Rescue the Memory of our Peoples.

Many memories of people of faith are not being recorded. Where those memories are recorded often their preservation is uncertain, their location hazardous, and access and documentation non-existent.

We are all involved in doing what we can. Together we can do more. We can help create a climate which values the past at the same time as we address the urgent needs of the present.

The conference will bring together archivists, researchers and church representatives from around the world, with a special emphasis on the needs of the regions of Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

The Rome 2002 conference has three major purposes: 

1)      Bringing together global representatives with a common interest in church and mission archives in and relating to Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

2)      The exchange of knowledge, needs and skills, including through regional surveys, documentation of known centers and resources, and the provision of training materials adaptable to a range of contexts.

3)      Setting up an ongoing body to economically and credibly facilitate networking and representation for the support of Third World Christian archives.

 The conference will also: 

1)      Be identifying the best practices appropriate to context, taking seriously both the presence and the absence of information technology and the different economic and political environments in which archives operate.

2)      Have a special emphasis on the importance of oral history and the stories of the poor.

3)      Provide practical guidelines on records management for organizations.

4)      Review the contexts in which documentation takes place and the information and collaboration necessary to ensure security and access of materials.

5)      Initiate plans for representation to and cooperation with professional archives groups, international agencies, ecclesiastical bodies and mission societies so that archives can be used for the empowerment and identity of ordinary people and minorities.

6)      Encourage the establishment of regional networks.

7)      Prepare and publicize a fresh statement on Archives and Mission for the 21^st Century.

This will involve:

• Surveying by regions  the current situation of archives and other records for the study of Christian mission, including issues of location, access, preservation and ongoing collection
• Focussing concern for identifying and assembling archives, including contemporary documents
• Reviewing the implications of electronic means of communication, data sharing, finding aids, preservation etc.
• Strengthening the role of Church archives in new political and social situations
• Setting directions for document acquisition and access in both electronic and non-electronic environments. 
• Attracting some 40 to 50 participants, about 50% non-Western
• Providing a training function through workshops in areas such as oral history, website strategies, and mission planning.
• Enhancing the global networking of those engaged in archives, documentation and research.
• Facilitating co-operative research projects and partnerships including the publication of regional "guides to archives and bibliographies
• Formulating policies which address the needs of people in countries with limited access to computers, electricity and communications facilities.
• Producing a mission statement about what documentation and archives can achieve for the mission of the church and mission studies.