T r init y Sp ire

Dear Trinity Family,

The month of July marks the one year mark for me being with you on this journey of faith. I am so appreciative for these last twelve months both for your marvelous hospitality and all that God has done through Trinity Church. I look forward to all that God has in store for Trinity Church as we move forward on the journey of faith together.

Last month the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church held its annual session in Indianapolis. This is a marvelous time for United Method-

ist pastors and lay people to get together and discuss the future of the United Methodist church in Indiana. This year our theme was ‘Be. Hope.’ This theme

fits well with how I feel about Trinity Church and the opportunities that God has given us in the Kendallville area to be hope. At the close of annual conference, this year’s appointments (the list of where pastors are serving) was approved. And I was proud to be appointed for another year as your pastor.

Trinity was also blessed to have another name added to our appointment list. As of July 1, Angie Kidd, the director at Common Grace, will be appointed to Trinity Church as her secondary ap-pointment as a deacon. Now I know that phrase seems complicated so let me break it down a lit-tle bit. I am ordained as an elder. An elder takes care of the church through a call to word, ser-vice, table, and order. Angie is a deacon and they are called to word, service, compassion and justice with their central goal to connect the church and the world. This is why Angie’s primary appointment is to Common Grace and Trinity Church is her secondary appointment. This appointment is a real blessing for Trinity Church. Angie’s knowledge and connection in Kendallville as well as her many gifts and talents will help God advance the mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ in Kendallville. Many of you already know Angie, and whether you do or not I ask that you greet her and her family with the same hospitality that you extended to me and my family when we first arrived.

I look forward to another year of walking this journey of faith with every one of you. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for Trinity Church and Kendallville. My earnest prayer is that God would help show us how to be ambassadors of God’s hope in Kendallville.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT: To Be and Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World.

Church Phone (260) 347-0056 Email: info@trinitychurchum.org website: trinitychurchum.org

July 2016 Volume 42, Issue 7

Pastor Chris Stephens

In support of Life & Family Services, the baby bottle campaign will start on Sunday, July 10. Any donations for this ministry to Noble County families should be placed in baby bottles and returned by Sunday, August 7.

Shop Kroger and Help Trinity Church

Do you shop at Kroger stores? Trinity Church is now part of Kroger’s Community Rewards Program. This means that you can add Trinity Church on your Kroger Plus Shoppers Card and every time you shop at Kroger, Trinity Church gets a cash reward. (Note: This does not affect your fuel rewards.) If you would like to sign up to help Trinity, have your Kroger Plus Card ready and follow these simple steps. (If you use your phone number or other alternate ID, you can get your Kroger Plus Card number by calling 1-800-576-4377,and selecting option 4. If you do not have a Kroger Plus Card, you can get one at the customer service desk at Kroger.)

Go online to krogercommunityrewards.com

Click on Sign In (If you have never logged into Kroger’s system before, you will need to register. Do this by clicking on the Create an Account box. Sign up for a Kroger Rewards Account by entering zip code, click-ing on favorite store, entering your email address and creating a password, and agreeing to the terms and conditions. You will then get a message to check your email inbox and click on the link within the body of the email.)

Click on Sign In and use your email address and password to proceed to the next step. Click on Enroll Now. You should see your personal information. Under Community Rewards click Enroll Now. Enter our group number 69456 or Trinity Church United Methodist Church (be careful to select Trinity Church

in Kendallville) and click search. Select Trinity Church United Methodist Church from list and click on confirm.

If this is successful a green line will appear on the screen that says your community rewards has been updated. You can check by scrolling down to the Community Rewards section of your profile and making sure Trinity Church is listed there.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact the church office. If you need further assistance, we would be happy to schedule a time for us to set up your Kroger Rewards here at the church for you.

Page 2 Trinity Spire

June Worship Stats

What’s Happening in July 10—Fair Parade

17—Family Day@Bixler 12:00PM

26—Sewing Missions 9 AM-2 PM

8:25 10:00 Total Offering

June 5 100 80 180 $7453

June 12 83 62 145 $5994

June 19 96 55 151 $4609

June 26 65 60 125 $5723

Baby Bottle Campaign

Trinity Reaching Out

This year we are approaching VBS in a new way. We had originally decided to use July 17th-21st as our VBS week. However, with school date changes, most of our families were going to be gone on vacation or couldn't make it. So, it was decided to think outside the box and truly make it an outreach experience; so, we will be hav-ing a one day event called Mega Sports Camp at Sunset Park on Sunday, August 14 from10am-4pm. We will be using this day as a way for Trinity to reach out to our neighborhoods. This will be followed by our annual Block Party from 5-7pm. It will be a full day of missional outreach to all ages. We will need many hands to make this day happen. Details will be coming in the next few weeks. Mark your calendar!

Page 3 Volume 42, Issue 7

Mission and Vision in Dollars and Cents

As you may recall, Trinity Church switched to a fiscal year budget, meaning our operational budget runs from July 1 through June 30. This has been a great benefit for our congregation to live out our call to be good stewards of what God has given us. This also means that we closed our 2015-2016 budget on June 30th and began our new 2016-2017 budget on July 1. The church council has accepted our 2016-2017 year budget of $260,000. But how does this budget reflect our mission and vision?

As a reminder the mission of Trinity Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We live out this mission through our vision which is to Connect to God in Jesus Christ, Grow in our faith in Jesus Chr ist, and Serve in our wor ld for Jesus Chr ist.

So let’s look at this year’s operational budget and see how it shows how we are living out our mission and vision. It is important to note that only the operational budget is represented here. This includes salaries, materials, maintenance, and overhead but does not include designated giving. Designated giv-ing are all the funds given to a specific cause like missions, education, and our capital fund (taking care of God’s house.) The best way for us to see this is using percentages, so you can imagine for eve-ry dollar given to the general budget can be divided this way.

The first thing you will see is that the church tithes. The tithe (which means 10%) comes out of our budget first. This represent s11% of our total budget. We give 1% or one cent on the dollar to the northeast district. This money goes to support trainings and ministries that extend beyond individual churches in northeast Indiana. We give 10% to the annual conference which supports ministries inside of Indiana, but almost 60%,or 6 cents on the dollar, goes to the global United Methodist Church. A large majority of that 6 cents supports the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and their ministries around the world.

The next item you will see is where a majority of your support goes to Connecting to God in Jesus Christ. This is primarily done through worship, but this also includes things like reaching out to the community and offering hospitality. This represents 37% of the overall budget or 37 cents of every dollar given to the general fund. Beyond that we spend 26% on both Grow and Serve. We Grow in our faith in Jesus Christ by meeting together, studying God’s word, and holding each other accountable. This area is primarily made up of education expenses across every age group. We Serve Jesus Christ when we are the hands and feet of Christ in the world. The number that is represented in the general budget shown here does not include your extra-mile giving toward missions, Common Grace, or other ministries. This amount in our budget represents the supplies and personnel to equip and empower the people of Trinity Church to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in the world.

Thank you so much for your willingness to give so that God can do amazing things through your gifts and through Trinity Church in our world.

Tithe, 11%

Connect,

37%Grow, 26%

Serve, 26%

2016 Budget

Before After

Graduates

SoulFire Monday Morning Breakfast

New Basement Carpeting and Paint

It was great to see all the graduating seniors in their caps and gowns. Thank you to all who organized their

recognition day.

Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who stepped up to help in the office until the new secretary was hired.

Courtney Cooper had a great camp experience at Camp Adventure.

Staff provided dinner for Maplecrest Apt. residents in June and the meal was welcomed by all.

The fantastic décor for the second service received many compliments.

Eight campers are signed up to go to day camp this month.