Off to a great start!

Today was the first meeting of the Partnership Committee of St. Matthews and First Trinity. We reviewed the elements that our Memorandum of Understanding outlined for our partnership: worship, education, fellowship, pastoral care, financial and building use issues.

We discussed what had worked especially well over the past four months, what we needed to work on and who would be responsible. We will be sharing the details shortly, but the most important thing about the meeting was the clarity of our mutual commitment to what we understand as our shared ministry.

We are only in the beginning of our journey together, and there is much we can do to meet our goals and seek to discern and live out God's intention for us. We are and will continue in a 'learning as we go' mode, building success on success, addressing issues forthrightly and remain focused on making our shared ministry all it can be. We are still getting to know each other, and we have and will continue to have challenges, but I am confident that we are doing - and continuing to seek - God's will for our congregations. We do not know where this journey might take us, but my prayer is that we do not limit our options, nor limit our God.

What can we do? We can pray. We can gather together as often and in as many settings as possible and get to know each other better. We can work together in all the aspects of our various ministries. We can seek to advance the kingdom of God in all we do. We can keep working, seeking, joining, praying, worshiping, teaching, building, growing, loving, serving, singing, and learning together.

Does size matter?

This month's The Lutheran magazine featured articles on the small, midsized and large congregations and the relative advantages and disadvantages of each. I read this with interest, since First Trinity is by definition, a small congregation. According to The Lutheran "worship attendance, financial giving and participation in ministries and community outreach is high among members of small churches is high."

Doesn't that describe First Trinity? The article addresses three issues on which we are currently focusing: the need to partner with other congregations, financial reliance on a small proportion of members, and leadership challenges.

• Many small ELCA congregations join their resources with others, such as we have with First Church, St. Matthew's, and St. Paul's to varying degrees. Our relatively new partnership with St. Matthews requires nurturing but holds great promise in terms of extending the reach of our ministries.
• Like most small churches, as described in the article, FT relies upon the financial commitment a small number of members. Hopefully, as we explore all aspects of stewardship in the coming year we can encourage the growth of a new generation of people who give beyond themselves in a variety of ways.
• Another of our priorities, governance, is meant to help address the leadership challenges inherent in smaller congregations. We are indeed blessed to have pastoral and music staff, far beyond that which is typical of a congregation our size. However, we only have so many people to share responsibilities for all that we do as a congregation. We need to figure out how to be as good stewards of our leadership as we are asking people to be of their resources. We need to do this in a way that does not inhibit our development of new ministries or close our minds and hearts to God’s leading.

The remarkable thing about First Trinity is that no one seems to have told us that we are a small church with limited financial and leadership resources. As someone mentioned at last week’s Council meeting, we are not stuck in ‘we have always done it that way.’ We are willing to try new things.

This has led to our being recently selection by the Synod to participate in an outreach initiative to young adults. This is an exciting opportunity for FT and recognition of our work in this area. It has been an incredible blessing for a church the size of First Trinity to have a second pastor, and most appropriate that her ministry focuses on outreach. First Trinity’s Young Adult Group is successful in not only how it attracts young adults to the church, but also how well it integrates younger members into all aspects of congregational life.

The upcoming our Health Fair is another example of how FT provides people not only a wide variety of existing ministries in which they can participate but the opportunity to develop new ministries of interest. When Kent Forde became Minister of Mutual Care last June he knew he was free to pursue new directions. The fruits of his labor will take place from 9-noon on Saturday, February 21 at the church. This event is about both outreach and our personal stewardship. I hope that members of First Trinity, St. Matthews, First Church will participate, along with our neighbors.