Imagine with Me: The Future of our History

Rev. Terri Hord Owens: Hello Disciples, and welcome to another episode of Imagine with Me, where I have the opportunity to speak with some of our most creative and Innovative leaders across the church. Today I am excited to introduce to you to the new president of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society, Dr. Joel Brown. Joel, welcome. And thank you so much for making time for this conversation.

Dr. Joel Brown: Hi, Terri. Thanks for having me.

THO: Oh, it’s my pleasure. I said I wasn’t going to do this but I must name that you are also a graduate of the University of Chicago Divinity School where, people can make fun at me, but I had the honor of being the Dean of Students when you were admitted to the PhD program they are so it’s a special sense of pride I have that you are in this role, and we’re just very excited to have you serving the General Church at the Historical Society. So why don’t you just tell the church a little bit about yourself and your own work and scholarship and just we can get to know you a little bit better.

JB: Sure, yeah. Thank you. And I also always tell people with great pride that you are forever my Dean.

THO: Thank you.

JB: I am the very new president at the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. I am by training a historian of American religious history and my research and scholarship primarily focuses on the histories of race and religion in the United States. And so that’s kind of how I come into this position but I have always been a minister at heart. I was that…that’s what my original training was for, even though I am not ordained. I was a grew up as a preacher’s kid in another stream of the Stone Campbell movement in Independent Churches of Christ. And then I was kind of on a vocational path towards parish ministry, went to college and then to seminary thinking that I would wind up in a church as a pastor and then I fell in love with somebody who I quickly realized was a much better pastor and preacher than I was. And so my, my spouse Erin and I made the decision to support her in her ministry as a parish preacher in ministry. And so it allowed me to kind of pursue some of the other academic questions and interests that I had. And so that led me to Brite Divinity School where I studied with Newell Williams studied Disciples history. There and also, that’s where I landed with a church that shaped me in some special ways, Galileo Church. I was lucky enough to be with Katie Hays on the team that helped to plant that church down in Mansfield, Arlington, Texas. 

And so that, that ended up sending me up to Chicago, where I worked on my doctorate study in American religious history. And so, when I was finishing my PhD studying race and religion, I did I kind of imagined that I would be headed into the classroom. This wasn’t necessarily the job that I imagine, it was there for me, but a lot of things kind of came together in this is in many ways, a kind of dream job for me to bring together a lot of the passions that I have.
 

My own sense of vocation is both someone who’s a Christian committed to the Stone Campbell movement in the Disciples in particular, and also as a scholar and historian. So I am really excited to be in this position, and I am excited to share kind of what we’re doing and also what’s kind of on the horizon for us.

THO: Exactly. I think it’s your own background and that you came from another stream as it were and say you have that important perspective on what the Stone Campbell movement is about you help to plant a church even as a lay person and a church that it’s I think an imaginative way to do ministry in an authentic way to do ministry at Galileo and your work on race and religion. And one of the things that I am sure you will talk about is, you know, Rick Lowry as he was retiring. One of the things that he did with a Kirkpatrick Conference was to really commit, the Historical Society to telling all the stories right of all the church not just Campbell, not just Stone but not even the Eurocentric church but all the stories of the church. So I would agree. I think your background and sometimes when we get called the things you look back and you see all the bread crumbs, right? That led you to that place and do you mind my sharing your wife Erin is now a serving a Bethany Memorial Christian Church in Bethany correct?

JB: Absolutely yes. Yeah there are, there are lots of reasons to come to Bethany but I would put that one pretty high on the list to come visit Bethany Memorial Church which is really great. It’s really wonderful community of people, and she’s very excited to be there.

THO: That’s great, that’s great. Tell us a little bit about your vision for the future of the Historical Society, and the Disciples Society has had its ups and downs in recent years, and we’re so grateful for the leadership of Dr. Rick Lowry, who has just retired In the work that he did to kind of put us on a good path, but you’re coming in with new energy and building on that work. So, so, talk to us a little bit about your vision for the future of the Historical Society.

JB: Yeah, I count myself as an extremely fortunate and blessed to be coming into this work at this moment, this particular moment since for those who aren’t aware the Historical Society moved from now Nashville to Bethany about six years ago, to Bethany West Virginia, which also, for those who don’t know, is a kind of pilgrimage site, a sacred site. For those of us in the Stone Campbell movement because it is the place where Alexander Campbell one of the founders of our movement lived and worked and studied published and wrote. And so it’s a very it’s a special place. And so Rick Lowry who was president for a little over five years, really kind of got us going on some things that I was extraordinarily excited to get to continue to build upon. I think I shared with you in a private conversation, Terri, at one point that I when I was discerning the call to this ministry, I was, it was about the same time that the Tulsa Kirkpatrick Conference happened a conference, which I think we will look back on and say was a really monumental moment in the history of our church for the kinds of conversations that we’re having and where I think we’re going as a church and exploring at that conference the legacies of race and racism in our past and also trying to chart a way forward. And so that conference was happening at the exact moment that I was trying to discern whether or not this, I was a good fit for this ministry and vice versa. And as I participated in that conference, I realized very quickly that this is indeed the kind of work if this is the kind of work that the Historical Society is committed to, then it’s a place where I wanted to be in. So I am really excited to be continuing that work and I truly believe that a denominational archive is more than just a repository for ideas and artifacts from our past but it’s in fact it is at its best it can be a source for the church’s justice work for its work for wholeness in the world. And so that really is my vision.
 

There are a lot of different kinds of things that are happening in ways that we’re trying to accomplish that. But that’s, I mean, that’s really I am excited about going forward and I will just say that our mission is to preserve and proclaim the story of our church within the broader movement, the Stone Campbell movement out of which we emerge. And so we’re doing a lot on both of those counts on the preservation of our past, but also proclaiming our story and proclaiming that history and talking about it and interpreting it. And so, I mean, one of the biggest ways that’s happening right now, is what I call is, we’re exploring the digital frontier of what it means to be a historical society and denominational archive right now. It actually kind of started. It’s fun to be talking about this on this platform actually because it’s your office and all of the work that you have been doing in terms of your digital content, that kind of started that prodded us to ask some questions about what does it mean to us as an archive, as a repository to collect these kinds of digital artifacts? That really is where a lot of what we’re doing is a church is happening right now. And so, we were very fortunate to get a large generous gift from Edmund Short, that’s kind of got us running on some digitization project projects, and exploring what it means. And I think we’re really in many ways leading the way in trying to figure out what it means for a denominational archive to be doing digital work like this. So that’s something that we’re extraordinarily excited about we have.

I mean, right now you can go and visit our Digital Commons and digital archives, and we have over 400 manuscripts that are up there that are easily accessible that at this point. We have selected in particular groups and people who have been kind of underrepresented in our histories, in the past, we are prioritizing those in our digital archives, as we work through our archives, to get them up there. Because on one hand it’s about we want to increase access to these materials because I mean they can be sources for transformation for our communities, our congregants. But we also want to help people understand their significance. Like so you can access it? But we also have to ask question of what it, what does it mean? How will it transform us? And so that’s another big project that’s out there for us. And so we will have a couple things like a digital publication that’s going to be coming soon and that’s going to invite Scholars and ministers and interested public historians to come and talk about Disciples history. Now, how can exploring our past? As a church, how can it help us encounter and deal with some of the most pressing issues of today? And so, so we’re really looking forward to that and that will be coming in the new year to.

And in terms of proclaiming our story, we have got a number of really, really great projects that are on the horizon. We have a couple of biographies that are coming out. We have a biography of Preston Taylor who’s helped out to found the National Christian Missionary Convention back in 1917 and African-American leader who started, what would become the National Convention, National Convocation? We have a biography of Sarah Lou Bostick, that’s going to be coming out that Yvonne Gilmore who’s the interim Secretary of the National Convocation is working on now. Also, one of my former Dean’s, somebody special to me and then we just finished installing at Light of the World Christian Church. The newest installation for the Oscar Haynes exhibit, exploring the history of African American Christianity within the Disciples, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). And so that will be a, that will be opening in the next couple of weeks. And also, we will have a celebration for that, in the new year, so a lot of things are coming.

THO: I am very excited about that’s really exciting. The Oscar Haynes exhibit. I knew Oscar and you talk about the churchmen of all churchmen.

Yeah extraordinary leader and his widow, the Rev. Joan Bell Haynes is the Regional Minister in the Central Rocky Mountain Region and a lot of the world is most people know my home church so excited about all of that and in the work that’s being done on Preston Taylor and Sara Lee Bostick. Just another example of all the stories being told, right? You know you can access the Digital Commons.  I am sure will include a link to that when we post this conversation because that’s something that everybody has access to. But I know that I can access the digital comments, and I know that scholars and other people are using those resources and coming to, to examine the actual archives that you have, but how can Disciples and local congregations, engage with the Historical Society? My mom was the local historian for her congregation Light of the World, and was always very proud to make sure that all of the artifacts from the congregation and got there. So is that still something congregations could, do it? And what’s the best way for a congregation to engage?

JB: Yes, please. We need more people like your mother who are willing to share those histories with us and I mean, that really is the best like in terms of congregations working with us is we want your histories. It’s part of, it’s part of our work of preserving the story of our church, but it’s also, congregational history in the work of congregational history is in my view, not only it not only produces something, but it’s a discipline, it’s a vocation. It’s a ministerial practice thinking historically in churches. And so I am very interested. We are very interested at the Historical Society and working with congregations, to learn how to do congregational history to think of historical thinking as a pastoral, as a practice of your church and it’s, so we will if you’re going to be at General Assembly this year, we’re going to have a workshop on congregational history because the narratives that we tell not only help us understand where we have been, but they are a way of understanding of placing ourselves in the world and understanding the future that awaits us the path which were going on. And so we want to people to tell those narratives, and I am I mean I am very excited about the Church Narrative Project because I think it’s important part. It’s a crucial part for churches at the congregational level but also for our church in general to tell our story and as times change as a new president comes we have to learn how to tell that story in new ways and so history is always changing. Disciples are making history now, and we want to be partnering with you to think about how to tell that story. And so we will have workshops for congregations to do, congregational storytelling. And we also we also love to celebrate anniversaries. If your church has an anniversary coming up, we would love to send a video or send a representative. We send a lot of certificates, even so it’s all right. And also just, I mean, Come and visit us whether it’s online visiting the digital archives or Bethany is a special place. We would love to have you come, do some research, we do tours of the Alexander Campbell grounds the mansion and the college here in Bethany. And so we are there are lots of different ways to come and engage with us.

THO: And that’s, that’s awesome. I am excited about that. That the workshop and just the notion of congregational storytelling and as we talk more about the church narrative project, storytelling is a big part of that because we all of our stories hopefully fit into a larger narrative, right? That’s part of what we’re calling our preferred narrative of our shared future together, and we’re actually kicking off the Church Narrative Project with the Central Rocky Mountain Region next weekend. And, so I am glad that the Historical Society is going to be both a partner and a supporter of that work because it’s just so, so, so important. And I don’t know if I got that from my mother. I remember 10 years old, the Baptist Church. I grew up in celebrated, its 100th anniversary and although a my grandfather was the pastor and all the work that he put into documenting collating and curating that history and as a, as a kid being aware of these pictures of these people who had worshipped in this place. So everywhere I go, and I am invited to preach at a church anniversary. I was just in Columbia, Missouri, Hallsville, Missouri, Red Top Christian Church, 200 years, and I was really encouraging them to be sure that they sent some materials to the Historical Society and I support that work, wherever I go to say, be sure that you engage with the Historical Society so that they can help to preserve your story. It’s just so, so important. And I hope people will make their way to Bethany one last thing.

We have got a few minutes here as we’re talking about, you know, not only imagining who we must be, is it new church for a new future? And, and I am really intrigued by Walter Brueggemann construction of what it means to get inside God’s imagination as we think of the future of the church. What roll does the Historical Society does it play and can it play as we do this work of re-imagining who we are and independent thinking about that future?

JB: Yeah, yeah that’s great. I do I approach when it comes to history and our faith the way that I imagined the historical, the work of historical thinking in the churches, it’s an act of listening. It’s an act of listening to God for God’s leading as we explore. Where, as we both celebrate those places in our past, where God has carried us. And we have been faithful and understand how that happened and where God was working and where we might look for God in the future as well as interrogating those places in our history, where we have fallen short, when we will, where we have heard people telling those hard truths as well. And so, as we do that, it’s a way of listening for the ways that God has worked among us in our past so that we can be attuned to how God might be trying to lead us going forward. And so, so, I hope that the Historical Society can help. I mean, one of my goals is, to help ministers to help congregants and churches, and regions to begin thinking, historically, as a way of positioning ourselves, so that we can move forward into the future.
 

Because I think that our church has a future where I think there’s a certain public witness that awaits us as a church in a particularly polarized and increasingly fractured context Nation for those of us who are here in the us where we hold Justice in one hand and a commitment to unity and wholeness in another. And I think, I think there’s a world that needs to understand that message. And how we can add and so, so as we follow God into the future, I hope that one of the ways that we listen to God Is by looking behind us looking backwards, honestly in critically and faithfully. And that’s, that’s what I am hoping to do at the Historical Society in the years coming forward.

THO: Well Joel, I am so excited for your leadership and to see you in this new place for you and Erin is you settle into life in the Bethany area, her pastorate and you as the new President of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society, the work you are doing is so, so important, you know, there’s an African image of as at the Sankofa Bird, right? Who has feet facing forward and the head of the bird has turned looking back snd it’s a way of saying that we it’s okay, it’s okay to look back and to even to bring some of the past with you, even as you continue to move forward to learn from the past, try not to repeat the past imagine in some cases. But also to imagine who we can be, it has to be done for my context of that historical thinking which I love the fact that you have lifted up that’s a spiritual and Ministry practice to think historically.

So, thank you for that and just delighted and looking for word to the workshop at general assembly and all the digitization project that’s happening, who knew that there would be a pandemic and that we would create so much content this way.

So excited that you will be helping us with that strategy to preserve it for Generations yet to come. So, thank you so much Joel. It’s been a delight to have this conversation with you and all the best as you begin your ministry at DCHS. Thank you so much, very appreciate it. Well, history buffs there’s more to our history than this, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. So many stories would be told the stories of your congregations. I hope that you will be joining us at General Assembly July 29th through August 1st 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. And as Joel mentioned, there will be a workshop about congregational storytelling and you can learn more about how you can preserve the history of the saints that have been a part of your own worship community so that those stories are there for generations yet unborn. I am so excited about Joel’s leadership and I know you will be too. Thanks to Joel for sharing some time with us today and thanks to you for listening to this episode of Imagine with Me. So say, stay tuned and we will see you on the next episode. And remember, God loves you and so do I.