Communities of faith create a lot of records and those records tell the story of your communities and the work of your churches. But what do you do with those records to ensure they are preserved? How can we ensure that the records can be shared so our stories are told and known? And how can we protect them from risks such as floods or fires or any other situation that could quickly erase that documentary heritage? Community of faith records are essential to understanding the United Church of Canada and need to be preserved in the various regional archives for the Church. We all can play a part in preserving this history – whether you simply need to clear space, whether your church is closing or amalgamating with another, you can help by sending your community of faith records to your regional council archives. This course hopes to show you how you can do just that.  

After completing this course, we encourage you to reach out to your regional council archive for further information on how to prepare and transfer records for long-term preservation in your area. 

This course will:

• Introduce the United Church of Canada’s commitment to Archives and the United Church of Canada Archives Network
• Answer why we should archive community of faith records
• Detail what records should and what records should not be deposited to your regional council archives.
• Offer tools and resources that you can take back to your congregation as you consider and/or plan how to prepare your community of faith records for long-term preservation. 
• Give you a glimpse of the work that we do at the United Church of Canada Archives in Toronto.