Simon Sinek, in his book Start With Why, argues that organizations that are successful and grow do so because they know, understand and live their “why.” (It’s a fantastic book, by the way. You can watch him doing an overview of the book on his TEDx talk on YouTube here)
Trinity is preparing to launch a new 3-year strategic plan that has far-reaching implications for our congregation and our community.
We’re excited to tell you what these things include. You will hear many of the goals and details of this strategic plan in the weeks and months ahead. But first, we want to start with why:
We live in a cynical, negative world. And as a people, we feel more divided than ever before. We are divided politically, economically, socially, racially, by the nation of our birth, by the language we speak and by the communities and regions in which we live.
We are divided because somewhere, somehow, we learned first and foremost to look at the world through a filter of “what we are against.” If we are “against” something, then those who take a different view aren’t people we can get to know and learn from…they are different, and therefor we are against them too. And so we divide.
This is not how God created the world to be. This brokenness is sin, lived out in the world.
But what if we changed that? What if we shifted the narrative, so that the church isn’t focused on what we are against, but instead, on what we are “for.” What if we spent our time and energy considering and talking about those things that we want to support here in our community and around the world?
That is, of course, what Jesus did. Jesus, through his words and actions, demonstrated that God was for the people around him, regardless of who they were. Yes, God was for the religious leaders, but God was also for the tax collectors, the sick, the outcast, the poor, the grieving, the widows, the Jews and the Gentiles, the friends and the strangers.
Trinity’s new strategic plan is modeled after what Jesus did, and we are going to rally around those things that we are “for:”
- Trinity is for our members
- Trinity is for those who are not members
- We are for developing leadership
- We are for the community
- We are for individuals
- We are for kids
- We are for the elderly
- We are for faith formation
- We are for those broken by life’s circumstances
- We are for those living on the margins of society
- We are for inclusion of everyone…with no limitations
- We are for beauty, music and the arts
- We are for community partners and congregations who share in this mission
- We are for all of these things, and much, much more
Trinity is for the community. Trinity is #ForOwatonna.
During these next five weeks, we will focus on our “why” in worship. In our sermon series, “#For,” we are going to dig in to the primary reasons why we move forward as a community.
- First, we remember that the only reason we can do any of this is because #GodIsForUs
- In the second week, we explore how we are #ForTheBroken
- Then we are reminded that we are #ForTheMargins
- In the fourth week of our series, we talk about how we are #ForFaithFormation
- And finally, on the weekend that we hear the details of the plan, we are reminded that we are for the community. We are #ForOwatonna.
The pastoral staff is excited to share you our “why” in these next few weeks. I’m excited to share the work of our Strategic Planning Teams, and I’m excited for where God is calling our congregation to grow.
I hope you’re excited too!
Peace,
Pastor Todd
Test Driving Theology 