Light up your meeting with excitement

Serve food and drink. Soulsoup is a great way to do it. One book club based
in Texas tries to choose their "Eats" (as they call the book club
food) with some relation to the book. For example, if they were going to read
Facing The Giants), they each bring something linked to American football; when
they read Persuasion (an ideal book, a classic) for your Christian Book Club,
they held an English tea. Ask each member to select a small piece of scripture
that has relevancy to the book or novel that you're reading that month.

Step 8 - Meeting Preparation

Prepare topics for discussion. Your Christian Book Club is likely to evolve
as time goes by, but in starting, it's best to keep it organized. It's up to
you to keep the ball rolling/conversation going.

Step 9 - Setting Meeting Duration

Set a cap (eg, 2 to 4 p.m.) for how long the meetings will run so that everyone
(and you) are able to make plans appropriately. It's a thoughtful way to run
a Christian Book Club.

Step 10 - Choose a book or books.

There are so many Christian/faith-based books these days, and they span the
genres. You can find Christian historical novels, historical romances, suspense
thrillers, chick lit, family stories, you name it. However you decide, you should
know what the next book will be by the current meeting. Make the announcement
of the next book

Tips

- Open and finish the club meetings with a prayer -- it supports your faith
and the intention of the club, as well as signifying when you want the meeting
to start and end.

- Here are some reading suggestions according to categories:

Faith building / Christian Living

Little by Little: A Journey to Success and Significance for Life - Jack Shaw

InStep With God - Charles F Stanley

Faith- Charles Colson, Harold Fickett

Against All Odds: My Story - Chuck Norris

Senior: My Amazing Year As a 59-Year-Old College Football Linebacker - Mike Flynt

Spiritual Warfare

Making Sense Of Spiritual Warfare - Eddie Smith

Devil Demons And Spiritual Warfare - Tom Brown

No Small Snake - Gordon Dalbey