Institutional Memory

There was a Jeopardy answer this past week for which I did not have an answer, and if I recall correctly none of the contestants did either. It was about a particularly sort of memory which turned out to be institutional memory. The clue spoke of a long-time employee who was valuable for this form of memory.

Well, it got me thinking about churches, because just about everything does. Many mainline congregations are aging and cash poor, but they tend to be rich in institutional memory. There is the old canard that the true Seven Last Words of congregations are We've Never Done It That Way Before. While I think many mainline/oldline churches are developing new attitudes, there tends to be a lot of folk who struggle to move past memory to hope. They get stuck in a "glory days" mentality which inhibits innovation and response to societal changes.

I appreciate the people who have good memories but are not awash in nostalgia. There is great old guy here at Bridge St. who is pushing ninety and is still full of vim and vigour. Don remembers everything about Belleville and the Bridge St congregation and he is a great story-teller. I find him to be both entertaining and insightful. And, thanks be to God, he is not stuck in the past. He has been both welcoming and encouraging as we nudge a traditional congregation toward a new way of being. There are lots more like him.

Organizations can benefit from institutional memory, including churches, as long as they don't get stuck in the past and resist what can happen in the present and the future. Isn't there something in scripture about "behold, I make all things new?"

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