Recently I have begun thinning out my library. I have always been a book lover and my shelves are filled with books about Christianity, church leadership, spiritual formation, the church in society, evangelism and apologetics, preaching, etc. The shelves in my study are filled. I have read almost all of these in part or the whole. The chances of my reading them a second time are slim, so now I am placing them in other libraries and giving them away.
The key now is what books should I keep? If you were to keep just 5-10 books out of your personal library, what would they be?
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I've found that I can put many of my more popular level Christian books in the church library where other people can get at them more easily and I can still have access if I want.
ReplyDeletePassing along a book to the right person can be a great ministry too.
Also, half.com is a great place to sell books...
I have almost 650 books that are all Bible, theology, church etc. Some are commentaries and reference, others are more specific theology. Others are books that I will only pick up if I'm looking for specific info.
I have found that if I need something quickly, I'd rather have it then give it up to free up space. If you don't have the space, that's another matter. Beleive it or not, I do regularly go through and look for things to pull out and get rid of.
I do hang on loosely though and I have very little that would upset me to have gone. I purchased a software program that enables my study time to have portability and I'll probably continue to sell some hard copies - particularly of commentaries and dictionaries - to add to that electronic collection.
Dan, these are great suggestions. I, too, have begun passing along books to people as a ministry. I am also setting up a Leadership and Discipleship Library in the church to make my books accessible to people involved in the congregation's ministry. This is outside my office so it has easier access.
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