A NOTE OF INTRODUCTION
Written by Tim Carrington
The Trinity Church conversation about our buildings and property pulls us into a deeper conversation about our values, hopes, and concerns. The priority now is to enlarge that conversation, and a Parish Engagement Committee has been convened and working. This isn’t an effort to put a public-relations varnish over a possibly unwelcome plan that’s already been hatched. The “plan” isn’t yet a reality, but it will be in the future, and it will be a better plan if more voices are heard, and more hearts and minds are awakened to the challenges, and opportunities of what lies ahead.
The Parish Engagement Committee (shorthand is PEC, with apologies for birthing a new acronym) has a specific role to act as guardians of the conversation— to assure that it is open, continuous, respectful and frank. It starts this month with tours of our property, with attention to what needs repair, and what might benefit from upgrading, or, possibly, revisioning. Subsequent discussion groups will be designed to go deeper into what we might want, and what we might not want.
The project involves two sets of changes. The first involves lining up needed repairs, historic preservation, and upgrades to our existing structures. The second is less defined at this point; it isn’t about what is already here but what might be here. It will evolve— with caring discernment—into a plan for incorporating our new properties into a Trinity “campus” that serves present and future communities. All in the name of Christ, as best we understand that.
We all have experienced instances where weak or insecure leaders found it more convenient to say, in effect, “We’ll do what we want and others will learn to live with it.” This doesn’t just risk a failed outcome, it guarantees it. So we’ll be doing this together.
Trinity's Parish Engagement Committee is faithfully led by Kathryn Everett, and its members are Fran Krebser, Susan Jones, Jimmie DeBergh, Tim Carrington, Mary Frances leMat, Ryan Crabbe, and Priscilla Goodwin. Michael Keeler provides substantive support.
Written by Tim Carrington
The Trinity Church conversation about our buildings and property pulls us into a deeper conversation about our values, hopes, and concerns. The priority now is to enlarge that conversation, and a Parish Engagement Committee has been convened and working. This isn’t an effort to put a public-relations varnish over a possibly unwelcome plan that’s already been hatched. The “plan” isn’t yet a reality, but it will be in the future, and it will be a better plan if more voices are heard, and more hearts and minds are awakened to the challenges, and opportunities of what lies ahead.
The Parish Engagement Committee (shorthand is PEC, with apologies for birthing a new acronym) has a specific role to act as guardians of the conversation— to assure that it is open, continuous, respectful and frank. It starts this month with tours of our property, with attention to what needs repair, and what might benefit from upgrading, or, possibly, revisioning. Subsequent discussion groups will be designed to go deeper into what we might want, and what we might not want.
The project involves two sets of changes. The first involves lining up needed repairs, historic preservation, and upgrades to our existing structures. The second is less defined at this point; it isn’t about what is already here but what might be here. It will evolve— with caring discernment—into a plan for incorporating our new properties into a Trinity “campus” that serves present and future communities. All in the name of Christ, as best we understand that.
We all have experienced instances where weak or insecure leaders found it more convenient to say, in effect, “We’ll do what we want and others will learn to live with it.” This doesn’t just risk a failed outcome, it guarantees it. So we’ll be doing this together.
Trinity's Parish Engagement Committee is faithfully led by Kathryn Everett, and its members are Fran Krebser, Susan Jones, Jimmie DeBergh, Tim Carrington, Mary Frances leMat, Ryan Crabbe, and Priscilla Goodwin. Michael Keeler provides substantive support.
