A topic has popped up a couple of times in conversation in the last few days – the question of ‘memory’ in the context of a congregation.
The congregations in the Presbytery of Europe (in common with many of the other non-indigenous churches) tend to have a fairly high turnover of people. This can present many challenges, but one that has been mentioned by a couple of people on recent visits is that of ‘congregational memory’. Most, probably all, Scottish churches have a handful of ‘memory-keepers’. The people who remember the last time something was tried and it didn’t work, or the obscure reason why something has always been done a particular way, or the reason that the awkwardly-positioned piece of furniture is where it is is because old (and long-departed) Mr X liked it there. Continue reading »