Ready, Set, Grow!

It is a pleasure to announce that Trinity has received a $25,000 Church Development Urban Transitional Community Grant from the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church to fund a church growth plan called Ready, Set, Grow. 

In the winter of 2015, church growth consultant Rev. Dr. Dan Bonner of the Center for Urban Congregational Development identified that it would be critical to Trinity’s future for us to develop stronger relationships with our neighborhood and partnerships with area not-for-profits.  These initiatives are geared toward achieving this goal.  Strong relationships with our neighborhood and our community are essential if we are to fulfill our God-given vision of "growing in love and service through relationships with God and community." 

Last fall a small, diverse group of Trinity folks formed a Dream Team to brainstorm ways to more successfully connect with our community.  The ideas generated by the Dream Team were presented to the congregation after worship on Sunday, February 12, 2017.  These ideas have been developed into four initiatives (see below) to grow community relationships with an over-arching goal of church growth.

The grant will be used to fund a one-year contract with a Community Engagement Coach to work with initiative teams and a Ready, Set, Grow steering team to develop and launch these new outreach initiatives.  Ruth Smith, Ph.D., will serve as our Community Engagement Coach.  Ruth’s dissertation involved a group of Somali refugees in Columbus, Ohio.  Here in Lafayette, Ruth has launched multiple effective community initiatives.  Having already served on Trinity’s staff, Ruth begins with a solid knowledge of our congregation and its members that will allow her to more effectively guide and equip us in launching these new initiatives.

• Our Community Garden is going like gang-busters!  Tuesday, June 20, was our first summer Garden and Grill, a neighborhood cook-out on the lawn.  Ruth has guided the work of this team with Trinity church members taking leadership of various components.  If you would like to be more involved, contact: Mel Shoaf: Garden, Dinah Dalder: Grill Meals, Lisa Drake:  Entertainment. Produce from the garden is already being utilized by St John’s food pantry and residents of Fowler Apartments, as well as anyone in the community who would like to “pick a veggie; pull a weed.”
• Our Family to Family Initiative team meets late June with Joe Micon.  We hope to work with LUM and other potential local agencies to identify at-risk families who would benefit from a monthly gathering throughout the school year designed to provide a dinner, fellowship, and resources to the families.  If you are interested in being involved in this initiative, contact Melissa Kramer and watch for additional information in the July bulletins.
• In the fall, Ruth will also guide a team in developing a more relationship-centered approach to our Care Fund.
• Late fall, a community art initiative will be developed.

Ruth will also provide opportunities for training and study related to our initiatives and the community challenges they address.  Check out Trinity’s website, the bulletin board near the elevator in the vestibule, weekly bulletin announcements, or contact Ruth (communications@trinitylafayette.org) directly if you have questions or would like to get involved.