One of the reasons, I feel why bookshops have dropped off the radar with individual Christian’s and Churches is the loss of any sense of vision for the mission.

Instead of being a cutting edge pioneering work extending the kingdom of God in the towns and high streets they have drifted away from their mandate. What is needed is prayer powered, faith filled, Spirit led, relational based (local church leaders, suppliers etc), Christian run outlets for believer and unbeliever alike.

We are going through a process of change that includes a time of real hardship (as many bookshops are around the country). The process of prayer, repentance and re-commissioning in vision/mission is vital for the not only survival but the thriving of Christian run centres.

I love to watch the TV show Grand designs. You have an old dilapidated building (sometimes a ruin) and over time with a clear vision and a lot of hard work it is transformed into a property that dreams are made of. I believe God has still got grand designs for Christian bookshops in the UK. What is needed is clear God given vision and a lot of hard work to see that vision become a reality.

It is a privilege to see God breathing new life into the old Victoria building in Shrewsbury. We have seen adding to the existing bookshop, a headquarters for Youth for Christ, the head office of CMA community money advice and we are in the process of developing a café and gardens. It is hoped that it will become a centre of Christian outreach and activity.

These are truly challenging times for retail but we have a God who can deliver out of Egypt and with miracles and anointed leadership can lead us into the promise lands.

mark

To my way of thinking a Christian presence on the High Street — and in the back street! — is an essential part of our Christian service and mission. We need people to embrace and support Christian bookshops, not run us down.

Pete

For myself, well truthfully any site that can undercut the RRP on any item due to the extrinsically different and lower overheads to a bricks and mortar shop always has a somewhat unfair advantage – however come to that so do some large bricks & Mortar chains! I think that in many ways all this undercutting does in the final analysis is to devalue the goods and to begin to have a nasty effect on the original producer of the material – the authors and artists.
Also where does it all end??

As to whether these sites are doing it just to make a profit?
Well really there’s the rub of it, because truthfully the profit does matter, the profit is what enables the shop/site etc to continue to function and trade and do its job, it matters to me as much as anyone – though I hope that it is not the driving factor but it does matter – and so I suppose that for Cross Rythms etc it could well be that the selling of the items is where it makes the money to continue its mission. (FYI I would have no problem saying for Amazon or any entirely secular business it is just all about the profit).

Of course the true question is can it (or any other similar christian site) do this in a less sharp manner? is the constant undercutting of price really that necessary to ensure custom? or is it possible that they could maintain the rrp and instead trade on the goodwill engendered by their supporters and the education of the site readers to understand that by supporting them they are supporting the mission, the goals, the identity engendered – and most importantly the artists etc. Is this possible?
I think it probably is.

Despite what everyone says about the buying public (after all I am one of them too!) I believe that it is possible to educate and encourage customers, and to build community and in turn encourage loyalty without always having to ‘buy’ it and them by reducing the price on absolutely everything!
(having said this I have to put my hands up and admit to the fact that in my general book section I do reduce the price on the top new titles to offer some small attraction as I have 2 Waterstones either side of me within less than 1 minute walk and a WHSmith as well – however this reduction is at the loss of my margin & I don’t get the sales to warrant the top or extra discounts they do to offset this anyway! oh and I do run a loyalty scheme,1 point for every £10 in a transaction and 10 points = £5.00 voucher – hmm feeling a little hypocritical here now, I guess maybe what i am ultimately trying to get at is a scale and ratio thing?! hey at least I am trying to be honest!)

The supermarkets, a number of years ago, proved that price wars and constantly loss leading, undercutting etc did not really buy customer loyalty or sustainability, all it did really was ruin their reputations for a while and in turn highlighted to people the fact that they were being tricked on prices – the looser in this was the farmer and they are still loosing (I refer of course to the bread and milk saga’s), so ok they are still doing it to a degree – books, music, clothes and electricals being their new fad to compete on – no one said they had to learn from the experience!.

However the truth of it, it seems to me, is that constantly undercutting on prices does nothing but encourage a form of greed! (yes I know – cheaper prices = greed! seems like a dichotomy but it isn’t!).
The greed to get the most we can for the least we can, the avarice to want more for our money at all costs! This is not about fairness or paying a fair price – it is about wanting more for less, wanting more & more, well that is the defintion of greed.

So I guess in this instance I am a little hypocritical – because I want more too! I want the best return I can get so I can support my family, my business, my community and the charities I tithe to – but what I don’t want is this at the cost of other people’s family, business, community and charity – that’s why I try to educate myself and my customers about giving, about supporting, about value, about service. That’s why I buy locally where I can, or fairtrade or from an ethical source if possible.

There is nothing wrong with taking care of ones money, being frugal with it – but the question has to be is that really what we are doing a lot of the time, or are we really being greedy – looking for more, without consideration of the costs to others?? I guess this applies not only to the buyer but to the sellers too? Are they just looking for more – more money, more customers, more sales, more margin etc without consideration of the bigger picture? And if that organisation is a christian one then it does have a duty, a moral and biblical obligation to look at the bigger picture all around and to question it’s motives and actions and the result they have on others.

So Mark in answer to your question, i think that Cross Rythms and the others out there selling stuff are probably just trying to do their job, I just wish they wouldn’t undercut everything as I have real concerns about the value of doing that.
However whether it is just about making a profit – well i hope there is more to it than that and that it is more about serving a purpose than turning a buck, but on that one I cant say I definitely know which one it’s about but at the end of the day I have to be honest and say of course profit is a motive, it’s a motive to me as well – the point is about what the profit is being earned for, how its made and how its used and the effects this has on others.
For me its all a ‘Prophet’ style justice thing in the end!

Okay lecture over, stepping from behind the podium – feel free to through chalk now!