Reports

Trinity United Methodist Church

Spartanburg, South Carolina

Church Council Reports For Charge Conference

The State of the Church 2007

A Report of the Senior Pastor  to Charge Conference

     We are in the second year of our five years of goals for Trinity Church.  As I reviewed last year’s report to this body, I was amazed at how the achievement of the goals has changed the landscape of Trinity Church.  As I reviewed the 2007 goals, once again I noted that Trinity Church will move another step forward when all these goals are achieved.

     The first goal for 2007 was to Reactivate Neighborhood Groups.  The Fellowship Team has been working on re-developing the Neighborhood Groups in order to put every member in a district.  Now the Fellowship Team is seeking people who will be willing to head up each district.

     Our second goal for 2007 was to Develop more Diverse Groups.  With the many ongoing activities the Fellowship Team has and the time spent on the neighborhood group plan, the fellowship Team has not worked on this goal.

     Our third goal was to Start a United Methodist Men. Ironically, the “champion” for this goal was listed as UMM.  Since the goal is to establish a United Methodist Men’s group, I asked the Church Council if I could begin to work on developing the groundwork for a United Methodist Men’s presence in Trinity Church.  I contacted the General Secretary of the General Conference United Methodist Men and received some guidance, namely that the model for United Methodist Men’s groups  has changed.  They also directed me to some resources that I have received.  The general church leadership told me that there was a training event in South Carolina coming immediately.  I contacted Dick Olson, who is the Adult Coordinator for Trinity and we discussed how to proceed with implementing the new model.  Neither Dick nor I were able to attend the training since we learned about it so close to the event, but I had been told by the GCUMM leadership that they would advise me when other training would be held.  To date I have received nothing from them.

 I am waiting for more help in pursuing this new model.  Also, Dick spoke to several men in the church and their response was not particularly positive about the new model.  However, I feel with more information we may do well following the new model.  This week I received information about a training event in Irmo early in December.  I hope to be able to have several men of our congregation in attendance at that event.

     The fourth, fifth and sixth goals were to be handled by the Finance Committee.  They are: Hold a series of financial management classes.  Develop alternative giving opportunities.  Form a committee of professional financial advisors.  All three of these goals have a similar nature.  The Finance Committee for the last two years has sent a letter to our membership to make members aware of the fact that there are members of the church who are willing to discuss financial questions with them.

     We have received a bequest from Miss Willie Mefford and anticipate another bequest that will be announced soon.  There has been discussion about using these bequests as a springboard for encouraging members of the congregation to  consider alternative giving opportunities such as bequests, lifetime estates, paid life insurance policies, etc.

     The seventh goal was:  Add Bethlehem Center as a major outreach.  The Missions Team has requested an increase of our current support of the Bethlehem Center by $500.00 for 2008.  Additionally, Trinity members are involved in many different ways including, work in the Bethlehem Center Thrift Store on a regular weekly basis and Trinity members are very involved in the annual Women’s Day event.

     Our eighth goal, which was also in the care of the Missions Team was:  Emphasis on SPIHN. This year a day of training sessions was offered to our membership to both familiarize our members with this ministry and to allow our members to gain a better understanding of the specific duties involved with hosting the homeless in our facilities.  We continue to house these guests for a week every 13 weeks.

     The Missions Team was charged with the ninth goal which was:  Develop a FOCUS on Outreach.  The Missions Team seeks to involve every member of Trinity Church in missions, but as yet, we have not been able to develop a distinctly unique mission program.  At the moment we are seeking to be known as the church involved in missions in many, many ways.
 

        Our Missions Team has spent much time developing a missions trip for 2008 for Trinity Church.  While the final destination has not been finalized, the hope is that this trip will be a combination of medical and construction/teaching.

        The Church Council added a tenth goal during the year which it charged to Worship.  This had to do with investigating an alternate worship service for Trinity Church. A Task Force, formed by the Worship Team has met many times in an attempt to determine what other churches are currently doing and what sorts of worship opportunities are not currently being offered.  The “audience” for the service was determined to be adults with young children and it was felt that if the service could be held on Sunday late afternoon so that it ended just prior to the start of UMYF we might attract our youth to the service.

        Much more work will be needed to translate this concept into reality.  Additionally, we await the selection of a new staff person who will work with youth who should make an important contribution to this emerging ministry.

Beyond the 2007 Goals

        As I reviewed the specific groups who were charged with meeting our 2007 goals, I included other specific work by  those teams.  There has been a great deal of effort expended beyond these teams and I include some of these efforts because Trinity Church has been extremely engaged in significant events and ministries this year.

        The Director of Music Ministry was selected and began work among us, dramatically growing the Adult Choir and bringing much needed enthusiasm to the music program of the church.  This contribution is another “piece of the puzzle” as we seek to grow Trinity Church.

        The job description for a Director of Youth and Leisure Ministries was developed, and a Task Force to pursue filling this position was named to locate the best possible candidate.  In this process   several candidates were interviewed, including one onsite interview.  We continue to search for the best person to fill this position.

        The Evangelism Team has been very intentional about developing a comprehensive program to grow the membership of the church by:

1.            Establishing Greeters for Morning Worship who both welcome all who come to worship but also stand with the pastor at the conclusion of worship to follow-up with guests and gather information about them.

2.            Establishing a specific plan of follow-up for our visitors which includes trained members of our church who contact each of our visitors soon after they attend for the first time.

3.             When notified by our members of newcomers to their neighborhood there is intentional follow-up with newcomers to our area.

4.            The Evangelism Team was involved in our third annual Blessing of the Animals service in order to extend hospitality to our guests and encourage future involvement of those who attended who were not members.

5.            The Evangelism Team focused on raising our visibility in the Converse Heights neighborhood by hosting the Nickel Nick Nak event. Fliers were distributed in the neighborhood by our youth and members of the congregation who live in Converse Heights were encouraged to contact their neighbors and invite them to attend the event.  Evangelism developed the phrase “Your Neighborhood Church” to be used in these and future efforts in the Converse Heights neighborhood.

        A new Stewardship Campaign was introduced by the Stewardship Team this year.  After so many years of the same model it was felt that it was time for a change.  We have not yet seen the results of this new experience.

        In order to take advantage of the potential participation from outside the membership of the church, the Worship Team has planned to have two Christmas Eve services this year with the earlier designed for children and their families and the later one to be more traditional.  The team  will provide hot cider at the conclusion of the service for all present to extend hospitality to all present and to make everyone more comfortable staying and visiting with each other.

       
             Our Long Range Planning Team has continued its work looking beyond the five years of goals that are being achieved with the most recent work in the area of   Natural Church Development.  We have received our results and have had several meetings seeking to determine the true causes for our minimum factor.  After this is determined, the team will develop plans to follow the guidelines of the program.

        I would be remiss if I did not recognize the effective operation of our committees.  I will highlight our Church Council under the leadership of Susan Gray.  This year brought a new model for the agenda of the meetings and it has proved to be beneficial moving us beyond just hearing about plans to participation in providing planning, guidance and insights to other committees of the church.

        Regarding structure, a new area has been identified for nomination by the Committee on Lay Leadership:  The Kitchen Coordinators.  Comprised of individuals who represent all the major groups who use the kitchen, this body will be seeing that each group appropriately cares for the kitchen and that needs of the kitchen are attended to in a timely manner.

        This has been a busy year for our History Committee.  Although it is one of the smallest teams of the church, much has been accomplished.  The hanging of the historical decade posters, the education of our membership about Trinity’s history through the newsletter, and the location and protection of historical documents and artifacts are representative of the work of this team.

        The Board of Trustees has worked on many different projects, but the milestone event was the completion of the replacement of the slate roof on the sanctuary building.  Paid for by extending the debt of the church, this was far more than a cosmetic effort because water continued to leak into the building when it rained.

        With so much happening this year, we still struggle with weaker attendance in worship than would be anticipated.  It is my hope that 2008 will bring to an end the decline in both membership and attendance that can be traced back to 1993 for membership and 1998 for attendance.

        Despite this concern, I believe the future of Trinity Church will be bright if we continue to engage in intentional efforts of outreach, mission and service.

T. Lee Bryant

November 6, 2007

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The State of the Church 2007

Associate Pastor’s Annual Report,

2007 has been a year of listening to God’s call in the midst of the everyday realities of ministry.  Listening for God's voice means being open to the possibility of how one can grow in faith.  The first focus of my ministry at Trinity is education.  We continue to offer Disciple Bible Study as a means of deepening knowledge of Scripture, small group accountability and renewal of discipleship.  In the spring, I facilitated an Old Testament Short-Term Disciple Bible Study and finished a Disciple I class.  In the fall, I began a Disciple II class and continue to find other teachers to offer more Disciple groups, including a Disciple I class and Youth Disciple I class.  Trinity's educational offerings also include a variety of Sunday School classes for all ages, Wednesday evening programs, seasonal offerings following the liturgical calendar, and UMW circle programs. I have offered leadership in each of these areas, including an Advent Study, a Bible Study focusing on the Women of John's Gospel,  UMW programs on the Holy Spirit and Glorifying God, teaching Youth and Children's Sunday School classes, and resourcing, teaching,  and designing curriculum for the Children's Sunday School.

Being faithful to God’s call means looking to specific groups within the church and growing ministry that reaches into their lives.  The second focus of my ministry at Trinity is the UMYF.  Each week, I participate with our leadership team to offer community to the youth of Trinity.  I look forward to continuing to hear God by growing in relationship with our youth.  I anticipate what I can teach them about faith and what they can show me about living it out in today’s world.  I have enjoyed planning programs, fun events, retreats and attending Youth ‘07 in Greensboro, NC during this year of ministry.

Hearing God's voice means listening for the message within the Body of Christ. Every opportunity for education, for learning about one’s faith, for growing in discipleship is also a means of fellowship within the Body.  The community of the church comes together to laugh, to experience joy, to offer comfort, to share one’s faith, and to discern together how they are being

called by God.  The third focus of my ministry at Trinity is the care of its members.  Caring for one another demands having a relationship.  This is experienced in the times of fellowship for the congregation and individual visits with its members. An important part of my pastoral ministry is visiting with those in the hospital, in nursing homes, those who cannot easily come to church, and those members experiencing acute needs.  Another component of my ministry is promoting care for its members through fellowship events. I continue an active role in helping to organize these events for the Children, Youth and Adult ministries.  Many of these events are annual, including the Fall Festival, Pumpkin Patch, Vacation Bible School, Christmas Caroling, Adventure Camp, Sports Camp, Sunday School at the Pool, and the Blessing of the Animals.

A vital message that I have heard in listening for God’s call is reaching out to those outside the church.  Throughout this year, Trinity has put emphasis on evangelism.  My ministry has included designing a UMC 101 class for prospective and current members as a means of education about Methodism, improving our brochures and printed materials about Trinity and our ministry opportunities, and helping to organize our visitor follow-up program.  This part of my ministry naturally flows from heeding God’s call to strengthen each person on their faith journey and to care for all members of God’s church.  When others are encouraged to grow in faith and realize their own call to ministry, then the church will grow and touch the lives of more people.

The fourth focus of my ministry at Trinity is worship.  This can only occur by listening carefully to God’s call. I do this as I prepare to preach God’s Word and lead in worship. I prepare for these sacred responsibilities through study, intentional times of prayer, and paying attention to how I struggle with observing the Sabbath and maintaining spiritual disciplines to the level I would like.  All of my areas of focus in ministry lead to what we do in worship at Trinity.  It is in that time and place that we truly discover what it means to be the church.

As I look ahead to 2008, I know that listening becomes all the more crucial.  God is calling.  God desires to be in relationship with each of us.  God has work for the church to do.  Where does Trinity fit in?  Where am I being called in ministry?  The focus on education and evangelism will be realized in new ways during the coming years.  In January of 2007, Miss Willie Mefford died.  A gift from her estate to Trinity will be used to revitalize the Children’s Wing.  This will truly honor the life that Miss Mefford lived while offering her ministry at Trinity.  Her care and love for the children and youngest members of Trinity will be seen in a new Nursery and improved facilities throughout the Children’s Wing.  This project will be a way that Trinity can reach out to more people and continue to offer more educational opportunities for spiritual growth.  The other focus will be completing Trinity’s Safe Sanctuary Policy. 

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 Church Council Report

For

Charge Conference

November 17, 2008

Trinity United Methodist Church

Spartanburg, South Carolina

It is with great pleasure that I share my thoughts with you about the last year in the life of Trinity United Methodist Church. It has been a year of positive change, continued challenges, and spiritual growth for our church.  As Chair of Church Council, I have been in the unique position to see the work of all of the committees of the church and I am happy to share their progress with you.

The Evangelism Team led by John Holland has spread the word about Trinity and its mission throughout Spartanburg.  New advertising in the Yellow Pages and in the Spartanburg Herald Journal has, hopefully, increased our visibility.  An analysis of that effort will occur next year to determine its effectiveness.  A special effort was made to reach out to our neighbors in Converse Heights with flyers and mailers going to the homes of all residents who are not members of our church, inviting them to various activities and to our worship services at Trinity.   A series of Advent Concerts on Sunday evenings in December will provide additional opportunities for our congregation, our friends and families, and those seeking a church home to become acquainted with Trinity. Our TriNativity program on December 7 will also give us a chance to view our congregation’s beautiful Nativity scenes and to invite others to view these meaningful symbols of Christmas. We have noticed an increase in the number of visitors and these efforts to reach out will continue next year.  The resulting increase in the number of families joining our church has been a welcome sight at Trinity.

Our Mission Team was extremely active this year under the leadership of Doug Rayner. Numerous activities occurred to help us spread the Good News of the Gospel in our community and beyond.  Our deaf ministry continues with hopes to increase its outreach even more.  Not only did we support our SPIHN project to house homeless families for several weeks in our church, but we also continued to send youth and adults to help families in need through the Salkehatchie project.  By far the highlight of the year was the mission trip to Brazil.  It was a life -changing experience for all who traveled to Brazil to give medical and spiritual care to those in need.   For our church it was rewarding spiritually as we prayed for those who traveled.  The outpouring of financial support for this effort from our congregation was amazing and we anticipate with genuine excitement the upcoming mission trip in 2009 which will focus on Native Americans.

Michelle Clyburn enthusiastically chaired our Fellowship Team this year and established new and wonderful ways for our church members to enjoy special times together. The Evangelism and the Fellowship teams worked together on several projects which was a good use of time and resources.  Highlights of the many fellowship events were the Wednesday Night Suppers featuring Dick Harvey’s delicious food and the church-wide picnic at Cleveland Park. Lemonade on the Lawn in the summer followed by Cider on the Sidewalk in the fall during which members gathered on the lawn in front of the church after worship to enjoy on another’s company were great events.  There was something particularly touching to me to see our members and guests visiting with each other rather than rushing to their cars after worship. A special thank you to Michelle and her team for a job well done.

One of the greatest challenges facing any team this year was the one placed before the Worship Team.  They were charged with researching and reviewing the possibility of the establishing a non-traditional worship service.  Under the able and ingenious leadership of Leslie Harmon Hendon and a large group of team members, they bravely jumped in and developed our Celebrate Summer series, consisting of one worship service at 10:30 a.m.  for eight weeks in the summer.  Modern music was sung, dress was casual, clergy wore no robes, and worship had a more relaxed feel.  At the end of the eight weeks, a survey was taken to determine the congregation’s feelings about this service. The congregation liked being together for one service.  Many loved the informality of the service; others missed the traditional format. Many, many people missed the full choir.  It was decided that we should continue with one service for the fall and work to vary the worship service with a blended format.  This is still a work in progress as the team strives to meet the needs of our congregation and of those who may want to join us. 

This is not the only project this outstanding committee tackled.  They were called to help with special seasonal services we had and they responded beautifully.  In addition, dramatic presentations were incorporated into several services. A vibrate worship service - or services - is the goal and they are working diligently to enhance that experience.

After an exhaustive search, our Staff Parish Relations Committee led by Bob Reynolds found Chuck Connor to lead our Youth and Leisure Ministries.  He hit the ground running with ideas for a new program for youth, revitalized Sunday School classes, special Bible Studies, and great, fun activities for the youth and the adults at Trinity. Chuck is a welcome addition to our staff and we will watch with great anticipation his work in the upcoming year.

Our other committees worked tirelessly for our congregation. Our Education team led by Julia Norman helped Reverend Heather Humphries keep the Christian education life of our church moving forward.   In addition, luncheons for our graduating high school and college seniors and our Sunday School teachers honored those special groups and let them know that we care about them.  Our United Methodist Women continued to move forward under the able leadership of Vickie Harvey.  Our circles actively met and provided support and spiritual help to one another. Several District UMW meetings were held at Trinity and our new babies were honored again this year during a special service. Joe Ann Lever and Doris Wright did a masterful job of maintaining historical records for our church and managing our church library.  Beth Greene and Shirley Blaes led our Congregational Care and our Prayer Teams, respectively.  Although their work is not as outwardly visible as the other teams, their help to our families in times of crisis and the continued support of our congregation through prayer is felt by many and is deeply appreciated.

Now, let me celebrate the music ministry.  I know I am prejudiced because I am in the choir, but can you believe the size of our choir now and the beautiful sounds coming from the loft!  We average over 30 in the choir every Sunday and we will find room for anyone else who wants to sing with us.  Under the great leadership of Justin Addington, we are finding out we can sing in ways we never dreamed possible.  Leading church music is a ministry and a calling for Justin and he has instilled in us an understanding of our role in making worship meaningful for the congregation.  One of the highlights of the year was a mass choir performance at Twichell Auditorium in June. Directed by Justin, a choir of 200 voices from the Spartanburg District performed in celebration of the 300^th anniversary of the birth of Charles Wesley.  What a tremendous blessing it was to worship God in song with hundreds of voices and a large orchestra.  Our choir will travel to England next summer to perform this music in various churches. In addition, our Patriotic Program was a joy to perform and we are anticipating the Advent Season and all that it means for the music ministry.  Stay tuned!

Ron Guida deserves a pat on the back for leading our Finance Team this year. We paid our apportionments for 2007 and we hope to complete that important task this year.  Our 2008 Stewardship Campaign, chaired by Lewis Cole, concluded on Consecration Sunday, and we will have the final updated figures on the success of that effort in a few weeks. Lewis carefully explained our budget each week in the Trinity Times so that the congregation had a better understanding of what it costs to run the church, and it appears the congregation responded positively. All of the signs point to the completion of a successful campaign and we anticipate good news in a few weeks. 

One of the great achievements of this year was the retirement of the church debt.  For as long as I can remember our church has carried debt and because of the generosity of Lillian Mooneyham and her love of our church, our endowment fund has increased and our debt is retired because of the large gift she left to us in her estate.  It will be excellent to start a new year debt free. This gift had a tremendous positive effect on our 2008 budget because we finally eliminated the loan repayment line item from our budget.

We are running a bit behind in our current giving, but Trinity has been known as a fourth quarter church and I am certain that our faithful members will bring us through again.  These are challenging times for all Americans and our Trinity members are touched by the current financial crisis, just like everyone else. It will be important for the Finance Team to carefully oversee the budget for the remainder of 2008 and to make any adjustments necessary to help us stay balanced.  The Finance Team will also need to be particularly vigilant in 2009 as we face the uncertain financial times together.

As my two year term as chair of Church Council comes to a close, I must share some personal thoughts with you about what a privilege it has been to be a part of this great team.  It has been wonderful to see the strong, committed leaders of our committees working hard during challenging times to meet the goals placed before them, and keeping Trinity moving forward in a positive way. God’s hand has been on you and He has worked through you. I am truly honored to have been with you and I will miss seeing you every third Sunday of each month.  Jim Norman will be the new and very capable leader of Church Council and I will pray for his leadership and for all of you in the years to come.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to serve Trinity in this way.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan D. Gray

Chair, Church Council

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   Trinity United Methodist Church •  626 Norwood Street, Spartanburg, SC 29302  • Telephone 864/585-4884   (Fax  585-3851)