Called to share stories
Two-and-a-half years ago Janette Lange and I were installed by LCA Bishop John Henderson as archivists for Lutheran Archives. We stood at the altar of St Stephen’s church, Adelaide, promising before God to fulfil our duties for the church. It wasn’t lost on me that the last time I had stood in front of that altar making vows was at my marriage to my husband Ben, and previously at my confirmation.
In a nutshell, the promises we made were about stories – about providing access to records in the archives so the stories of your congregations and your ministries can be told.
We tell these stories because they encourage us. If we pause, we can look back and see ways God has been working through us.
We tell these stories to build new bridges to communities from the church.
And we tell these stories to give new life to a ministry that may have officially ended five, 50 or 100 years ago.
These stories are sometimes told by us as archivists, via means such as Stepping Stones, and sometimes they’re told by you after researching your congregation, family or other topical history. They’re also told by members of the broader Australian community, such as academics, filmmakers and authors. These people may have no other link to the Lutheran church.
We tell these stories because they encourage us. If we pause we can look back and see the ways God has been working through us.
Of course, there’s a lot of background work behind telling stories. There is so much capacity for work to be done, stories to be gathered, harvested and preserved, that we need an extra person – or 10! And by the time you read this, our team will have expanded to three, including newly appointed archivist, Adam Kauschke.
For the stories of your ministries to be told, we first need the records. We also need the records (aka the storylines) in good order so that they can be found. Being an archivist is about accessibility – ensuring records can be used, interpreted and understood. This can mean physically arranging them and providing their context, such as placing them in their ELCA, UELCA or LCA synod and the corresponding district and department.
It can require translating records from German, or migrating them from floppy disks to current electronic media. It can involve projects of digitisation and preservation, such as our 8 millimetre film funding appeal. And yes, we still need more donations, please!
It can also entail assisting researchers to find and interpret records, or conducting research ourselves; developing displays or holding seminars; and taking people on tours of the archives to inspire their imaginations with the treasure trove waiting to be delved into, and stories harvested.
I feel called to my role as Lutheran Archives’ Director and Archivist. I am beyond blessed to gather, preserve and harvest the stories of our ministries.
