By Jeremy Grossman
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Recently, Pastor Tracey asked me to help steer Trinity’s Discipleship efforts as a member of the Governing Board. Before accepting, I had to first wrap my head around what “Discipleship” meant to me. After reading what many scholars had to say on the topic (okay, I admit it—I Googled it), I kept coming back to one idea that resonated with me: a disciple is a student, someone seeking wisdom or knowledge or skills. This pursuit, though, is not simply about acquisition—it’s about application. A disciple is actively seeking to transform his or her life.

Once I got a hold of this concept, it led me to revisit my days as a classroom teacher and my philosophy of education. Again, my inspiration is non-traditional: the animated Disney film, TARZAN. In the movie, a young Tarzan, desperate to be accepted by his adopted gorilla family, dedicates himself to becoming “the best ape ever.” Cue the montage of young Tarzan observing, growing, trying, learning by experience, and eventually applying what he learns to help his family, all to the tune of a Phil Collins song with the pivotal lyric, “…in learning you will teach, in teaching you will learn.”

This, to me, is key: discipleship is an ongoing, lifelong, two-way street process. We never stop being students. As we seek to grow ourselves, we are able to assist others, and then, in turn, be helped again ourselves. We learn, we teach, we learn some more. We don’t have to know all the answers or have ourselves all together (because who among us does?) to simply step in and BE THERE for others. In fact, often we find the best way to help ourselves is to stop and help someone else.

The idea of the IRON WORKS Discipleship Discussion group came to me as I contemplated one of the most famous verses about the importance of meaningful relationships, Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits of another” (NRSV).  In other words, we can better ourselves through our relationships with others.

Considering the Trinity Vision Statement, we can grow in love and service through our relationships with God and Community, and I believe those two are intertwined through discipleship: we can grow with God as we seek meaningful relationships with our community, and we can grow with our community as we seek to improve our relationship with God.

The IRON WORKS Discipleship Discussion group will take place as a Sunday School class. Over six weeks, we will study and reflect on the following keystones as guides for personal and relational discipleship:

A DISCIPLE acts with:
· INTENT, living by purpose and decision, not passivity and default (Ephesians 5:15-16)
· RECOGNITION of his/her position as a servant leader, offering his/her talents and gifts to God and others (Romans 12:4-7)
· OBEDIENCE to Christ’s essential commandments (Matthew 22:37-39)
· NOBILITY, seeking to be a witness of God’s love in word and deed (Colossians 3:12-17)
· These principles culminate in WORKS, loving outreach to others as a fundamental application of faith (James 2:14-26).

The class starts September 10 at 9:15 in the Parlor Conference Room. Childcare and refreshments will be available.  All are welcome.
 

Living God’s Vision for Trinity
By Pastor Tracey Leslie

In the spring of 2015, after our work with church growth consultant Rev. Dr. Dan Bonner, Trinity adopted a new Vision Statement:  Growing in love and service through relationships with God and community.

On occasion, members have asked me: “Who is the community; us or the neighborhood?”  And I have replied, “Yes!”  In other words, our goal is to be ONE community.  Have you noticed Trinity’s new logo?  It is a graphic representation of people in a circle, connecting with one another.  Christianity isn’t a belief system; it is a relational system.  Being a Christian is about being in relationship with God through Jesus AND (of equal importance) being in relationship with others through the experience of Christian community.
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This fall, Trinity will launch its annual stewardship campaign.  When we think of stewardship, we often think of money.  When we think of money, we often think of paying the bills.  But Trinity – even our facilities and structures – are ultimately about community and relationships.

On August 27 at our Celebration Luncheon we will celebrate more than the retirement of our debt and improvements to our church’s brick façade.  We will also celebrate the blessing that – without debt and our Education Building – our expenses are reduced and more money is made available for building relationships!

This fall, beginning August 27 and continuing through October, we’ll consider Stewardship a little differently as we focus on Building, Growing and Connecting. 

• Building: Trinity is blessed with a lovely, historic church building; but its value goes beyond the bricks.  Our sanctuary commands a sense of majesty, keeping us mindful of how awesome our God is.  Recent remodeling of our facilities has increased our opportunities for table fellowship allowing us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus’ open-table fellowship.  Our long history (and earliest roots) means faith has been handed down – in word and deed – from one generation to the next in our current building and its predecessors for nearly 200 years!
• Growing:  Growth is what we hope for Trinity’s future.  But growth requires generosity.  Scripture challenges us to share our resources (our money, our time, our talents) so that others might experience God’s love and grace through the ministries we support.
• Connecting:  This fall, new small groups will launch.  This summer we have hosted Garden and Grills.  Moving forward, we’ll continue to grow our opportunities to connect around the table – as Jesus did throughout his ministry – as we break bread, fellowship, learn and share together.

 
I hope this fall you will be as engaged at Trinity as your schedule permits.  I hope you will come to treasure – as I have come to cherish – opportunities to break bread, to worship, to learn, to grow, to serve, and to experience community in new and exciting ways.  Let us Build, Grow and Connect that we might live out God’s vision for Trinity.