Trinity Strategic Plan for the Future

Vestry Retreat Report

October 2023

The Trinity Vestry held a retreat at Camp Allen on Sept. 29th and 30th with the primary purpose of discerning the future of Trinity and the property at 1015 Holman.

We began by focusing on the church’s mission statement and core values:

“Making God’s presence real by sharing Christ’s Life-Changing love.”

Community

Worship

Responsiveness

Our next step was to synthesize the notes from the three ‘Trinity Block Party Talks’ that were held this summer. It was beautiful to see that the concerns and desires of our parish were aligned to our mission statement and our core values. Among the stated needs were:

-Sacred spaces

Family spaces: young and older members

Build, maintain, grow, and be intentional with community relationships

Cultural spaces

After discussing the parish responses, we realized that for us to move forward with any new initiative, it would have to meet the following criteria:

It would need to serve a need

Trinity would need the skilled personnel to oversee the initiative

Trinity would need to have committed people to grow the initiative

It would need to be sustainable.

Many concerns were raised by the congregation regarding the process of facing our future.

Concern about disagreement

How would this process be different from previous times of change and growth?

How would the vestry communicate with the congregation?

The vestry shares in these concerns. People will disagree, but we must all pray, listen, and remember that we love each other. This process will be different in that an action plan has been established, and that the vestry will be providing regular updates to the congregation regarding any developments, costs, and feedback. The congregation will also be able to contact vestry members with questions as the process is unfolding.

As stewards of your generous donations, we realize that no decision can be made without accurate financial information. We also realize that to maintain objectivity and to gain skilled guidance, we need to hire a consulting firm. That takes us to our next steps.

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ACTION PLAN:

1) Hire Sacred Places to guide us through this process.

• They have been highly recommended
• The Episcopal Church and other denominations have used them with great success.
• Sept. 30th, request financial help from EDOT to hire Sacred Places
• Oct. 17th, invite Endowment Board members to the Vestry meeting to discuss Sacred Places
• Nov. 14th, present a proposal to the Endowment Fund for financial help to hire Sacred Places, if needed. (contingent on funding or lack of, from EDOT)

2) In the next 6 months, we will need to have square footage and specific measurements of spaces at The Bering House and our property at 1015 Holman.

3) In the next 6 months we will need to get updated cost information for the following:

• Refurbish the Bering House
• Demo of the Bering House
• Salvaging the Bering House
• New building cost
• Outdoor spaces

This is just the beginning of a multi-year initiative. We invite you to pray with us as we go through this process. Let us all focus on how we can continue to share Christ’s Life-Changing Love with everyone!

Eric Beam

Ben Blanding

Andy Durham

John Escoto

Pam Lawson

Mary Matteucci

Ann McCoy

John Merullo

Samantha Rainman

Gladys Vallés

David Villarreal

Michele White

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“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,[b] and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’”

Genesis 1:26

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