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Researching an organization's history
Jordan,
Obtain the end roll of a newsprint roll - check with church's volunteer catering committee, they probably have a source in the local newspaper for the table cloths for trestles.
Run the newsprint around the wall of the hall so that it is a supersize flip chart. Leave some markers nearby.
Put in some key dates - the year it was founded, the buildings, the date the last pastor arrived etc in a logarithmic scale (There will be less events to recall from the very early days, more from more recent times.)
Logarithmic scale (as best an e-mail allows):
1890 1910 1930 1950 1960 1970 1980 1985 1990 1995 1998 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 ....
Write the dates at the top (Higher side) of the roll, spaced around the wall. Ask people to write any event they recall under the year. Ask people to add dates and events when they pass the church (At their convenience, rather than at a set time.) A different form of brainstorm- memories will be jogged by what is already up!
You will need to spend a few hours with a handful of volunteers to assemble some dates in advance. An hour with two or three helpers to erect the flip chart, and five minutes from the pulpit to explain the process.
Leave it up for two weeks and then have an assembly of about an hour (lunch after church?) to debrief. Then all it takes is a few volunteers to turn the record into an almanac.
