The fate of Trinity, Oro, Ont., has been decided. At a meeting of the Barrie Presbytery in February, the interim moderator, Rev. Neal Mathers, reported Trinity is healthy and warrants continuation.
“The congregation has survived, and it's doing well,” he told the Record.
Trinity averages about 150 adults and children each Sunday, where services have been led by various guest ministers since the congregation was split last October. Former minister Rev. Carey Nieuwhof left the Presbyterian Church to found a new congregation linked to a non-denominational conservative church in the United States, and took most of the 1,000-plus members with him.
Mathers, who is minister at Emmanuel, Nottawa, Ont., said finances are healthy, and that loyal Trinity-goers have already been involved in community outreach, have developed a budget for the year, held a planning workshop to which about 50 people attended, enjoy a weekly Bible study, and are holding a new members class, with members officially welcomed in April. Soon after that, new elders will be elected (assessor elders have functioned up to this point) and it is hoped that the call for a new minister will follow shortly after.
Through a visioning process, the congregation created a mission statement, declaring that they are “a caring, hospitable, passionate, joyful, excited and somewhat anxious faith community,” seeking to reach multigenerational families, and seeing themselves growing from a pastoral-sized church (50-150 attending worship) into a program-sized congregation with between 150-300 adherents and members.
“It is clear to us that there is a God-driven spirit of vitality present at Trinity Community Presbyterian Church,” notes the report to presbytery. AM
