by Heidi Macias

Finding the balance between church priorities and good business practices is a challenge for all church bookstores, and this tension particularly comes to the surface when deciding whether or not to keep the store open during worship.

Clearly, attendance at the worship service should be the No. 1 priority for those who are at the church Sunday morning. Nevertheless, there are significant reasons why keeping your bookstore open during worship might be beneficial.

Some church visitors will feel more comfortable in your store than anywhere else in the building, and they may ask you questions more readily than they will approach a formal information booth. So it's a great idea to keep updated, printed church information in the store-I do this and end up using it all the time.

Every time someone enters your store there is a potential for ministry that goes beyond a purchase. However, this is much more likely to occur during a slower time in the store-such as during church services-when there is a feeling of peace and safety.

It's not inappropriate to bring up the issue of increased sales. For most stores, Sunday morning is the biggest sales day and the time when the most people are in the building. Taking opportunities to capitalize on that, within reason, is entirely appropriate.

If your church has only one service Sunday mornings, it is perhaps more difficult to justify being open, as staying open will mean that at least one staffer will miss the only service. But if staffers serve on a rotating basis and only have to miss the service once every four to six weeks, this may still be acceptable.

-Heidi Macias is manager of Books of Hope at Community of Hope Lutheran Church in Rosemount, Minn.

-Read the complete article here.

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