Trinity Church Newsletter

Dear Trinity Family, It seems odd that my letter this month is about Lent, but this year Lent begins on February 10. Lent is a time in the Christian year where we take time to reflect and focus on our relationship with Jesus Christ. Lent is a period of forty days that runs from Ash Wednesday and ends before Easter. Now some of you have begun to count and notice that this is more than forty days, but Sundays do not count as every week we celebrate the love of God in Christ as a “mini-Easter.” This forty day period is designed to mirror the time that Jesus spent in the desert as he prepared for his public ministry. This year we will have many ways for us to participate in Lenten reflection as we think about our relationship with God in Jesus Christ as we think about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Some of these experiences will be new and different for Trinity Church, but I invite you to try all of these different worship experiences as we take time to reflect on Go

Changes in Missions this Year The Missions action team decided at the end of 2015 to implement changes in the way that we live out our  mission as a church in the world. Missions has been an area of strength for Trinity Church and the changes this team has made help us continue to strengthen this area of our discipleship. Over the last year, the Missions  action team has noticed a drop in participation in the P52’s (or project 52). This program asked people to give to a variety of different ministries. This was a marvelous program to encourage people to think about giving to help others in a specific way. However over time, the number of areas to give has grown and the number of people donating has gone down, and some areas are receiving very little support. This problem is two-fold. One is that at this point the church has become an intermediary for other charities (i.e. McCurdy School, Red Bird Mission, and others). The second is that because we have so many different groups we ar

Momentum Sign-Up Starting Momentum is an awesome team building and spiritual renewal time for our teens. This year Momentum is July 26-31 at Cedarville (OH) University. The cost for registration is $75 (February 1-March 31st). There are two reasons to stress signing up early: 1)The registration price goes up after March 31. 2) Since this event functions as a way to facilitate trust and encourage one another as a team, the team then needs to help to raise the money together. Sign up at www.trinitychurchum.org , then click on Happenings, select SoulFire from the menu, and follow the link under Momentum 2016. For more information contact the church office. If you would like to support this spiritual growth in our teens, there are two key dates to help. The teens will host a special Italian dinner on February 12 from 6-8pm and will sell Nelson’s chicken on April 15.

A Fantastic Dining Opportunity SoulFire will present a magnifico “Punch to Your Palate” Italian Style Dinner 6-8 pm on February 12 in the Gathering Hall. All adults, both singles and couples, will enjoy authentic Italian food,beverages, and desserts bistro style. Our youth look forward to serving this special treat to you all. A freewill offering will help our teens attend Momentum, an excellent youth conference in July. Be sure to sign up at the Ministry Center to attend this special event! Sign Up Online

  SoulFire (Youth) Update Recently SoulFire ministry encouraged and challenged the teens to memorize and live out a life application verse (Romans 12:9-21). Through this we seek to hold each other accountable for our own actions and words. It’s a good reminder that we all need God’s love and grace in our lives.  This is especially true as we face trials in our lives, knowing that we can trust God Who has overcome the World! We need to keep our minds, hearts and body fixed on Him and His word! It’s so much easier said than done; however, we are on this journey to hold each other accountable, loving and encouraging one another throughout.

"Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak,  and Even Slower to get Angry"   By Bishop Mike Coyner My inbox has been full lately with dozens of angry messages from people I do not know. Most have accused me of false belief, intolerance, and close-mindedness. It took a while for me to understand the source of all this anger – and ironically it is for a decision that I did not make or know about until the last few days. Sometimes people are angry with me for things I have done or decided (and sometimes their anger is justified) but it is intriguing to see how dozens of people who don't know me (or the facts) can so quickly become angry with me Here is what happened: the General Commission on the General Conference decides which vendors are allowed to have displays during General Conference. They do so on the basis of our Social Principles and of course give priority to official United Methodist groups and institutions. Evidently a group called Discovery Institute wanted to