A WORD FROM YOUR PASTOR
As we begin this new chapter in the life of Holy Trinity, your Council and I have been in prayerful conversation about what our priorities should be for the year ahead. This coming Sunday after the service, I encourage you to stay for an “Adult Forum” in which we will enlarge this conversation to include your voices, as we very much want to hear your ideas on this subject as well. Ultimately, of course, the real task is for us to discern God’s will for our future. But such discernment can happen only if we all gather in prayer and share what is on our hearts and minds.
The upshot of the discussion your Council and I have had thus far is that our energies in 2024 should be focused in five areas:
Enhancing Our Worship Experience Enriching Family and Youth Ministry Enlarging Adult Education Opportunities Extending Pastoral Care and Community Life Ensuring Financial Stability through Good Stewardship and New Member Recruitment
At our Adult Forum, I will briefly summarize our preliminary thoughts on these topics and then invite you to express your own ideas as we together develop a vision for the future. Your Council and I have scheduled a retreat at Camp Calumet for late October during which we will discuss what we have learned from our collective conversations with you.
I hasten to add that the above list of “priorities” for the coming year does not mean to exclude other important ministries of the church, such as, for example, our outreach and social justice ministries. These will remain central to who we are. Rather, the sense is that by focusing first on the five priorities listed above, we will create a foundation that will allow us over the long term to further grow our outreach efforts, both locally and beyond.
At any rate, the important point here is that we want to engage YOU in this conversation about priorities because YOU are the Church and the ministry of the Church is the ministry of ALL the baptized. I hope to see you on Sunday!