Let the witness
be heard and kept.

A beginning, faithfully made

Our aim is a broad, lasting collection, built one congregation at a time. Each church shall speak in its own words. Differences shall be recorded plainly; an interview is neither an endorsement nor a demand for agreement.

The archive is beginning. No interviews are published here yet. Research in the Atlas is a separate collection; a researched card is not an interview.

When writing, give the church's public name, its website if it hath one, the town or region, and thy public role. Please send no home address, private member list, or confidential pastoral matter. The first letter is an inquiry, not permission to publish.

What each record shall hold

• The congregation: its own name, place at the town or regional level, history, and stated denominational ties.
• The witness: the pastor's or elder's approved public name and role, the date of the interview, and whom they are authorized to represent.
• Belief and practice: Scripture, confession, church government, baptism, the Lord's Supper, worship, membership, mission, and care.
• The evidence: a reviewed transcript, permitted recordings, public documents, and citations with page numbers or recording times.
• The record's condition: what was checked, what remains disputed or unknown, what may be reused, and any dated corrections.

One pastor's recollection shall be marked as recollection. A congregation's statement shall not be made to stand for every church of its tradition.

Permission before publication

1. Agree upon the interview's scope and what may be recorded before beginning.
2. Keep contact details and consent records apart from the public account.
3. Prepare a transcript. Mark uncertain words; do not invent what could not be heard.
4. Give the participant the proposed text, excerpts, name, media and reuse terms to review.
5. Publish only the agreed version after the congregation's editor approves it. Keep a dated correction record.

Participation is voluntary; questions may be declined. We do not seek children's records, confidential counseling, private congregant histories, or household addresses. Before publication we shall explain the available correction and withdrawal process, including the limits of recalling copies already made by others.

Interview recordings and the words of participants keep their agreed terms. The site's general license does not grant rights to material a participant hath not licensed.

The first conversation

1. How did this congregation begin, and what records preserve that history?
2. What is thy role, and which matters mayst thou speak upon for the church?
3. What does the church confess concerning God, Christ, salvation, and Scripture?
4. Which confessions or statements does it receive? Where may they be read?
5. How are pastors and elders chosen, accountable, and succeeded?
6. What does the church teach and practice concerning baptism and the Lord's Supper?
7. What does an ordinary gathering look like, and why is it ordered thus?
8. What is asked of members, and how are disagreements and discipline handled?
9. How does the church serve its neighbors and carry out its mission?
10. What has changed within living memory? What has endured?
11. Where is this congregation unlike others of its own tradition?
12. What do outsiders often misunderstand? Which sources would help us correct the account?
13. What ought a future reader to know that we have not asked?
14. Which words or recordings may be published, under which terms, and how should corrections reach thee?

These are starting questions, not a test. The account may be brief where the evidence is brief, and longer where the witness hath more to say.

Help us begin well

A pastor or elder may write unto us to propose a conversation. A reader may send a correction with a source. No contribution is published automatically.