When Churches Remember
For leadership teams · Parts 1–5
Staff Discussion Guide
One conversation per Part. Read the chapters before you meet, open with the line from the book, and choose the questions that fit your team. Some memories are painful. Not every painful detail belongs in public, so let people share only what they choose.
Part 1
The God Who Commands Us to Remember
What we repeatedly remember shapes what we repeatedly desire.
Chapter 1 · The God Who Says, “Remember”
Where in our church's story has something that began as grace started to be retold as achievement?
Chapter 2 · Remember the Way God Led You
When we tell our story, do we include the wilderness seasons, or only the destinations?
Chapter 3 · Forgetting Is More Dangerous Than It Looks
What might we be in danger of forgetting right now, even while ministry carries on as usual?
Try this as a team
Each person privately writes down one thing God has done in their own life that they had nearly forgotten. Share only if you choose.
Part 2
How God Preserves Spiritual Memory
The memorial has done its job when people see through the stones to God.
Chapter 4 · Build the Stones Before You Leave the River
What has God done among us recently that we moved on from without building any kind of memorial?
Chapter 5 · Tell the Story Again
Which stories do we repeat most often? Do they build confidence in God, or attachment to a method?
Chapter 6 · Remember in the Dark
If we faced a crisis next month, what evidence of God's faithfulness could we point to?
Try this as a team
Start a Church Memory Map together. Pick one season of your church's life and fill in its first stone.
Part 3
When Churches Forget
A church can remember almost everything about itself and still forget what matters most.
Chapter 7 · Churches Can Forget Too
What do newer people here know about why we do what we do? Who told them?
Chapter 8 · When Success Makes Us Forget
Where might success be tempting us to say, “We built this”?
Chapter 9 · What Does Your Church Remember?
What do longtime members tell newcomers? What does that reveal about what we really remember?
Try this as a team
Complete What Does Your Church Remember? as a team. Everyone writes privately first, then compare.
Part 4
Pastors as Keepers of Spiritual Memory
Honest testimony often magnifies grace more deeply than polished mythology.
Chapter 10 · The Pastor Must Remember First
What has God already taught you personally that you are at risk of forgetting?
Chapter 11 · The Pastor as Storykeeper
Which of our stories has grown into myth? What would it look like to tell it truthfully?
Chapter 12 · Teaching a Church to Remember
When a prayer is answered here, where does the answer go? How could we close the loop?
Try this as a team
Each leader brings one answered prayer from the past year. Decide together which ones should be preserved, and where.
Part 5
Giving Memory to the Next Generation
The Lord’s Supper is a built-in resistance to forgetfulness.
Chapter 13 · Give Your Children Something to Remember
What would our children and students say God has done in this church? Who is telling them?
Chapter 14 · Do This in Remembrance of Me
How might the way we come to the Table shape the way we remember everything else?
Try this as a team
End by sitting with the book's closing question: What should we never forget? Write one answer each and keep the list.