Dear Trinity Family,
When reflecting on the year, we’ve done some meaningful things together! We started the year by confirming the whole congregation “for mission” with our youth. Some of us went with them as we visited The Dwelling where we participated in the heart-opening experience of a day in the life of a street person. We have also continued to engage with the Forsyth County Broad-Based Organizing effort (known as I.A.F) to build power through deepening our relationships with each other and others, as we hosted listening sessions to hear the issues in our city we care about. We continue to be in mission partnership with Bolton School/Food Pantry and Crisis Control. And we are worshipping with our sister African American churches–Dellabrook, Grace, and Lloyd–on 5th Sundays. It has been quite a year! Thank you for your help and participation!
As with every stewardship season, our Finance Team thinks through where we are financially, what we need, as well as what’s realistically budgetable. This year, as the Finance Team keeps one eye on the budget piece, we would like to challenge you in a slightly different way with this year’s theme: “ALL Hands on Deck!”
The truth is that we, like many other churches and institutions, fall into the dangerous 80/20 rule. This “rule” says that 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people. Let’s think about it for a minute. Imagine if only 20% of your car’s engine was working properly. Or if you went to a sporting event where only 20% of the players attempted to cover the entire field – just imagine how tired they would get. What if only 20% of people voted?
The dangers of the 80/20 rule are that it not only burns out the 20% (quickly), but it also means that 80% of the gifts in the group aren’t being utilized, which from a leadership point-of-view is not a helpful way of building up our church community!
Now, I completely understand that we all have a lot going on in our lives and we can only do so much. So here’s what we are going to try to do this year during our stewardship campaign:
– During worship, we will have laminated parts of the service for someone to grab when they enter the doors. We want to get as many voices as possible to be heard during the service (I mean, just imagine if you were on zoom and 80% of the time you only heard or saw me? I cringe just thinking about it!)
– With your commitment card, we also want you to fill in where you are willing to offer your gifts.
– Also with your commitment card, there will be a spot for you to vote on where you would like our mission funds from our Capital Campaign to go. Your choices will be the five institutions we are in relationship with: Broad Based Organizing, Bolton School, Crisis Control, our sister African American churches, or The Dwelling. We ask that you rank them 1-5 (1 being your first choice and 5 being your last choice).
It’s time to roll up our sleeves and do our best to obliterate that 80/20 rule, where 80% of the gifts and voices are not being utilized. And as I think of what this could mean for us building a beloved community together, I can hardly contain my excitement.
All hands on deck, y’all!
Jon and the TPC Finance Team