How to Start an Adoption and/or Infertility Ministry: Creating a Resource Library

This the third in a
series about adoption and infertility ministries.
Part 1 (April 3)
explains why we started Heartbeat Ministry.
Part 2 (April 5)
explains the mission and goals of Heartbeat Ministry.
Today I’ll explain how
to create a resource library for your ministry.

Heartbeat Ministry started small. Our first goals were to
address two key needs of people experiencing fertility challenges or
considering adoption:

1. They need accessible information about the subjects.
2. They need to be able to find and talk with other people who
   are in the same boat.

Our first task was to create a bibliography of books and
resources about infertility and adoption. Once we began digging, we discovered
that there are tons of great resources, so we created multiple bibliographies
which included a short description of each book and highlighted those we
highly recommended.

Our bibliographies include:

• Books for adopted children
• Fostering information
• General adoption information
• Infertility resources
• International adoption information
• Magazines, newsletters and organizations (we created 3-ring
  binders with sample copies of magazines, newsletters and information from local
  agencies)
• Miscarriage and infant death resources
• Online resources
• Open adoption information
• Resources for adoptive parents
• Resources for birth parents
• Special needs adoption information

As we created the bibliographies, we
began collecting books about adoption and infertility. We were aware that
people investigating infertility and adoption are often hesitant to purchase
books on the subjects, and we wanted to make resources readily available. We
met with our church librarian, who helped us create a Heartbeat shelf in our church
library. She even allotted us some of her budget dollars to purchase books. We
shopped for books at new and used bookstores and donated our own gently used
books to the church library. 

Within a year, the Heartbeat
section contained about 50 infertility and adoption books – significantly more
than you’d find at most libraries or bookstores. We advertised our section in
the weekly bulletin and church newspaper, and the books began flying off the
shelves. People had finally found a safe place from which to explore
infertility and adoption.

Next: Why infertility
isn’t discussed in churches