As many of you know we have been holding Neighborhood Gatherings as part of our Stewardship Drive. There has been some talk that these groups may continue to interact through some form of internet community and possibly through summer fun activities (as we have done in the past) like backyard picnics, potluck suppers or field trips to the Zilker Summer Musicals (maybe more about that later). We thought you might like to hear something about what the Neighborhood Gatherings discussed. The two main emphases of conversation were what brought you to Trinity and what are some of your hopes and dreams for the future of Trinity. This report will discuss our hopes and dreams.
As you can imagine, there were dreams of all kinds mentioned. Kenneth and I sorted them out and made categories. There were 20 categories which we put into 7 larger groups and finally we decided to list them in 4 different categories: Fulfilling Congregational Life, Membership: Wide and Deep, Significant Presence Locally and Beyond, and Increasing Responsibility.
The largest group of hopes and dreams fell in the category of our life together as a community, and included: visions of people of all ages participating in a vast number of challenging activities promoting fun, learning, spiritual growth, compassion, and volunteering. Many people also hope our worship celebrations continue to share progressive messages, build a sense of community and involement, and incorporate the growing use of music and other arts.
Almost every Neighborhood Gathering had someone who mentioned increasing the number of members at Trinity. This category becomes deep and wide because so many people expressed hopes that our members could continue to find many ways to connect with each other and that we find more ways to express our openness, resulting in greater diversity across gender, ethnicity, age, ability, and economic classes.
Many of us are hoping that Trinity becomes a real gathering place for the neighborhood and for people from across our region, hosting arts events and providing worship and learning opportunities, working more closely with other United Methodists concerned with our denomination’s transformation, as well as collaborating with others of all faiths. We also envision using media for publicity and to share our programming with others through cyber space.
Ideas for our increasing responsibility focus on social change, the new building and our financial support. Trinity people dream of finding ways to share our experience and knowledge to help others, making connections between justice and spirit, supporting those on the margins, using our building effectively, and expanding our stewardship efforts.
We hope these ideas will help you begin to envision the new Trinity. We want to express our appreciation to all the host/hostesses, facilitators and participants in this effort to get to know each other better and to learn more about how we each see Trinity moving forward.
We also thank everyone who has helped with the stewardship campaign and everyone who has already made a pledge. If you have not, there is still time. Please help us all make our dreams come true.
Deana Henry, Stewardship Chair