Church and
Mission Groups in New Zealand: Archives for Mission :
Day Consultation, Bible College of New Zealand, 27 June 2003
Our aim is to
provide practical assistance for mission agencies and church groups developing
their archives and records management policy. We will be building on the work
of a similar consultation held at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton Illinois in
November 2001, and a Mission Studies Conference "Rescuing the Memory of our
Peoples" held in Rome in 2002. Papers from these gatherings, including the
Training Manual developed at the Rome Conference will be available.
This will be an
important gathering. We need to document the existence and availability of
research materials for the story of Christian Mission in and from the Pacific,
including from New Zealand. We need to see the benefits for our identity and
future usefulness of study based on these materials, and we need to know that
there are practical steps and people we can turn to for assistance. This is
becoming urgent as records of staff, former missionaries, and from the churches
in places where we have been active, need to find a secure home where their
stories and witness can continue to serve the work that brought them into
existence.
Our key aims are to
build acceptance of archives within the church and mission agency community in
New Zealand, and to develop a database of mission-related holdings in relation
to New Zealand and the Pacific. We will develop other aims out of the meeting,
including that of developing and promoting training opportunities and
highlighting other items on a practical "to do" list.
This is a useful
chance to link people into existing archives networks in New Zealand and beyond.
There is no desire to supplement the work of existing professional groups, but
to encourage church and mission groups, as well as their own bodies and
constituencies to support what archives can be about - that they are for life
and for the future, not simply about the past!
Contributors to the
consultation will include Judith Bright, Allan Davidson, Peter Lineham, Hugh
Morrison, John Roxborogh, and Yvonne Wilkie, but the most important contributors
will be representatives of mission groups such as yours, sharing their needs and
hopes so that collectively we can see a responsible way forward of ensuring that
our mission in the future is informed by our experiences in history - that we
rescue the memory of our peoples.
As part of the day's
activities we will hear reports of planned archives development at the Bible
College, and other projects in other parts of New Zealand. We would like to know
your own plans, ideas and concerns.
John Roxborogh
IAMS- PADOH -
Project for Archives, Documentation and Oral History
