Trinity Church Newsletter

Dear Trinity, After all of my time as a pastor, one of the hardest things in ministry has been saying goodbye to our loved ones. Since I have been at Trinity we have lost many of our spiritual pillars as they have passed from this life and gone home. We celebrate the fact that they have finished their course in faith and yet we still feel their loss. If you have been to one of the funerals I have officiated, you know that I emphasize the fact that our loved ones have gone home. I also point out that we have to deal with the real loss of our loved ones in our lives. We have to deal with this loss in the form of grief. The world many times tells us the lie that grief is something for us to “get over,” but the truth is that there is no getting over our grief. The only way to deal with our grief is to get through it. And the way we get through grief is together. The way I suggest moving forward together is to honor the memories of those who have passed. By celebrating those who hav...

As we prepare to welcome our first exchange student, the word courage has really been on my mind.   The amount of courage it takes for a 16-year-old student to travel half way around the world to live with total strangers for 9 or 10 months is mind-boggling.   The courage it takes for parents to allow them to do this is equally mind-boggling AND humbling that they would trust us with their son.   I have friends who have said the courage WE have to turn an empty nest into a home for a teenager we have never met is mind-boggling…or if it isn’t now, our minds might boggle a little getting used to having a teenager in the house again.   Not to mention that he will be involved in playing soccer and swimming!   Our kids were in music!   We never did the sports gig except golf for Andy. My favorite scripture about courage is represented in Joshua 3:14-17.   The Israelites are finally preparing to cross the Jordan into the promised land.   The waters...

What’s Going On (by Pastor Chris) I write you today because I have begun to receive questions regarding the changes that have been proposed by the larger United Methodist Church concerning human sexuality. At the 2016 General Conference (the large gathering of United Methodists from all over the world that sets the policy for the United Methodist church,) there was a call from the floor for the bishops to help us find a way forward on our disagreements over the issues of homosexuality. The answer the bishops brought was the creation of a commission to study this issue called the “Commission on the Way Forward.” This group was designed to bring many different points of view and to present options to the Council of Bishops for them to present to a special General Conference that will be held February 23-26 th in St. Louis, MO. This group has completed their work and presented it to the Council of Bishops. The Council has an option that they feel is best called the “One Church Pl...

“Preparing for Nothing (Or for Anything) from General Conference” A letter from our former bishop, Bishop Michael Coyner              In the midst of all the discussions about the three models presented by the Commission on the Way Forward to the General Conference of our UMC, I wonder if anyone is thinking about preparing for “nothing.” Historically, it is typical for the General Conference to create study commissions (like the Study of Homosexuality in the 1988-1992 quadrennium and like various Ministry Studies over the years) and then NOT APPROVE the recommendations of those commissions. It has happened that way time and again, and General Conference has become more and more dysfunctional which makes a “do nothing” result very likely in 2019 or 2020. Are we preparing for the General Conference to do nothing? For that matter, are we preparing for anything that the General Conference might do? The day after General Co...

Dear Trinity Family, Beginning August 5 th we will start a new teaching series called A “Neighborhood” Block Party. This series will be a great follow up to our FOR Kendallville teaching series from this spring. In this series we are going to talk about how sometimes the idea of a party can bring people of all different backgrounds, cultures, and settings in life together. This series will also contain some elements that call us to action as a part of our FOR Kendallville Campaign. First, in August we will begin our FOR Fridays. This is one Friday a month where we highlight a local business and we ask everyone in the church and our connected social network to help these local businesses. This is a two-fold benefit. First we are able to learn about the people who run our local businesses. This relationship building and getting to know those in our community is an awesome opportunity to be FOR Kendallville. The second way is we are able to support our local businesses which is the...

Happy August!   One of the things I love to do and haven’t done much of in the past couple of years is to facilitate small groups.   I especially like to lead 6 week or so studies.   I like a beginning and an end so that each time it ends, new people can come and go.   I’ll soon be working with the Peru group on a study called “Before You Go” that prepares short term mission teams for what it might look like in the field and the things that happen when one re-enters their own culture. I would love to try something new with you all.   There is an online app called YouVersion.   A good friend introduced me to it some time ago.   It is free and can be loaded onto a tablet or a smart phone.   There are several translations of the Bible and A LOT of Studies that can be done.   You can do them on your own OR you can do them with a group.   That’s what I would like to try.   I do this with my friends several times a year and it’s great...

What’s Going On (by Pastor Chris) Why could the church steeple not keep a secret? Because the church bells always tolled. Bad jokes aside I want to tell you about something that we have not kept as a great secret. In June we hired Steve Brittenham to be our Pastor of Congregational Care. This job is a part-time position that centers around visitation for our shut-ins and those in long-term rehab. Steve will be building a visitation team that will include the already marvelous work of Dick and Pat Ogden. (I have said many times that I highly appreciate and celebrate the ministry that they have with our shut-ins.) As I write this Steve is on a cross-country journey with his family, but I am excited for this fall as he helps bring his gifts and talents to this special area of ministry. As more and more of our church family are separated by illness, pain, and surgery we need to keep contact to show our love and care. Steve’s job is to help to meet this need by visiting and by organiz...