Dear Friends at Trinity,
Trinity has a lot of untapped potential. I hope that you can tap into it. I want you to be well.
Over the years, when asked to describe Trinity, I say, “It’s a very unusual congregation.” Trinity is very cosmopolitan. Trinity has members from Knoxville, Eddyville, Pleasantville, Pella, Melcher-Dallas, Indianola, Lacona, Tracy, Lovilia, Monroe, Newton, Otley, Oskaloosa, Baxter, Attica, Bussey, Hamilton, Pershing – and, I hope I didn’t forget anyone.
That’s a lot of diversity. The core group that was here when I arrived has mostly passed on.
Trinity is a melting pot. But it’s a struggle to blend, integrate and assimilate. To be a welcoming community you have to get out of your comfort zone. Cross the room. Cross the aisle. Share responsibility. Be generous. Eschew any territorialness or sense of ownership. Don’t expect newcomers or the young people to conform to the old-timers or their old-time ways. Seek the opinions of others instead of telling them yours. Pass around the mantles of leadership. Give others a chance to do something; to get involved; to feel involved; to be entrusted and not supervised. Don’t leave people on the margins. Avoid cliques. Cliques kill churches. Pass torches. The day after a person joins the church he or she should be accorded as much status as someone who has been here 60 years and whose parents and grandparents went to church here. That heritage stuff is B.S.
The church belongs to Christ our Lord and no one else. The minute that you deviate from that essential truth, you head down the wrong path.
No one is indispensible – not even the pastor. I am leaving to prove to you that that is the case.
Now is your opportunity to take stock, regroup and be intentional. Be deliberate. Momentum will not carry you in the best direction. Tap into your potential. There are young families and new families. Make it their church…not yours.
I am stepping away with the hope that you can do for yourselves that which I could not do for you; because if it were me doing it for you it would be considered “my thing.” I needs to be “your thing” – for you.
In Christ,
Pastor Picard