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Trinity
United Methodist Church is the newest church in Wayne County. The church is so
new it doesn't have a permanent home. The congregation is currently meeting at
Clearwater Family Youth Center in Piedmont for Sunday worship services.
Trinity
United Methodist plans to build a worship center on a tract of land on Highway
34, approximately three miles east of Piedmont. Ground breaking for the facility
is expected to take place in early 2003.
How
large a facility will be built remains to be seen. A building committee has been
formed to evaluate the church's needs. Officials say they want to develop the
church building around the ministries.
The
church is "new” for several reasons. Pastor Michael Woods says Trinity is
an effort to do something new and creative.
Trinity
is the only Methodist church in the Piedmont and Patterson areas. The church,
when created June 30, replaces two long-standing organizations—Piedmont United
Methodist Church and Patterson United Methodist Church.
"Those
two churches were dissolved," explains Gary Hillis. "A new church was
formed."
According
to Pastor Woods, what happened in Wayne County is rare. Churches throughout the
state and region are watching Trinity.
"Before
churches would merge," Woods explained. "That created problems.
The Piedmont and Patterson churches decided to close and dissolve
completely. Trinity isn't a merger (church). It is a new church."
How
did the membership of two churches
decide to close, dissolve, and create a new church?
Hillis
says the Patterson United Methodist Church had formed a building committee. The
committee was to look at all available options. One option was to approach
Piedmont about creating a new church. Piedmont was approached and study
committees were formed.
The
committees met numerous times and explored all options. The committees voted
creating a new church was feasible. They took this idea back to the two church's
membership. Then a combined workshop service was held, which was followed by
committee reports and a question/answer session. After all the information was
presented, members of both churches voted to dissolve the old churches and
create a new church.
"This
is an effort to do something entirely different," interjected Sam English.
"This is something new, creative, and something different. This is
certainly different than what we had been doing individually at Piedmont and at
Patterson. Quite honestly, what we were doing wasn't working. We needed to do
something new and dynamic. The experts have told us not to try to do what others
(other churches) are doing because it is already being done."
Trinity
United Methodist plans to try to reach new people. They plan to use a new
approach that is believed will make people feel at ease in services. The
church's doctrine will remain the same.
"The
focus of the church will be on unchurched and nominally churched people,"
Pastor Woods said. "We're going to make a very active, deliberate attempt
to invite people who don't have a church home to be a part of Trinity."
"We're
approaching ministry in the terms of small groups," Woods continued.
"People will be able to become involved in several small groups. There will
be even more groups generated by the needs of the people. As we grow, they can
still feel connected in that small group. We want people to feel very much a
vital part of the church. Those small groups will also generate teachers and
will go out and start more small groups. We have several small groups that are
being developed right now. As we grow there will be groups formed to deal with
the concerns of everyday people, for example maybe single parents, single
people, and fellowship groups."
Woods
says Trinity's goal is for people to feel like the church is a family.
"We
are deliberately working to take away things from our service that might
frighten people," Woods said. "Our service is becoming more of a
blended worship service. Our goal is for our service to be relevant and dynamic
to today's society—the problems they face today and the music they want to
hear. Our worship service is more open. "
Trinity
is also developing a children's church. The ministry will be designed to
"speak to children." It will include a puppet ministry, crafts and can
be compared to Vacation Bible School every Sunday.
"A
tremendous amount of change has taken place," English said. "It is an
ongoing process. We are constantly challenging ourselves to try to determine why
people aren't coming to church and what has kept them from coming. Our message
hasn't changed, just our approach."
Trinity
doesn't want to create traditions, which have a way of building walls. The
church wants to keep itself relevant.
"We
want to set up a situation and environment where we are constantly evaluating
what we are doing on a weekly basis," English said.
Trinity
is working to live up to the United Methodists' new slogan—"Open Hearts,
Open Minds, Open Doors."
“This
is not a pastor run church," Woods said. "Our ministry is done in
teams. We have team coordinators. All decisions are done by consensus. Every
member of the church has different roles and functions.”
Since
Trinity has been formed, the church has been averaging about 125 per worship
session. Trinity has more people attending services than the Piedmont and
Patterson churches had combined.
"We
don't have one member yet, officially," Woods said. "We haven't
chartered members. That will happen during January. We're gaining a lot of new
faces. We want new members. Anyone is welcome to (join us) . We're a community
-based church, not one based on geography."
Trinity
also has developed a webpage to assist its membership. The website can be
accessed at www.umctrinity.org. Church officials eventually hope to use the site
as an informational and educational tool.
The
church will hold its grand opening celebration on Sunday, Dec. 8, at the
Clearwater Family Youth Center. This Sunday, Trinity will have a special
service. A tent service will be held at 11 a.m. at the site where Trinity's
permanent church will be built. Following the service will be a picnic lunch on
the grounds.
The
buildings that housed the Piedmont United Methodist Church and the Patterson
United Methodist Church will be sold. The parsonage in Piedmont is also on the
market.
"This is an exciting time for us," Woods said. "We hope it is contagious."