Ministries of Trinity
"To follow Jesus Christ, and invite others on the journey."
Welcome to Trinity United Methodist. We're a group of spiritual activists who gather together for mutual encouragement, counsel and challenge. As a "progressive" church we believe that God passionately loves this earth, and yearns to work with us toward global harmony and reconciliation. We affirm that there are many paths upward on the mountain of God. Our path is the way of Jesus. We follow, as best we're able, the values and vision he taught. We're not perfect but we believe that we are better together than alone. Listed below are a few of our ministries. This is our attempt to put our faith into action. Come and see.
WE ARE A JUBILEE CONGREGATION
The Jubilee is the Biblical strategy for a just economy. Jubilee occurs when slaves are freed, debts are cancelled, and both the land and all creatures are given Sabbath rest.
One way we try to live the Jubilee is through our participation and advocacy for the homeless.
• Sandwich Makers have for decades lovingly created 200 sandwiches a week for the homeless women of Seattle.
• Saturday Soup is our attempt to serve delicious, healthy, as organic as possible, soup for Saturday lunch for the homeless and the lonely in our Ballard neighborhood.
• Housing is important to us, so we created an apartment in the church building to help one person at a time move from the streets to an apartment. We also have a shelter for twenty men and women.
• We engage in advocacy ministries and are supporters of Tent City.
• We are currently developing a Prison ministry.
WE ARE A GREENING CONGREGATION
We are actively trying to change our lifestyles as a response to the cry of the earth. We attempt to live towards a sustainable life that repairs God's earth. We lift up the need for both personal and communal consciousness change as we move from thinking of "me me me" to an "us" that includes the earth and all its creatures.
Some small examples of our attempts:
• Our garden and lawn are pesticide free.
• We strive to have our choice of coffee and other products of consumption to be fair trade and organic.
• Our Worship liturgy continually reminds us of the pain and promise of creation.
WE ARE AN EXTENDED FAMILY
We are learning to see ourselves as a congregation of sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents nieces, nephews, and in-laws that become "bread of life" that help to satisfy our restless, hungry hearts. We affirm that "everybody belongs" and try, as best we're able, to open ourselves to the uniqueness of each other. Our spiritual quest is to seek and recognize, "Christ in you, the hope of glory"!
Some ways we do this:
• A commitment to each other as a Reconciling Congregation that affirms and celebrates family diversity.
• An affirmation that the work of justice requires lots of laughter, relaxation, and fellowship. We attempt to balance our "serious work" with "non serious play-time".
• The creation of an Emergency Loan Fund that helps members in times of economic hardship.
• Mutual support and affirmation of our individual ministries and calling from God.
WE ARE A SPIRITUAL LEARNING CONGREGATION
We are trying to grasp how truly difficult it is to live an alternative life to empire, militarism and materialism. We recognize and affirm our need to engage in practices that connect our head with our heart and hands so that we can live as "free people" governed only by the Spirit of our Creator.
Some ways we do this:
• Encouragement to participate in spiritual formation training. This can consist of intimate small group work, journaling, devotional readings, conversation, lectures, and practices of prayer. We also host a monthly Taize-prayer Candlelight Worship.
• Everything we do is bound together through the use of our reason, our experience, an acknowledgement of the tradition that informed us, and a diverse approach to interpretation of the Bible. We believe that God still has a living word, fresh and unique for our time and place. As a community we strive to discern this word both in our hearing and our doing.
• We believe in the sacredness of our song. Under the awesome leadership of Deeji Killian & Bob Tangney, The Sparkling Choir of Love, along with duets, solos, quartets, ensembles and, of course, robust congregational singing complemented by the enormously talented Lay Leader/pianist Todd Shively, have created one of the finest music ministries in Seattle. This year we've seen the emergence of the Edna Harper Players (bluegrass/folk) and a newly forming Jazz group. Through the gift of music, God dances in our midst.
COME AND SEE !
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