Advent Moments

The 2015 Trinity Advent Devotional is available!

As we begin the business of the Christmas season, we invite you to draw on the scriptures and questions provided to remember Advent. We hope that this devotional would serve as a steady foundation during a time of disconnected festivities, performances, gifts, and parties.

Use these verses and questions as an opportunity for solitary reflection and journaling, or engage your family in conversation, to cultivate a culture of waiting in this season of Advent.

Download the devotional here.

Trinity Outreach Programs 2012-15 Strategic Plan Review

They say a Strategic Plan is only as good as the amount of time it spends off the shelf and in your hands. Luckily, our recently-completed 2012-15 Trinity Outreach Programs Strategic Plan spent a lot of time being put to use. The Trinity Transformational Presence Team spent many hours of hard work on this plan, and we are grateful for all the incredible, life-changing work that has taken place over the past three years. 

Below are some of the highlights of what was achieved through the 2012-15 Trinity Outreach Strategic Plan:

• 30% growth in number of program volunteers.
• 30% growth in funding.
• 46 students served through TAP.
• 445 students served at the Learning Center.  (TAP & Learning Center numbers do not count the hundreds of students served by our staff through in-class assistance.)
• A brand new Learning Center program model at Jason Lee through partnership with the Peace Community Center and Jason Lee middle school.
• Over 5,000 kids and adults served through Pat's Closet & Tony's Kitchen.
• $35,000 raised through the Trinity Outreach Auction.
• 2 Focus Groups conducted on Christmas House and Tony’s Kitchen. 
• Transformational Presence month of October has become a mainstay at Trinity.
• Our stated partnerships (Northwest Leadership Foundation, Peace Community Center, Tacoma Public Schools) are healthy and growing.
• We have undertaken the process of completing our next Strategic Plan, aligning our process with the future vision of Trinity Presbyterian Church and our ongoing mission of Transformational Presence here in the Bryant Neighborhood.

We are extremely grateful for the many faithful volunteers, staff, and community partners who have made this work possible. Here's to what has been, and to what is to come!  

THANK YOU!

Bryant Late Start at Trinity

As a partner with Bryant Montessori Elementary School, we are offering childcare for students in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade on the "Late Start Days" in the 2015-16 school year.  Trinity will offer supervision at the church (within walking distance of the school - 1615 Sixth Ave) from 9 AM until 12 noon, when Trinity caregivers will walk your child(ren) to school. A snack of fruit, cereal bar and juice is provided. Only 25 spots are available for the Late Start program, so register now.  Cost is $10.00 per first child and $5.00 for each additional child in a family.  

Trinity Presbyterian Church has been a partner with Bryant Montessori for the past 25 years and offers TAP, a daily afterschool literacy program to 1st and 2nd grade students. The teachers of Bryant must refer you to the TAP program.   

The Bryant Late Start dates for the 2015 - 16 school year are:  

September 16th
October 14th
November 18th
December 9th
January 13rd
February 10th
March 9th
April 13th
May 11th
June 8th
 

For more information contact Rachel Boisen at rachel@tpctacoma.org or call 253.272.8819, ext 105.

August: Hands on Worship

Over the last few years, we have taken the month of August to welcome our younger worshipers into the worship service (ages Kindergarten and above). This both familiarizes our children into the shared worship life of Trinity and gives our Sunday School teachers a much needed break! We've attempted to make worship more "family friendly" and engage people of many different ages through the years. This year, we are going to engage with some of Jesus’ parables in a unique way.

For the first three Sundays in August (Aug 2,9 and 16), there will be several "worship stations" set up around the sanctuary to aid you in meeting God. This change will help us to move from sitting more passively in the pew to a posture of hands-on engagement with God's Word. One station might offer a commentary to read, another might give you space to pray, or a third might invite you to create in response to God's voice in the parable. It will be a different way to engage scripture compared to a sermon, but it will be a great way for us to worship together.

So come try it out. Enter as a child into a new way to worship. You might be surprised to find that you really like it!

The worship service begins each Sunday at 10 AM at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1615 6th Avenue, Tacoma

2015 Youth Summer Servant Adventure: A Review

Fourteen members of Trinity's Youth Group with their four adult leaders spent an amazing week on their Servant Adventure in Northern Idaho.

The seven high schoolers lived at a former forest service fire fighting training camp near the small community of Prichard, ID. They spent the first part of their day in work teams, serving alongisde youth and adults from other churches in Washington and Colorado, helping local elderly residents with yard work, home repairs, and chopping/stacking firewood. The afternoon were spent in Bible study, leadership training, worship and various outdoor activities.

What did the high schoolers think about their experience?  

“I loved worship and deep meaningful conversations we had with each other. We got to share what was really on our hearts.”

“One of my most meaningful moments . . . was when we got to comfort our new friends from Colorado after they found out about the tragic passing of a friend back home.”

"Before each Bible study .  . . we were asked to be silent for a moment. These moments of silence in the beautiful outdoors made me feel close to God.”

“I really enjoyed meeting new people, especially getting to know some amazing Christian adults.”

“I felt so peaceful being out in nature! God’s creation is so beautiful!”

“I felt so loved by Richard, the elderly man, whom we helped this week. He had a lot of back pain, so he really appreciated our service. He came out of the house, talked to us, and gave us all hugs.”

“I will never forget this servant adventure because of the work we did. It made it so much more meaningful than any other Christian camp.”

“I loved spending time with the residents of the nursing home in Wallace. I think I want to look into possibly doing that in Tacoma too.”

The middle school group spent the week on Lake Coeur D’Alene as a part of a multiage Christian camp program with “champ campers”: kids with disabilities. By the end of the week, the middle school youth had gotten a chance to go on an overnight canoe trip, build a golf course for the camp, lead worship, and work on establishing regular personal time with God.

What did the middle schoolers think about their experience? 

 “One of my most meaningful moments at camp was spending time with the “champ campers”, who had different levels of disabilities. It helped me realize how much they are just like us.”

“One of my favorite parts of camp was trying something new each day: swimming, or archery, or going on a canoe trip.”

“It was great spending time with my cabin mates. We met new people and got so much closer to each other!”

 “One very memorable moment was when our cabin witnessed one of the champ campers have a seizure, and we prayed for her together. It was so great to see her well again.”

“One night during worship, we prayed together as a cabin. It was a very special moment that brought us so close together and to God! We even walked back to our place all holding hands!”

 ”A really cool moment at camp was when, during the Prayer Around the Cross, our counselor prayed for each one of us, and then John suggested that we all pray for our camp counselor, and we did.”

The youth and their leaders would like to express their deep gratitude to their Trinity family for supporting them as they grew closer to God, to each other, and learned to be servant leaders in the community!

2015 Catechumenate Sunday

What a rich and full day Sunday, April 26th was. Catechumenate Sunday was the expression of six of our youth's faith pilgrimage.  Catechumenate is an old word that goes back to the earliest days of the church. It describes how new Christians were welcomed into the church and taught the faith (often using "catechisms").

Trinity has reinvigorated this tradition.  The Youth Catechumenate is a 9 month process calling young people to examine their faith with mentors who journey with them. This pilgrimage of examination is preparing the young people to profess their faith in Jesus Christ, receive baptism (if they haven't already) and be welcomed as active members of the church. It's similar to confirmation, and invites young people (or our "catechumens") to accept responsibility for their own faith. 

This year our catechumens from the youth group were:  Lena, Poey, Malia, Zach, Max and Daniel. Friends and family joined us for the worship service where these young people professed their faith. Members of the community were invited to write down things learned from their own faith journey to share with these young people.  All these words were incorporated in a booklet given to the young people the next week.  

The worship service then moved outside to where Poey and Max were baptized (in chilly water) with a great group of witnesses surrounding them.    

Those already baptized were anointed with call to remind them of their own baptism. After the service a luncheon was given in honor of the catechumens where their families, mentors and teachers were able to attend.   

Pastor Matt Robbins-Ghormley reflection on the spirit of the luncheon. 

Surrounded . . .

There was a lunch gathering of about 50 of us Trinity people after church this past Sunday to celebrate the six young people who had just made their profession of faith - family members, mentors, youth leaders. It wouldn't have been feasible, but I wish the whole congregation could have been there to witness what was happening. One after the other, these youth got up and as Julia invited us, the community spoke words of blessing and affirmation to them. People stood up and called out the gifts that they saw in each youth - gifts of hospitality and evangelism and truth-telling and kindness. And then we prayed.
 

In many ways, this is the culmination of what we had hoped for several years ago when we conceived of our version of a confirmation program here at Trinity. We wanted young people to be given a genuine opportunity to explore their faith and to say their own “yes” to Jesus - not to just check a box. We wanted to have them surrounded by the Trinity community, and given a rite of passage as they become members of the church. As I held my 4 year old on my lap, I was praying that one day my own kids would get to be a part of something as meaningful as this.

Many thanks to Julia Corbett for architecting this great program and investing so much time, energy and love into this process. I am also grateful for the many people who were mentors and teachers for these youth, and who shared their personal stories of faith along the way. What a incredible way this Trinity community surrounds one another as we all continue to grow up in Christ.

Middle School Retreat

On March 24 - 26th, the middle schoolers at Trinity had a great opportunity to enjoy some paintballing and zip lining at the beautiful SoundView Camp while getting together to learn more about "# Not Alone." Special thanks to Stephen Coates-White who was the "adult chaperone" on the retreat.   

"What is Needed for Learning to Take Place?"

“Significant learning cannot happen without a significant relationship.”

"When I think about the impact I have made at Jason Lee Middle Mchool, I refer back to the relationships I have formed with the middle school students. The Bobcat Learning Center, Jason Lee’s after school program, definitely has its challenges.  If I were volunteering at the middle school three years ago, my 19-year old self would see a lot of chaos. I would see students unwilling to engage in enrichment activities, volunteers goading students to start their homework, and staff members reprimanding students for their behavior. At the end of the day, my 19-year old self would question his purpose as a tutor, whereas my present-day self would feel a sense of satisfaction.

"In order for students to be successful at the Learning Center, the goal for our program is to provide a safe space for students to receive emotional and academic support. More importantly, the success stories come from the connections we form with the students we serve.  “Tamara,” (her name has been changed to protect confidentiality) a seventh grader at Jason Lee Middle School, is a student who prefers to watch YouTube videos and hang out with her friends at the Learning Center. Tamara has attended my leadership enrichment class since the start of the school year. Although she loves to participate and encourage others to participate in class activities, her main challenge with school is her ability to process information. She often feels discouraged with homework when she puts in the effort, yet does not receive the grade she feels she deserves. When I tutor Tamara one-on-one, I am aware of her need to socialize. For Tamara, practicing math problems for an entire hour can lead to frustration, so I make sure I give her time to take breaks and to chat with friends. After a 5-10 minute break, we are back to school work and she is refreshed and focused. At the end of the day, I am really proud of Tamara. Without the Learning Center, Tamara would not have the space, nor the academic and emotional support she needs to maintain an above average GPA.

"All in all, the best part about my year has been the relationships I have formed with the students at Jason Lee Middle School and biggest lesson I have learned working at Trinity Presbyterian Church and Jason Lee Middle School is that significant learning cannot happen without a significant relationship. 

- Kyle Lee is in his first year as AmeriCorps at Trinity through our partnership with the Urban Leaders in Training program at the Northwest Leadership Foundation.

2015 Outreach Auction

Friday, April 17th at Trinity was the date of the 3rd Annual Outreach Programs Auction. Thanks to all the donations of wonderful items and the support of the community, Trinity was able to raise over $14,000 to support Outreach programs such as the TAP Literacy Tutoring for 1st & 2nd Graders from Bryant Montessori,the Learning Center for After-school enrichment at Jason Lee Middle School, Pat's Clothing Closet and Tony's Soup Kitchen.  The evening was a great success and we appreciate your participation in making it a success!

Thanks to all who made this evening such a wonderful success, especially the volunteers who decorated and cleaned up afterwards. You ROCK!

City of Destiny Award

Dr. Sandra Lindsay-Brown, Principal of Bryant Montessori Elementary School graciously nominated Trinity Outreach Programs for a 2015 City of Destiny Award.

Results are out and Trinity's Outreach Program has won the award. Congratulations to all who have particpated in and supported the TAP Program, Learning Center, Pat's Closet, Tony's Kitchen, Neighborhood Health Clinic, Christmas House, etc.  

Since 1987, the City of Tacoma has honored outstanding local volunteers through its City of Destiny Awards program, which is spearheaded by a City Council appointee. 

The award will be presented on June 3rd at the City of Desitny Award Ceremony.

New T.A.P. Assistant

Welcome Sophie Kautz to the Trinity Staff

We are pleased to announce that Sophie Kautz has agreed to serve as the TAP Assistant for the remainder of the school year.  Sophie will serve as asstant to Rachel Boisen, Coordinator of Trinity's Afterschool Program for 1st - 2nd graders. Sophie will join Rachel in working with our TAP students on literacy each day after school. 

Thanks to Sophie for stepping in to give much needed support as we close out our 28th consecutive year of TAP.  

30 Hour Famine

Child labor and trafficking, child marriage, domestic child poverty, worldwide child poverty and malnutrition, and gender inequality are just some of the issue that were presented during the 30 Hour Famine this year with Trinity's Youth on March 7-8, 2015.  In preparation for the 30 Hour Famine, the teenagers heard from four Trinity members of their international work:  Emily Coates spoke of her mission work in Haiti; Matthew Rollosson told of his work as a public health nurse in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic; Julia Corbett  shared of life growing up in Russia; and Julie Quesada told of her family's adventures in working in a Honduran orphanage.  

When naming some of the most "impactful moments" in their Famine weekend, the Youth mentioned:

Trinity's Youth assemble food packs for the ministry at St. Leo's.

Writing notes to put in food packets.

• Assembling food packs and writing notes for children who live in poverty in Tacoma
• Candlelight prayer vigil honoring children who die every 10 seconds from hunger related causes
• TRIBE games that educated us about life in rural Ethiopia
• Poverty Simulation – a problem solving game that allowed us to enter the experience of a poor family in Bangladesh
• The movie, Girl Rising
• Small group reflection and journaling

Struggling for Food druing the TRIBE games.

Team Ethiopia was the winner of the TRIBE games of searching for food. 

“During the Famine, I learned that the hunger crisis is a lot bigger than I had thought, and it’s in our community. About 750 kids in Tacoma worry about what they will eat over the weekend. “

“I saw God working through the Famine, as He opened my eyes to the suffering of so many people around the world. “

“ The one word I would use to describe the famine this year is INSPIRING. After everything I learned, I felt inspired to do something to solve these problems.”  

“The most overwhelming part of the Famine for me was during Tribe games, when I felt so hungry and tired and wished that I could just rest, but I had to keep going anyway.”  

“The 30 Hour Famine taught me that there are so many people out there who have a lot harder life than us, and we need to be more generous with them.”

Thanks so much to everyone who have supported our teens in their experience! Special thanks to Andrea Krook who came in during the Famine and gave a presentation on World Vision's Child Sponsorship Program.  So far, three Trinity families have sponsored a child through World Vision.  To learn more about child sponsorships, click here.  

If you haven’t had a chance to support our youth in their 30 Hour Famine fundraising, please, click here to donate. 

Thanks so much to everyone who have supported our teens in their experience! Special thanks to Andrea Krook who came in during the Famine and gave a presentation on World Vision's Child Sponsorship Program.  So far, three Trinity families have sponsored a child through World Vision.  To learn more about child sponsorships, click here.  

If you haven’t had a chance to support our youth in their 30 Hour Famine fundraising, please, click here to donate. 

Trinity Hosts Weekly Youth For Christ Meeting

It is our pleasure to serve as the host for Youth For Christ's Tuesday night Sozo Middle School meetings. Sozo Middle School is a weekly meeting of middle schoolers living in the Hilltop. Sozo is a place that feels like family, where kids and leaders eat dinner together, play games, and listen to a message from the Bible. The goal of Sozo is to build authentic, caring relationships with the kids and to continue to walk with them long-term into high school (with Sozo High School) and into adulthood. Trinity is proud to be a part of the work that YFC is doing here in the Hilltop area.   

“It’s a place where kids can be real, where they have a voice, and they can grow in relationship with Christ,” says Doug Jonson, the City Director for YFC-Tacoma.”

90 Days with TAP

Rachel Boisen, the Coordinator of TAP (Trinity's Afterschool Program) was hired as Coordinator three months ago. As a part of her 90 day review, Rachel shares with us, what these first 90 days have been like.  

"Truly, the success of TAP has so little to do with me and so much more to the commitment of my amazing tutors. Eighteen adults from the church and community come at least once a week, armed with reading lessons, patience, and positive attitudes to give my kids the one-on-one attention they so dearly need. I love to walk around TAP and hear explanations of the silent “e” rule and frustration with the “k” in “knew,” mixed with jovial conversation about crazy pet antics or a game of hangman. You are the people who make it happen, and I’m blessed to support you however I can!
 
Every day the TAP kids ask, “Do we have kid tutors today?” and I echo their enthusiasm!  The Trinity Middle School students do a fantastic job matching the energy of my students, telling jokes, and independently creating new activities to help master challenging skills.  I couldn’t be more impressed by their determined, creative efforts to serve the TAP children. 
 
Beyond TAP, my role at Trinity also includes coordinating Christmas House, our seasonal gift-sponsorship program.  In partnership with the Morgan Family YMCA and the Blue Vesper’s program at Immanuel Presbyterian, this past December we gave presents to 104 people! That includes five more families than we had initially planned!  Your generosity and commitment to this neighborhood absolutely astounds me!  I found the process stretching and challenging in ways I never imagined, but delivering the gifts and receiving a taste of the impact of this ministry left me excited to start again!
 
I suspect the next 90 days (and beyond!) will be filled with an equal measure of challenges, joys and growth. I look forward to meeting these experiences head on as I join you in serving the Bryant Neighborhood."
 
P.S.  Are you interested in joining the fun at TAP?  Talk to me! rachel@tpctacoma.org. 

Lent 2015

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 18th and continues until Easter morning, April 5th.  Lent is not simply a time to give up something you like.
   

“ Lent is not a ritual, it is time given to think seriously about who Jesus is for us, to renew our faith from the inside out, ”

says Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B. Lent provides us with the opportunity to remember how God has been with us, examine how he is with us and to renew our anticipation of how he will be with us.  

During Lent, Trinity will provide a weekly, Lenten Prayer Meditation designed by Carol McLaughlin, our pastoral intern, to help us walk this Lenten journey of preparation on our way to the Cross. The invitation is to take 15 minutes 3 or 4 days a week to pray in particular ways. Some ways may seem familiar, some exciting, some stretching, but in all an invitation to more deeply prepare our hearts for the death and resurrection of Christ.

These Lenten Prayer Mediations will be posted on the website each week.  

Building Update

Trinity held it's Annual Meeting Sunday, February 8th during worship. During that time, Tim Herron presented the collaborative work of many on a vision and strategic direction for Trinity in regards to our calling and our physical building for the next ten years.  Here is a link to the audio of the presentation, and to the two handouts - strategic framework and timeline. Thanks to all who spent time discerning what Trinity is being to called to do in our community and how are building can be used in our calling. 

New Session Elders

At Trinity's Annual Meeting on February 8, 2015, Trinity elected four elders to the Session, the name of the servant leaders in Presbyterian churches. Let us introduce the new elders:

Paul Duke

Paul and Lisa, along with their two daughters, have attended Trinity for the past 16 years. Paul grew up in Texas but has found a home in Tacoma, and especially at Trinity.  Paul is currently attending school for counseling psychology, and is excited to come on the Trinity Session at such an important time in the church's history.

"I am very excited to be part of a team that will be thinking creatively about the vital aspects of community and worship. I am also excited to have the privilege to work alongside some great folks who are already so engaged in the leadership of the church through Trinity's Session." 

Erika Mariani 

Erika grew up in Spokane where her parents and siblings still reside. She came "over to the West side" to attend PLU where she graduated with a Biology degree and met and married Mark Mariani. While Mark attended medical school, Erika studied theology at Fuller and worked in Christian universities or churches for the next 8 years. In 2005, they came home to Tacoma, where they started attending Trinity. Their three children have all been born here.

"I have always loved the atmosphere at Trinity. I love the genuine expressions of community and worship I feel on Sunday mornings and I appreciate the commitment that our community has to one another in serving together whether that be in teaching Sunday School or repairing the ceiling on a Saturday night so we can worship on Sunday. I love that we are comfortable with the people who make up our body but that we also feel motivated and called to reach out to the community that surrounds our church."

Nalani Linder  

The wife of Mark and the mother of two teenagers, Nalani works full time at the United Way of Pierce County managing their Early Learning investments and community initiatives and has the occasional odd job teaching or facilitating large-scale change efforts. Nalani shares her thoughts of serving on Session:

"I'm hoping my professional background and previous work with the Building Steering Committee will be helpful on Session as Trinity moves into its own large-scale change regarding the restore/remodel of our church building. I expect that I'll gain a great deal of wisdom and appreciation for fellow Session members, as well as an opportunity to deepen my faith in this new season of my life.

I love the genuine relationship and concern for each other that is fostered every Sunday at Trinity and played out in dozens of ways throughout the week.  I love the multiples ways Trinity expresses its faith through service, love and relationship with Bryant neighborhood's children and families. I love that we don't pretend to know all the answers, but are willing to live into the questions, together." 

Tom Llewellyn 

Born in Tacoma, Tom lives less than a mile from Trinity and finds it hard to imagine going anywhere else."

"I know there are probably lots of great churches out there, but this one just fits me and my family so well. It's got some grit to it. It has this practical, servant approach to the gospel that is indisputable. And it has a bunch of people here that I kind of love."

During the days, Tom works as a Creative Director at Russell Investments. He has been married to his "amazing wife, Deb, for about a million years." They have four children (Tom is pictured with his two daughters). When he's not at work, Tom writes books, plays bass, coaches soccer, and makes posters.  

"I hope to give some thoughts to Trinity's connection to creative expression. How do we connect to each other, to our community, and to God through our creative gifts?"

What, exactly, do men do on a Men's Retreat?

We play Ultimate Frisbee until our legs are like jelly. 

We go into Poulsbo to a brewery if we feel like it. 

Oh yeah, we also got deep and stuff . . . Jesus' time in the desert taught us about abundance over scarcity, mercy as opposed to sacrifice, and equality over domination. 

I enjoyed the opportunity to engage the head and the heart to think about what transformation looks like in my own life-particularly as many of us embark on new chapters of life with jobs, family, kids, etc.

The 2015 Trinity's Men Retreat is over. The men are back and we wonder, "What exactly happens at a Men's Retreat? What do they do?"  Some men have come forwarded to let us know EXACTLY what goes on:  

We eat as much junk food as we want.

We kill off people in countless games of Mafia and don't even feel bad about it!

We are challenged to create feats of bridge civil engineering. 

I was reminded that I am not as young as I was but neither am I as old as I feared. 

We play ping pong with 12 people at a time. 

The time to catch up with new friends and old always makes for a special weekend. 

In the end, we were left with the message of what it would mean if we could begin seeing our lives as Christian men through a different lens.

The Beauty of Being Uncomfortable . . .

What a gift it was to have Mending Wings lead our worship on Sunday, January 18th.

With over fifteen youth and adults who drummed, danced in full Native regalia, performed drama and taught us to "Dance our Prayers," our worship was full. Corey Greaves, the founder of Mending Wings, shared his heart with us. Our partners in Conversations Around Race were also invited to join us in worship that Sunday.

Reflecting on our time together, Pastor Matt Robbins-Ghormley said,

"I think it’s important that once in a while, we as a congregation are reminded that the way we usually worship isn’t the only way to express worship to Christ.. .

Pastor Matt continued, 

"Having the opportunity to experience other expressions of Christ’s body, in the cup of a culture maybe very different than our own, often can help us to recognize how culture-bound our own worship practices are. We are then stretched to have a wider lens for what worship is and can be. So thanks to Corey Greaves and the young people from Mending Wings for leading us - and for all of you taking the risk to join in the dance!"  

Reading Scripture in Community

Heidi Armstrong, Archie Blakely and Sarah Nyland, armed with coffee, are ready to get started.

When you think of Bible reading, most people think of themselves as being curled up in a chair in their home quietly reading. And that is an important way to read the Bible.  But there is another way of Bible reading that many have found to be very useful and exhilerating and that's reading the Bible in community. At Trinity we have two different groups who meet each week to read the Bible community and then together discuss what they have said.  Led by Heidi Armstrong, a Women's group meets each Tuesday morning at 9:30 am in the 2&3 year old classroom at the church while another group, also led by Heidi, meets on Sunday mornings before worship, at 8:50 AM in the Learning Center (in the basement of the church).  Both groups examine the passage relevant to the upcoming Sunday sermon.

Deb Saxon and Rick Armstrong attend the Sunday morning ""Reading Scripture in Community" group

Deb Saxon (pictured to the right), a participant in the Sunday morning group, reflects on her experience: "I absolutely love reading scripture with my faith community. Based on my limited biblical skills, I do not get much out of reading by myself. I enjoy reading the text, discussing and then re-reading. Each time we read it together I learn something new. It is a privilege to come together and hear what others have to say. Each week I come away inspired!"  

Want to be inspired too?  The format is casual, discussion-based and you can "drop in" and try it out without making a commitment. So go boldly this new year into one of these groups and see the difference it can make to read the scripture in community.  

Emily Coates, Suzi Entwistle, Laura Grenwald and Mindy Nash take a pause from Reading Scripture in Community" on a Tuesday morning.

Here are the times and places each group meets:

"Women Reading Scripture in Community," Tuesday mornings at 9:30 am in the 2&3 year old classroom

"Reading Scriputre in Community" Sunday mornings at 8:50 am in the Learning Center at church