Tri-Church Corner
The most recent Tri-Church meeting was held Thursday, 9/15/16 at Self Help Enterprises. Pastor Gary Erickson led our discussion with members from all three churches attending. Pr. Gary led our bible study with Luke 15 – “the dishonest manager”. God is not petty, and does not hold it against us when we do the right things, even if our reasoning isn’t perfect. We should encourage each other to try new solutions to spread the gospel; we will only fail if we don’t try or give up.
Our Tri-Church service at St. John’s on September 11th was beautiful, and our new Tri-Church mission statement “United in Jesus’ love, we learn, serve and grow through faith and action.” was introduced at this God’ Work, Our Hands service. We are encouraged by the atmosphere of cooperation and building of trust between our members. We should continue to look for ways to cultivate relationships, perhaps with a partnership coordinator, or encouraging our small groups to widen their invitations to all three churches’ members.
We completed a core values exercise, with common recurring values such as “Love”, “Relationships”, Encouragement”, and “Acceptance”. Which values do we promote and focus on?
We are challenged by the question – what more can we be together than separate?
We still do not have a formal communication method between the three churches. A parish / TriChurch council (perhaps 2 members plus clergy from the three churches) could meet three or four times a year to share successes, failures, needs, and dreams. This team could facilitate and further build upon our shared vision and mission as we grow together.
Our next meeting will be October 27th at 6:30PM at Self Help Enterprises.
Respectfully submitted by:
Carla Haubrich & Denise Norman, St. John’s
Debra Keaschall, Immanuel
Greg Zeigler, St. Paul’s