The First 250 Books for Your Church Library

Posted on October 23, 2026 
Filed under Resources

Do you have a church library? Or a personal library?

Tim Challies has just published a suggested list.

“I am sometimes asked to help churches evaluate their libraries, and to suggest the books they should add and the ones they should take away. I thought it might prove helpful to put together a list of the first 250 books that can get a church well on its way to having a great library.

No one will agree with every book on this list. In fact, by this time tomorrow I probably won’t agree with them all either. But I think you’ll still find it a very good place to begin as you attempt to build a well-rounded, trustworthy church library. I will work on a list for the children’s portion of the library next.”

– See his selection here.

Whether or not you’re building a church library, it’s worth looking through the list to see what you might have missed otherwise.

And there will be local sources for many of these books. (Great to support local booksellers like The Wandering Bookseller and Reformers Books.)