Church Phone (260) website: trinitychurchum.org

Transcription

1 T r inity Spire Volume 43 Issue 10 Church Phone (260) info@trinitychurchum.org website: trinitychurchum.org OUR MISSION STATEMENT: To Be and Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World. October 2018 Dear Trinity, As I write this letter, Michelle and I are making final preparations for our trip with Trinity s Peru Mission Team. We leave October 13, for the Colca Canyon region of Peru. The team is made up of 10 great people (Pastor Angie Kidd, Erin Bloom, Phil Corbin, Frederick Fusco, Jim and Helen Haddock, Ben Keirn, Jessica Martin, and Michelle and me.) I am nervous and excited about this amazing experience, but the hardest part of this ministry is something different than what you may anticipate. The hardest part of this mission trip has been trying to describe it to other people. Over the last few years we (as a church and community) have started to rethink how we do missions work. I add here that this shift is not to diminish the mission work that we as a church and society have done in the past. I am so proud of the ministry of Trinity Church s missions and our work through Project 52 s, UMCOR (United Methodist Committee or Pastor Chris Stephens Relief), as well as many mission trips and community work. However we as a group have worked through the program Helping without Hurting as well as other materials like Toxic Charity and asset-based community work. (In fact as I write this Pastor Angie is at a conference to learn more about asset-based community processes.) These new resources key in on the point that poverty is not just a lack of resources. This means that short-term mission trips where we go and build a bathroom or library are not helpful in fact in many ways these things can hurt the community we are trying to help. The idea for this trip came from Pastor Angie. She had done a lot of work with Quechua Benefit and had worked with this ministry to form Casa Chapi, their school for the children of the Colca Canyon. So in our work to have a new type of mission trip we contacted the leadership of Casa Chapi, and asked what ways we could truly help. They shared with us a dream that our team would help celebrate their teachers and encourage them. At first we had no clue what this would look like. So I dreaded the idea that people were going to ask me what we were going to do. As a part of this, I listened as the team came back from Uganda and heard how much the relationships they built mattered beyond what they had done. This helped me to take the knowledge of a different way of doing missions and put it together with the idea that what we were going to do revolved around relationships. So we did not have to do things in a way that I was used to. So what is our Peru mission team doing? (I know I just spent the last three paragraphs describing why I shouldn t have to say what we are going to do. ) We are going to see what God is doing in another part of the world. We are going to Peru to be learners and listeners. We are excited to support the teachers who raised this school out of nothing. Our hope is to learn about the Peruvian culture and to share who we are (not what we have) with the larger family of God. We are going to do this by seeing the two schools that are a part of Quechua Benefit. We are going to buy presents (in Peru to help local workers and artisans) for the teachers of both schools to give them signs of hope and encouragement for the work that they are doing. Because we have a couple of engineers going with us we are assisting the leaders in finding supplies for a greenhouse that supports their food system. We are also going to answer the leader s biggest wish. We are going to interact with the kids of Casa Chapi to help them learn more about our culture, but also to take them on a couple of field trips because they have not had enough adults to help them travel. We will be taking kids to Condor Cross to see the famous Peruvian condors. We will be taking the graduating kids from Casa Chapi to see their new school which is in the nearby town but that lies over the pass. We will also be taking groups to see the markets in the same town. I thank you in advance for all of the support that Trinity has given our group as well as your continued prayers with and for our team.

2 Volume 43 Issue 10 Page 2 As I write this, I am in Colorado visiting our kids and attending a conference about asset-based community development. In just 17 days, the Mission in the Andes team will go wheels up headed for our mission field. We have had a lot of questions about what we will be doing and when. Here is the tentative schedule. As with all mission trips, there could be some changes. Oct 13th: Depart from Trinity at noon to head for Chicago O Hare for a 7:30 p.m. departure to Miami. Oct 14 th : Arrive Arequipa at 11:32 a.m. (12:32 p.m. our time) We will rest that day and explore Arequipa. Oct 15 th : Visit Yanahuara School to spend time with the students for the day. Oct 16 th : Travel to Chivay. We will settle in and explore Chivay and possibly visit Casa Chapi. Oct 17 th : Casa Chapi (Field trip to the marketplace and Condor Cross to see the Andean Condors fly) Oct 18 th : Casa Chapi (Field trip to take the 6 th graders to Arequipa to see Yanahuara School where they will attend next year. Some may stay at Casa Chapi to spend time with the younger students.) Oct 19 th : Say goodbye to Casa Chapi children and teachers and travel back to Arequipa. Rest and explore Arequipa for the remainder of the day. Oct 20 th : Leave Arequipa at 7:15 p.m. Guided tour of Santa Catalina Monastery. Pack up and head for the airport. Depart Lima 11:15 p.m. our time to begin the long journey home. Oct 21 st : We will arrive at O Hare at 1:18 p.m. our time and travel home by van. Some have asked what we need. We are still accepting funding to defray the trip cost. Quechua Benefit has requested assistance with a misting system for their new greenhouse and our engineers are in the thick of making that happen. If we can help with that cost, that would also be great. We won t know that amount until they gather all of the pieces they need. We are hoping to also provide Spanish Bibles for their chapel. Any excess funds we have will be utilized to purchase whatever the teachers tell us they need. We have all agreed that any spending for items they need will be done in Peru to help their economy. With a $1 to 3.30 sol exchange rate, our dollars go three times further there, as well. Above all, be in prayer for the team. Mike Safley, the Quechua Benefit founder, is very excited for our team to come as no one has been willing to focus all of their time on the students. We are fulfilling what he said is their greatest wish in taking the kids to Arequipa and to see the condors. I can t think of a better thing to do than fulfill a child s wish. Blessings, Pastor Angie

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6 Fudge Cutting Jersey Sunday Choir September Worship Stats 8:25 10:45 Total Offering Sept $6587 Sept $7028 Sept $2001 Sept $2960 Sept $4159 What s Happening at Trinity October 3 Apple Festival fudge cutting, if needed (1:00 pm) 5 Apple Festival set-up / decorate (Fairgrounds) (10:00/10:30) 6 Apple Festival (9:00 am 6:00 pm) 7 Traditional worship as usual (8:25 am); no 10:45 contemporary service 7 Apple Festival (9:00 am 5:00 pm) 12 HeartSTART 5K at Bixler Lake Casa Chapi Trip 18 Cub Scout Pack 3105 pie order deadline 28 Peru Sunday

7 I am United Methodist...even though A poem by Bishop Trimble I am United Methodist...even though Every day is not sunny I have heard some really lousy sermons and I was preaching I have been accused of singing hymns too loud I think John Wesley was cool but not nearly as important as Jesus Little children often skip up to children s time and don't follow script Some church greeters seemed surprised when visitors don't arrive to church on time Some churches suggest it would be better if they didn t receive a female pastor When churches hesitate to accept diversity we block our own blessings Some prefer to quote the Bible in part rather than read it in full Other churches have cool names like Full Gospel, World Center, Bible, Christian, and Community Some of our churches fail to update their websites Our bishops wear purple shirts, but don t have colorful skull caps (or miters) Our offering trays are not deep enough and rarely do we dance when receiving offertory All churches fail to remember to celebrate the six United Methodist Sundays with designated offerings We are known for being methodical but see a need to embrace new ideas (Messy Church) We have a long rich tradition but desire to embrace (Fresh Expressions) We used to start one church every day and now some churches have no new professions of faith We are not perfect and currently characterized as a church at a crossroads over human sexuality, covenant, and seeking a Way Forward The truth is even when cloudy, the sun is always shining somewhere on God s earth The truth is when children are skipping God is smiling The truth is.the Gospel is expanding, the Christian church is growing, and God is still calling I am United Methodist because I was baptized in this Church, went to camp in this Church I am United Methodist because I don't need to be great to experience grace I am United Methodist because I don't need all people to agree on all things I am United Methodist not because I have quarrels with other religions or churches. For me, and millions of others, The United Methodist Church represents, the best of all Protestant possibilities. I am United Methodist because I fell in love with Jesus as Lord and Savior and discovered myself in The United Methodist Church. Be encouraged, Bishop Julius C. Trimble We think the Gospel is not expanding and the church is not growing because our local church is struggling

8 Trinity Spire What s Going On (by Pastor Chris) As many of you know over the last few years we have been using a back stock of supplies. This is why for a period of time we used mismatched bulletins and sometimes you get older stationary that is covered by a sticker. We do all of this to be good stewards of all that we have and not be wasteful. We have done a very good job of using what we had and I want to personally thank MJ Judt for her extra effort to help us in this effort. One of the largest asks that we asked the congregation to help with was to reuse boxes of offering envelopes as we had two unused cases. Thank you so much for helping us to use up these materials. Now that we have used all of the back years the time has come to order new envelopes as we seek to offer you many ways of giving your tithes and offerings. If you would like to have a box of dated envelopes next year we need to know by October 31 st. I will remind you that we will continue have pew envelopes available and you can give your offering that way. We also have online giving options through our website as well as automatic debit and we accept credit card offerings (for a nominal fee.) The other reminder is that our database no longer uses envelope numbers so we ask that all gifts have your name on them so we can keep an accurate record for you. If you would like to receive a box of offering envelopes for 2019 please let the church office know. As always feel free to contact me if you have any questions via at chris@trinitychurchum.org or by calling the church office. Do you know the story behind this clock? The clock was hanging in the office until even after winding it would not keep time. Pastor Chris would like to know the clock s history and where it came from. Please let the church office know or Pastor Chris at chris@trinitychurchum.org Thank you to all who helped out with this year s block party. We served over 300 people. It was a great success. Engage Sunday was a great chance to worship and work with Christians from all over Kendallville. Awesome job Pastor Phil representing Trinity on the group worship team. Thank you to all who share their musical gifts with the church both the Sunday Singers at 8:25 and the worship team at 10:45. You guys all rock! It was great to walk with our Trinity Walkers to be FOR Kendallville in the Stomp Out the Stigma walk/run for New Hope Clubhouse. I would love to thank everyone who stopped by and helped support the youth last Saturday. We had a blast making everyone food. HaHa! The Block party was awesome and the turnout was even better. We saw a ton of new faces.