Hey Trinity Folks, it has been a whirlwind of a summer, and the action never stops.

This fall, the church will be buzzin’ once again, with programming, fundraising events, on top of the normal, high energy happenings at Trinity.

Council Highlights:

We began our meeting considering the many volunteer hours that go into making Trinity the community of faith that it is.  We considered the hours for ministry events; youth camp, kids camp, kids club and youth group.  We considered the hours for reach out; Birthday party in the park, downtown coffee, out of the cold, and the mission team. We considered the volunteer hours that go into our fundraising projects just this past summer and spring we considered, fish fry, kids camp, rock the farm, corn roasts, jewelry sale, cinnamon buns, cookies, butter tarts, the church smelled amazing this summer.  And now many hours are being poured into play rehearsals for November and our turkey supper.  Then we considered all the work of our committees, we held a summary of their work in our hands.  And collectively we were grateful.  We know the hours and the energy is staggering.  We began our meeting by saying thank-you.  We thanked God for our many blessings of this rich community and we acknowledged and felt grateful for every volunteer hour that is contributed to this place.

Many thanks to Bryan Chisnel for preaching Sept 15th, while women were on retreat and men were on canoe trip.  We are grateful you are willing to share your heart and gift of preaching with us.

Property:  There is always work to be done and work that is being done.  Thank you to our faithful grass cutter Doug Wilkin.  Thank you to all the members of the committee who show up to help, or take garbage to the dump or meet with contractors or move furniture.  The lower hall floor was professionally waxed in early September and it looks beautiful.  Many thanks to our the anonymous contributor who paid the entire bill.

Stewardship Committee: it was approved to offer an evening memorial Hymn sing in December.  The idea was shared with us by George Allan, a service his community of faith did annually.  Letters will be mailed to members of the congregation and available to anyone else who like to participate.  You will be able to contribute a donation in memory of a loved one, and pick one of 7 hymns to be sung in their memory.  The evening of the service, each person's name will be read before we sing the hymn together.  All proceed to the general fund

Mission and Outreach:

Out of the Cold: Our team leaders, Don McLeod and Adrien Gravelle; have learned that our Trinity team no longer has a cook.  We have four dates and the first two we do have a cook; we are trying to problem solve our last two dates which will be in the new year.  Our first OOTC is November 8th.  Please watch for a new sign up sheet.  For less stress on our organizers we are asking that volunteers who sign up find their own replacement if they cannot attend and if you haven’t signed up please wait until you can get your name on the next sign up sheet (which is Friday Dec 20th.).  It is much less stressful if the organizers know who is coming and don’t have to worry about not enough or too many volunteers.  We value all our volunteers and would never want anyone to be losing sleep over organizing a team, nor stand around and feel redundant.

Spirit Committee:  A reminder to all groups who use the kitchen.  It is a health and safety concern if food is left in fridge or freezer without a date.  Please make sure everything that is stored is properly wrapped and marked.  Please take as much home with you as possible, out of fridges, freezers and counters.  Our kitchen is a very busy place and we need to be vigilant about keeping to the standards of our health unit approved kitchen, otherwise we would not be able to do the fundraising we do.

*We love being together! We love sharing a coffee together after worship. Would you consider putting the coffee on one Sunday- snacks are optional, being together is not! We also need scripture readers, greeters, offering counters. Please see sign up sheets in narthex. It takes a village- we are the village.

Fall Programming:

MONDAY:

A.A. meeting: Lower hall 6:30pm

TUESDAYS

Ukulele Club: Welcome back to fall! Meet upstairs at 6:30-8pm. (We have a beginner group starting at 5:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month).  No experience necessary! Looking for more info, check out our webpage https://sites.google.com/view/livelyukuleleclub/home or email us at livelyukuleleclub@gmail.com

THURSDAYS

Prayer Group: Thursday morning prayer group will be resuming on Sept 19th, 9am.in sanctuary. Come out for some quiet contemplation, prayers and discussion.  Prayer Group is on hold until the New Year.  See you in 2020.

Choir: Practices resumed Sept 19th, 7pm.  Feel free to come and join this friendly group who love to sing together.

FRIDAYS

Jr. Youth Group:  For all youth grade 5-8 .Dates for the New Year TBD  Contact Kristin Gibeault for more info: kikigibeault@yahoo.ca

SUNDAYS: 

(Sr. Youth) Sudbury Youth Sub-Hub. Breaking bread together every 2nd Sunday evening, 6pm-8:30pm. See Instagram page: @sud_sub_hub for more details or contact Rev. Kathy for more info. trinitylivelyminister@bellnet.ca

What’s New?

Youth ministry at Trinity continues to grow. We have many seasoned young adult leaders in our midst as well as many new leaders blossoming and sharing their gifts. This past summer we were able to support three youth to attend leadership development camp, bringing our total to 11 youth who have attend leadership camp from Trinity. We had 15 youth volunteer and serve for our summer kids camp at Trinity. We have three new youth who have joined the Christian Education Committee, and two College Students who are taking active leadership roles in both Senior and Junior youth groups. Turn to your neighbour and say “this is exciting!”

As a result of this growth, a young leader phoned me with ideas he was bringing forward on behalf of the youth. “We want our faith to be the center of our lives- not on the sidelines, can we meet weekly?” 

We have officially launched the very first Sud Sub-Hub, which is; “A partnership between Trinity United and the Hub Youth and Young Adult Community Network” The Hub Youth and Young Adult Community Network- has 6 other hub communities in Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville, Guelph, and Waterloo. They are supported/funded by Edge (United Church of Canada). We shared a skype call with the Burlington Sub-Hub this past Sunday night.

Our adult leaders are present and are available as a resource or a facilitator if needed, however leadership comes from within the group. Ethan Evans, Maddy Pushman, Cody Chisnel and Alec Carter have stepped up as the leadership team. They will be leading our evenings, delegating and organizing. They are keen to lead worship- offer the devotional and prayer times. Turn to your neighbour and say “this is exciting!”

Youth ministry doesn’t just happen. It begins with a congregation that is welcoming to children and their families. It begins with a congregation that makes room for the inconvenience of mess and chaos. It begins with a congregation that pulls together every summer- to offer a program that requires 30 volunteers to run a kids camp for 30 kids in the community- who then are encouraged to come and sing at kids club, who then can’t wait to attend Jr. youth because they’ve made friends at Trinity and like the leaders. It is out of Jr. youth that our kids become excited for confirmation, only offered every other year. Since 2011 Trinity has confirmed 47 new members to the community of faith. In the last years, we are needing to celebrate baptisms prior to confirmation- why? Because these youth are entering the church through our outreach and were not raised in the church, as a result- rather than parents bringing children to church, children are bringing parents to church. 

Youth ministry and discipleship is intentional and relational. Our confirmed youth are still actively engaged at Trinity. We have a small group of college/university still attending, helping and longing for deep community. They were their own small group at Northern Youth Camp. At any of our Sr. youth gatherings we are 20+ in attendance, we are the ‘breakfast club’ of a youth group (leadership included) and they love to be together- they love a safe community to be real- to belong- to know they are loved- and they are enough. Sounds like church doesn’t it? As I said – this doesn’t just happen. The story and the threads of grace trace back to the heart of this congregation- who you are- what we are- matters- it has – changed lives.

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