Heart to Heart: Worship this August

During the month of August, Pastor Tracey will be preaching a series on David, Israel’s most-beloved king.  Each message will focus on David’s heart and will help us look deeper within our own hearts. 

​As you heard during worship on July 29, this September, Trinity will be launching a once a month Monday gathering called “Fusion.”  Fusion is the result of our one-year conference grant process (Ready, Set, Grow) helping us to identify how to expand our outreach and grow our faith community.  Monday Fusion will reach out to those who are not attracted to a traditional worship format.  Did you know that I receive, on average, one email per week about the dramatic and critical decline in Sunday morning worship attendance?  Data and demographic research reveals that churches that cling solely (or even primarily) to Sunday morning worship as the connecting point for new people are unlikely to survive.  (I hope you will check out Ryan Wynkoop’s financial update beginning on page 2 which notes that, over the past year, 78 people on average per month engage with Trinity beyond the Sunday morning worship hour.)

Fusion will offer opportunities to connect to God, one another and our community… fulfilling Trinity’s vision of growing in love and service through relationships with God and community.  Fusion will be “a space to Connect, Discover, and Grow.” 

According to our Indiana Conference United Methodist Church Development, experiences of “Church” that are flourishing are built around cultivating community through listening, table conversation, sharing food, and serving others.  Listening is listed as #1… which is why Morris DuBose has been leading our Unfinished story events over the summer.  Telling and hearing our stories develops connections; it builds trust and relationship. 

Fusion will be an interactive experience so, during the month of August, our Sunday morning worship will offer a brief interactive opportunity at the end of the morning message.  There will be a simple format to help us dialogue with the people around us.  You will not be asked to share in front of the congregation and participation is completely up to you.  But we invite everyone to step outside their comfort zone!  We hope that, through this short-term experience, it will allow our Sunday morning worshipers to have a fuller understanding of the mission of Fusion and why it is of value.  To facilitate dialogue, we strongly encourage you to sit farther forward in the sanctuary, and perhaps even consider sitting in the center section.  We have a large sanctuary and are often very spread out making it difficult to connect to those around us.  Also, on Aug. 19, Morris DuBose (who is coordinating speakers for Fusion) will bring our Sunday morning message.   
 

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