We’ll put documents here which may be of help in various aspects of church life and leadership.  If you have suggestions for inclusion, please contact Rev. Linda Gard, linda.gard30@gmail.com .

Helpful Links and Documents

• Active ministers seeking funds to help with continuing education opportunities may apply to the Cumberland Association for assistance.  An application form may be downloaded HERE.
• Cumberland Association Bylaws may be downloaded HERE.
• The United Methodist Church’s General Commission on Archives and History has a comprehensive resource outlining what churches should save (and for how long) for legal and/or archival reasons. .  Find that specific document HERE.  (Don’t miss the handy chart at the end of the document.  For more information, go to their WEBSITE.)
• The Congregational Library and Archives (14 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108) offers many resources on their WEBSITE. Their helpful archivists offer frequent in-person, online, and recorded workshops guiding local church historians in preservation and organization of church records.  AND, the CLA, newly remodeled, is a wonderful place to visit for research.  Just off the Boston Common, a block from the Park Street T-stop, the library’s reading room windows overlook the Granary Burial Ground, which you’ll also want to visit! The Congregational Library is a repository of early church records, and should be considered for the location of the records of any closed congregation.  The Library has an ongoing project (New England’s Hidden Histories) to digitize and transcribe  very early church records, making them available and searchable online.  Among the resources on the CLA’s website is  a database of ministers’ obituaries published in Yearbooks of the UCC and its predecessor denominations.