What does it look like to raise up the next generation of disciples?

Kids Ministry

The well-being and faith development of the littlest disciples matters dearly to God, and it matters dearly to us, as a church, as well.

Children depend on us to pass on our experience of knowing, loving and serving God. This is an important and humbling responsibility. We look to God and to one another as we seek to answer the question: “What does it look like to raise up the next generation of disciples?”

What follows is the Trinity Family Ministry mission statement, a list of what we believe, as well as what we are striving to do to respond faithfully to this challenge:

The mission of the Trinity Family Ministry is to come alongside parents/guardians in guiding our children to become followers of Jesus, participating with the Trinity community in our common mission.

We believe parents/guardians, before any institution, have the primary responsibility for the spiritual development of their children (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 & 11:18-21; Ephesians 6:4). However, as a faith community, we have the opportunity to work together to raise our kids to know, love, and serve God. To this end, we have structured our kids ministry as a co-op where all parents/guardians serve on a rotating basis in our children’s Sunday Gathering classes.

In accordance with Deuteronomy 6, we believe those who parent should take every opportunity to talk about God’s love and faithfulness, intentionally creating reminders for themselves and for their kids to pray, read Scripture, share stories about life and faith together, and to model Godly values to their children. As a faith community, we select curriculum and tools that help equip one another to carry out this task.

Kids need an environment where Scripture is presented to them in age-appropriate ways. In addition to being age-appropriate, these learning environments should be safe and comfortable, creative, interactive, educational, inspiring, and relational. We seek to create these environments for our kids at each Sunday Gathering.

The soul care of a child is an awesome opportunity and responsibility. Friendships children form with those who lead them are among the most influential relationships they (the child and the leader) will have in the community. For this reason, we encourage all adults in the faith community (even those who are not parenting) to prayerfully consider becoming involved in the critically important task of teaching and leading our kids.

We believe there is immense value in having our children participate in a portion of the worship Gathering. Our children are included as full participants in the worship experience and exposed to communal worship modeled through singing, liturgy, scripture reading, giving of tithes and offerings, the sharing of stories of God’s faithfulness, and occasional participation in communion.

Youth Ministry

Trinity recognizes the importance of discipling the youth that are a part of our community. 

At a different stage in life than the younger children at Trinity, youth still need discipleship and depend on us to pass on our experience of knowing, loving, and serving God. This is an important and humbling responsibility during a formative time in which youth are changing physically, socially, intellectually, emotionally, morally, and spiritually (see The Space Between by Dr. Walt Mueller).]  We look to God and to one another as we seek to answer the question: “What does it look like to raise up the next generation of disciples?”

What follows is the Trinity Youth Ministry mission statement, a list of what we believe, as well as what we are striving to do to respond faithfully to this challenge:   

The mission of the Trinity Youth Ministry is to come alongside parents/guardians, who join in God’s work, by engaging in relational ministry with our youth as they become followers of Jesus, participating with the Trinity community in our common mission.

This approach is family-centered, peer-centered, and intergenerational with overlap between the areas:  

FAMILY-CENTERED 

·     Faith lived out at home

·     Youth involvement in the family’s Trinity Group or Parish

·     Opportunities to equip those who parent to grow in discipling their children 

PEER-CENTERED

·     Partnering with other like-minded churches in the area for youth to engage in disciple-forming experiences on a regular basis; and/or youth gatherings for Trinity goers

·     Peer small groups 

·     Service opportunities (both within Trinity and outside Trinity) 

INTERGENERATIONAL

·     Mentoring relationships (one-on-one and peer groups lead by mentor)

·     Participation in worship gatherings

·     Participation in Trinity Groups and Parishes

·     Service opportunities

6-12th Grade: Our youth have their own groups outside of the Gathering. Middle school and high school youth currently meet Sunday mornings after the Gathering until 12:00pm. 

For more info on Family Ministry, contact Britney Foster.