Trinity Church Newsletter

Dear Trinity Family, As I write this letter, we are in the middle of our teaching series “What Disciples Do.” I hope that it is clear that we, as Trinity Church, need to continue to focus on living out our mission “to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Our mission should be the focus of all we do, and this has been the motivation for a plan that I have been developing with the leaders of Trinity so that we may more effectively minister in our world. This process has been in the works for many months. It began with the discernment process for Charge Conference (the yearly church meeting that sets structure and leadership for our church) last year. We found it hard to fill positions within the leadership because there were not enough leaders to fill these positions. This led me to bring my experience from other churches that have changed their leadership structure to be more streamlined and create more places for people to be in hands-on

Grace and peace to you, my new family in Christ.  You have blessed me with your love for Christ and others.  I’m writing to you from my quiet time this morning.  My hot tea is steaming next to me.  The flame of my oil lamp is gently flickering.  Just one lamp is on leaving the rest of the house in darkness and dawn is just beginning to break.  Ruby, our little schnoodle, is snoozing   beside me as we curl up under a blanket in our quiet time spot.  I say “our” quiet time spot because she was here before me this morning as is the case most mornings.  She knows the routine and she hops up into our spot and waits for me to sit down—Bible, journal, study of the day and tea in hand.  Ruby is even protective of this time.  If Chris happens to be leaving for work and comes over to say goodbye, he can count on being growled at (by Ruby, not by me!).  This is interesting because Ruby is his little princess most of the time, but when it comes to quiet time, she lets him know that’s her time. 

Untangle Your Committees. Unlock Your United Methodist Church. What do you call a horse designed by committee? A  camel , of course. What do you call a church run by committees? Well, you call it  United Methodist . One Size Fits All? The United Methodist Church is structured to be  lay-driven , and  this is a very good thing . Unfortunately, in our zeal to include as man people as possible in church leadership and decision-making,  we often hold the church back . Not only this, but the system we use for   ordering our churches has, at times, actually prevented the laity from participating in our mission to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. What if I told you that  there is another way , and it is actually already written into the Book of Discipline? There is. But let me first set the scene as to why exploring alternative governance is so important. As clergy know, there's this interesting wrinkle in our polity as United Methodis

Dear Trinity Family, As I sit to write this letter to you today, I am so proud of the work that Trinity Church is doing in Kendallville. Over the last two months, you have shown our community our love of Christ and our hospitality as you reached out in many ways. I sit here as one proud pastor, and I am thrilled that God has allowed me to walk with each of you on this journey of faith. I am happy that we have built a relationship with other Christians in town to provide a meal the third Thursday of every month at Maplecrest Apartments. I was excited to see 38 of you walk with our church float in the 4-H parade as we won both over-all design and best in our division. I love how those participating were a variety of our people from both services and a variety of ages from the youngest at eighteen months to some of our most experienced people (age omitted so I do not get in trouble).  I was thrilled to see many people step up for us to interact with our community as we built relationsh

Once upon a time, there was a Trinity Church Sunday School class named “Faith in Action.”  Faith in Action reached out time and again to people in need in our community.  They took on their first big project in about 1991 in which they organized the Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign at Walmart in Kendallville.  They raised $5,000, adding that to the $7,500 from United Way and then rolling in their Trinity Love Fund and went to work reaching out into the community.  Their actions became so well known that very soon their pastor, Rev. Dr. Dale Mendenhall became inundated with people coming to the church doors for help. Not far away, at First Christian Church, Rev. George Bloomquist was experiencing the same level of needs at his church doors as the result of the “Fish” group in his congregation who were also involved in community outreach.  As these two pastors began to compare notes, they realized they were “helping” the same people!  In fact, they were spending so much time with

Women’s Wednesday Bible Study will restart on Wednesday, September 7 th at 9:30 a.m.  This Fall we will align with the all church study called “When Helping Hurts.”  Even if you are involved with another small group this Fall, our morning study will take an in-depth look at this topic through the lens of the Epistles, especially Galatians.  New and old comers are welcome as we seek to be faithful disciples of Christ.  If you have questions, contact the church office at 260-347-0056 or talk to Kathy Brittenham.

Everyone is invited September 19 th at 6:30pm to a Town Hall. The purpose of this town hall is for Pastor Chris to share changes that are going to be made to the church’s leadership structure so that we can more effectively do ministry. If you are unable to be at the Town Hall Pastor Chris will make the materials available after the meeting as well as sharing more info in next month’s newsletter.

We will be starting a six week study called “When Helping Hurts”.   We would like everyone to participate if possible.   Pastor Angie will host a small group session on Tuesdays at 7 pm, starting September 13 th .  Others may be hosting small groups as well. Watch the Ministry Center for sign-ups as groups will be starting at different times. 

It’s time to “make a joyful noise” again!!!  We will begin Thursday night practices on September 8 th , 7:30 p.m. in the choir room.  Be sure to access the choir room through the east door while the sanctuary is closed.  New singers are needed and welcome.  If you have questions, contact the church office at 260-347-0056 or talk to Kathy Brittenham.

"In Response to Disasters" Bishop Mike Coyner’s Epistle This summer has produced lots of rain in surprising places, and some of that rain has produced disasters. One has been here in Indiana where the south side of South Bend had huge amounts of rain and over 40 homes were damaged badly by the flooding. Of course the huge flood has occurred in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and surrounding areas where the devastation has been called "Hurricane Katrina without the wind." That part of Louisiana does not usually flood, but huge amounts of rain have produced devastation. People always want to know how to respond to such disasters. My own experience from being bishop in the Dakotas during the huge flooding in 1997 in Grand Forks, ND and surrounding areas is that PRAYER is the best and first response. Then GIVING is the next response – and we United Methodists have the perfect mechanism for giving through UMCOR where 100% of the gifts go to help persons in need. Th