How Something Becomes A Museum

One of the enjoyable experiences of the previous weekend was my visit to the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter Museum. It was orginally a jewellery factory by the name of Smith and Peppers, founded late 1800s by a man and his uncle. The business then passed on to three Smith children of the next generation, Mr Tom, his brother Mr Eric and their sister, Miss Olive. None of these had children, and the three siblings ran the business for many, many years, until they were aged well into their 70s and early 80s. During that time, they continued to hold to the practices that had served them so well, manufacturing in the same way and style and with the same methods and machinery, with very little changing over the years.

It came to the point where they were unable to carry on the business any longer. They were too old, plus profits were decreasing due to cheaper labour available elsewhere, and because they had stuck with outdated practices and failed to bring the business up to modern manufacturing standards. With no children to pass the business on to, and no buyer to be found due to the antiquity of the factory, one Friday in 1981, at the usual closing time, they just locked the doors and left, unaware they would be leaving a time capsule for future generations.

The building was subsequently sold to the Birmingham City Council. It was several years before the doors were reopened, and the council employees discovered a virtual time capsule of jewellery production, and techniques, as well as more personal work life related items some dating back as far as 1899.

Tools were left strewn on benches; grubby overalls were hung on the coat hooks; and dirty teacups were abandoned alongside jars of marmite and jam on the shelf. Old ledger books and order books remained open on the desks.

Because in the eighty years before its closure little changed with the working practices or equipment used within the family-owned business, even the décor had more in common with early 20th century trends than a thriving business in the early 1980s, leaving an insight into the jewellery trade of the turn of the century.

It was fascinating. And as my great grandmother's family were all heavily involved in the jewellery trade, gave me a real insight into how their working lives would have been spent, and the lack of occupational health and safety measures!

It also served as a reminder, not just for business, but certainly for the church, that if we continue to hang on to the practices of the past, we will quickly become a museum.

Smith & Peppers never changed their product, and that product (gold jewellery) is still very much in demand. But where they failed was (a) not keeping up to date with advances in manufacturing, and (b) not developing a future generation for leadership.

We in the church can be guilty of the same. Our product is still attractive and 'saleable' (Jesus), but we must continue to move with the times, to explore new methods, to package and present our product in a way that appeals to generation after generation, in our mission, our evangelism and our worship. And we must continue to give young people a voice, and develop them as future leaders. If we don't, people will very soon wander through our abandoned church buildings as museums and reminders of the past.