Checklist for Writing Your Church's History

Consider the Sources

• Collect information from your church and members - historical records, office files, library, pictures, closets, plaques, windows, scrapbooks, past histories.
• Collect stories by oral interviews or other means
• Photographs
• If your congregation had a split in the past or has founded other churches, consult the history of other congregation for shared history .
• Local library – history room, vertical files (churches, families, etc.), city or county histories, periodical and newspaper index.
• Local Historical Society or Genealogical Society
• State Historical Society, Library or Archives, College & Seminary libraries
• Search the internet for information about the Movement, ministers, etc.
• Disciples of Christ Historical Society – congregational files, periodical indices, biographical files, personal papers, bulletins, newsletters, state and county Stone-Campbell histories, Yearbooks/Directory of Ministries

If at all possible, visit these places in person.

Historical Documentation

• Document your sources. Make copies of source material for church archives. Credit libraries and Historical Societies for material used.
• Evaluate and weigh your sources. Is it a primary or secondary source?
• Types of sources - intentional sources (ex: prepared histories, official resolution, etc.) and unintentional sources (ex: scribbles on a hymnal).
• Helpful questions to weigh written sources: How close is the source to the event – eyewitness or second hand? Was it written the day of the event or 50 years later? What is the point of view of the author – supporter or opponent, optimist or pessimist, insider or outsider?

Gather Impressions

• Gather impressions of the congregation with your senses – visuals, sounds, smells, touch, textures. Be observers of architecture, people, relationships, etc.

Ways to Analyze Your Congregation

Look at the congregation through different lenses.

• Structural – organization skeleton, committees, boards, etc. What does the formal and informal organization structure of the membership reveal about the congregation?
• Political – process of leadership, conflict, etc. How is power distributed here?
• Relational – interpersonal relationships and how people felt about them
• Symbolic – what in the church symbolizes the congregation? the Movement?

What is the congregation’s worldview?

• Comic – basically concerned with the development of harmony – ultimate peace, optimistic outlook, secret insight
• Romantic – seekers in pursuit of a great reward, charismatic, extra-human realities intrude into mundane circumstances, optimistic outlook
• Tragic – submission to the decrees of God, nature or fate, expect neither triumph over their circumstance nor secret insight to change things, find meaning in faithful obedience
• Ironic – empirical clarity about life, orientation toward everyday reality makes matters of ethics, justice, honesty and fellowship central

What is a church’s social position within a particular environment?

• Dominant – prestigious, “First Church,” prominent location, impressive architecture
• Subordinate – “Second Church,” latecomers to the community, less strategically located, not perceived as powerful
• Exclusive – do not aspire to community-wide inclusiveness, ethnic, customized to one niche of society, less visible, “spirituality of a cave,” seek anonymity

What is the mission stance or orientation of the congregation? Tell congregation’s story in light of their mission. Some exist to be:

• Sanctuaries – cultivation, peace, respite, feeding their soul
• Activists – not inviting to be apart from the world but to engage with the world
• Civic – in the world, support and sustain abiding values of the world
• Evangelistic – spreading the gospel

Ask Questions

Be a detective. In the stage of asking questions – ask the living and the dead. Interact with the records. Ask questions of the records. Ask questions of the impressions. What does it mean for this shape and location of meeting? What is the meaning of impressions?

Ask who, what, when, where, how and why.

• Who – Who have been members, leaders, ministers? What are the corporate collective whos – family and relationship? Who are the patriarchs, matriarchs? Who had influence?
• What – What have been the defining events, what have been the changes, purposes, mission, self-understanding? What is the “Good News” about your congregation? What does your building say about this group of people? What are the distinct features and idioms of church buildings?
• When – Questions about chronological sequencing. When did we build the CE building? When did the congregation do this and that? Look in light of wider context.
• Where – What kind of “where” decisions did the congregation make in light of society and church becoming more urban. Where is not a mundane question.
• How – How has this congregation expressed its fundamental beliefs? How has membership changed or stayed the same? How has it spent its money? How has this congregation expressed its specialness?
• Why – Always ask why.

What will be the scope, format and length of the history?

How much time do you have? Will it be a brochure, booklet, book or website? How will the needs of the congregation be fulfilled? Who should write it?

First consider “Who is your audience?”

• Size of congregation – large, small or medium?
• Urban, suburban or rural congregation
• Ecomonic status of congregation
• Education level of congregation
• Are there still family members of the early founders or are most people relatively new to the congregation?
• History interest level of congregation - how long of a history would the congregation be willing to read?
• Does your congregation have an important place in local, state or national history so that persons not connected to the congregation would read it?
• Perhaps one or two members of an envisioned audience should come from the grandchildren of the next generation.

Models of Congregational Histories

• Memoirs – offering different accounts and stories in the life of the congregation as witnessed by various members
• Chronicle – telling the history of the congregation chronologically with an emphasis on important people, places and events
• Congregational Portraitures – interpreting the history of the congregation within the broader contexts of theology, culture and society

The goal is to write a genuine congregational history to help the congregation understand what sets it apart as a community of faith and to discover a truer sense of its identity.

How do I begin?

First you need to organize your material by setting up your archives. What will be the organization or how is your story going to be plotted. Different outlines – Which one tells the story?

• locations
• minister tenures
• eras
• relationships
• topics or grand themes

Chronology is the backbone of any historical blueprint but search for dramatic turning points and quiet developments.

Crafting a History

How do you take the mount of material and shape it into history? Each historian must take the imaginative step of proposing a thesis or explanation, which best accounts for all the data unearthed and the developments noted. Step back from the sources and look for the bigger picture and large patterns. Connections between seemingly unrelated events, recurring patterns, and major changes become visible when a congregation is viewed from a distance.

What could be included in a congregational history?

This list contains only suggestions – not requirements.

• Brief general history of the Stone-Campbell Movement
• Brief history of the Movement in the state, county or local area
• Significant events in the life of congregatio
• Physical Property – buildings, parsonages, signs, gates, tabernacles, etc.
• Revivals/meetings, crusades – tells a lot about the influx of people, etc.
• List of ministers (Senior, Associate, Youth and Interim)
• List of founding members
• Timothies of congregation
• Missionaries the congregation supported (direct support or living link)
• Classes and groups
• Congregations, schools or other ministries started by your congregation
• Membership statistics
• Photographs adds interest, break up print, ‘picture says a thousand words’
• Memories of members
• Timeline of events
• An index if it is going to be lengthy.

Encyclopedic lists of names, data, and statistics belong in an appendix.

Do I only tell the good points of history?

You need to acknowledge some bad or negative times but don’t give an analysis or commentary of negative events, don’t judge past situations.

Tell the truth - be honest but stay away from painful memories. Use a positive perspective to tell a negative story. In the case of a split or other disturbance, tell the story in a way that both sides would say it is an accurate telling.

Don’t give hints of scandals or misdeeds that make people curious about bad situations.

What are some pitfalls to avoid?

• Don’t become bogged down in details – minutia. There is not such thing as a comprehensive history.
• Don’t overanalyze.
• Don’t glorify the past so that it looks like the congregation has passed its prime.
• Have several proofreaders and a good editor.
• Be careful of the jargon used in describing the movement.
• Involve members of the congregation to give you perspective.

How to get published

• Obtain an estimate before you begin
• Use a computer word processing programs and/or publishing programs.
• If you have a small budget, have it photocopied. Visit a local photocopying center for photocopying and binding options. If possible, use acid-free paper.
• If you have a large budget, have it printed professionally. Photographs usually turn out better in professionally printed material.
• If your church has a website, you might just write the history for the website and then you won’t need to publish it.

When you complete your history, place one or two copies in the various libraries and historical societies that would have an interest – especially Disciples of Christ Historical Society.