The City Church Library – Issaquah, WA

There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can't imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books. John 21:25 (MSG)

God values words. He chose the symbol of "the Word" to characterize His own nature. Using words, He spoke the worlds into existence and preserves the lives of believers through His quickened Rhema Word.

By His sovereignty, the Book of Books was created and preserved for mankind and still today is the foremost bestseller.

Technology is responsible today for the blessing of invaluable written revelation, in many forms of media, being available and accessible to old and new generations alike.

Why a library?

In addition to the cataloging of history, libraries exist to connect generations, preserve historical facts and keep treasures of recorded memories. Without libraries, each generation would be left with no historical memory, disconnected from its ancestors.

"The collection of written knowledge in some sort of repository is a practice as old as civilization itself."1 As soon as man began collecting thoughts and recording history, libraries were born. The name for the place that houses such knowledge is a library.

Libraries can be traced back more than 5,000 years, but the collection of historical and cultural information was limited until more modern times.

The Great Library of Alexandria, founded about 300 B.C. was a public library open to those with the proper scholarly and literary qualifications. The library's lofty goal was to hold all the books in the world. Unfortunately it was lost to fire. Emperor Constantine did much to further libraries as Christianity spread. Constantinople had at least three major libraries. As civilizations rise and fall, so do libraries. They flourish in times of religious and cultural renewal and all but disappear in times of moral and cultural decline, as in the middle ages.

As Europe emerged from its great darkness into a new day of learning, its people began to look to the past for Biblical and literary inspiration. Many notable and wealthy families with private library collections donated them to trustworthy institutions such as Oxford University and other such schools of learning. When Gutenberg revolutionized bookmaking in the 1400s with his invention of movable type, he honored God by printing the Holy Bible as his inaugural effort.

Throughout the 1600s and 1700s libraries grew as universities developed. Many became national libraries. The oldest library in America began with a 400-book donation by a Massachusetts clergyman, John Harvard, to a new university that eventually honored him by adopting his name.

The Library of Congress bought Thomas Jefferson's vast collection in 1815 and today houses millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts.

Over the centuries, many individuals have caught a vision for enlightening and equipping humanity through the housing of knowledge-both human and divine. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie alone helped build more than 1700 public libraries in the US between 1881 and 1919.

1. Krasner-Khait, History Magazine, Oct/Nov., 2001.

Back to top

Our vision

We are blessed and privileged to be a part of a great heritage of faith at The City Church. We have inherited the revelation of many strong and sound doctrines regarding the work of the Holy Spirit today in the Church. Teachings on faith and healing, prosperity and miracles have greatly influenced our lives. These teachings are surrounded and supported by foundational instruction on the family and marriage, character and integrity, prayer and the Bible, as well as salvation, justification, sanctification and holiness.

We represent a generational link in the purposes of God and have a responsibility to the generations that follow to accurately and rightly preserve our heritage, our faith and our doctrine.

The assembling of invaluable books and manuscripts is both a privilege and a responsibility that we cannot shirk. We must be careful to collect and protect volumes of written materials that will become treasures for our children and grandchildren as the Lord tarries.

We believe that we are to develop and amass a collection of books of specifically pertinent subjects that will rival any libraries around the world for their rare collection of particular themes and topics. Our library will have entire sections of collected volumes on such vital and important subjects as:

  • Divine Healing
  • The Faith Life
  • Miracles, Signs and Wonders
  • The Holy Spirit
  • Biblical Prosperity
  • The Local Church
  • Revival
  • Prayer
  • Evangelism and Church Growth
  • Church Planting
  • Church History
  • Women in Ministry
  • Worship
  • Missions
  • Heaven and Hell
  • Kingdom Authority
  • Holiness and Purity
  • Marriage and Family
  • Social Action

Since we have had relationships with so many great and godly men and women and Christian authors, our library will feature sections on great modern leaders and authors such as Bill Bright, Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Dick Iverson, Kevin Conner, David Yonggi Cho, T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, John Maxwell, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, Reinhard Bonnke, John and Lisa Bevere, Marilyn Hickey and many other notable contemporaries.

In addition, works will be exhibited from every era of Christian history, beginning with the early apostolic fathers, continuing through reformers such as John Knox, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, and finishing with leaders of the 19th and 20th centuries such as Smith Wigglesworth, Billy Sunday, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, D.L. Moody, C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Finney, A.W. Tozer, and Andrew Murray

The shelves will also display books by contemporary Northwest pastors such as Casey Treat, Mark Driscoll, Jan Hettinga, Norm Willis, Joseph Fuiten, Ted Roberts, Frank Damazio, Wendell Smith and others.

Back to top