Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode
of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla, and I am excited
to be joined here by Jordana, who is a member
of Trinity's board. And of course, Pastor Rob,
who is the pastor, the rector here at Trinity
Streetsville. And we're going to dive into Trinity's
new strategic plan, this new vision, this new
path that we have sort of set before us that
we believe God is calling us to walk on. Yes.
Yeah. So maybe. To just help us get started,
Rob, can you describe a little bit, what was
the process for sort of creating this strategic
plan? Well, I think, like I was trying to say
in there, I feel like after a few years of being
here, I mean, there was so much to learn. There
was so much kind of just rebuilding after the
pandemic that in some ways, the trajectory of
the church was kind of set for us just because
of the newness of the world post -COVID -19.
But now that's in the rearview mirror. And now
we're kind of I just started to feel like, hmm,
what what is the plan for this next season? And
so and not even like what is what is Rob think
the plan is for the next season? But but what
what is God saying to us as a community about
where he's leading us next? So we we embarked
upon a big listening process. We spent a day
listening to what the staff were thinking and
feeling about the challenges and the strengths
of Trinity. Then we engaged our vestry and asked
them to share kind of when they've seen Trinity
at its best. And what are some of the things
that give them hope? What are some of the things
that give them pause and concern? And what are
they hearing in their own prayers about the future
of Trinity? Then, of course, we went to our advisory
board and they started to sift through all this
data. And we had a wonderful coach. Mike Messenger
was guiding us along the way. So we were well
taken care of in this process. And then ultimately,
it started to really become clear that there
were these five key signposts that were emerging.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, Jordana, did you want to
sort of add anything to that? Like, from your
view, what was that process sort of like? Well,
I was part of the vestry and then again the advisory
board meetings. And what was really encouraging
with the vestry was how much appreciation there
was for what was already here. There was a really
good appreciation of worship, of a lot of connections
and ministry already there. And then slowly what
there was also was a sense that people also felt
a little disconnected. And as the church grew,
that there's growth, there's new ministries,
and then some felt they were... sort of required
a little more maybe care or a little more there
were just more needs also expressed sure and
so out of that you get a sense of where people
sat and different um you know with different
needs with different um ideas for where the church
could be and um that was brought into the advisory
board um meeting um yeah and then we went from
there okay yeah yeah cool so rob you mentioned
these five things do you want to just name them
for us quickly OK, so the five signs, the first
one, we kind of just tried to boil them down
to very simple phrases. So we'll have to unpack
them. But was about growing deep. There was one
about strengthening care. There was another one
about raising leaders. The fourth one was about
engaging the next generation. And then the fifth
one was all about extending our reach, expanding
our reach as a church. Yeah. So those are the
five signs. So the five signs we've put up around
the building today. And we really want people
to kind of lock onto those five very simple images
and build from there. Okay, cool. So as you think
about those five different pieces, are there
any aspects of it that like really resonate with
you or that, you know, resonate with things that
you've been sort of seeing or hearing around
Trinity recently? Want to start us off there,
Jordana? Sure. I mean, I think out of those five
signs, discipleship was just central to almost
everybody's sense of what needed to be deepened.
Sure. Yeah, so that's the growing deep thing.
It is the growing deep thing. It's a sense of,
you know, you can very quickly grow a church
that's shallow with a lot of people in the pews
and very little actual... I don't know, rootedness,
you know, or connection or anything like that.
And we've heard stories of churches like that.
And so that idea that as we went forward, if
there wasn't care for those who were growing,
not just attending. It would just feel very superficial,
very fast. And so that was really central, and
then others came on. The sense that there's growing
loneliness needs as people grow older, that care
mattered, and there needed to be the capacity
to actually do that. On one hand, a growing church
can draw on resources to create it. On the other
hand, it needs that administrative center to
do that. the sense that youth mattered when it
came to, you know, the fact that it's easy to
come to church as young people and then leave.
And if you're not theologically formed in those
times, it feels like the world has so many pressures
and you're not going to be able to know what
that Christian story is that can respond to them
and to anchor them. And so there needed to be...
deeper formation both for young people as well
as for those who are coming in who are a little
older beyond university for example and that's
a slightly different group than the youth so
i would say those three really struck me rob
i'm not sure if you want to speak to the others
but um but those are the ones yeah you know one
of the ones that kind of um started lower down
on the radar, but then emerged to kind of quickly
kind of peaked up toward the end was around leadership
development and raising up leaders. And I think
it's because we started to realize that if we
have visions and plans for the future, if we
don't have the leadership capacity, if we don't
have people to kind of you know, lead this work,
then it's going to be a recipe for burnout for
the few people that are trying to carry it. You
know, I can, I can think back to early days when
I was, you know, just getting started in ministry
and I had all sorts of ideas. But it felt like
I was also the only one who was carrying them.
And it was such a bad idea. Not only did we never
really get very far in these ideas, but I, you
know, nearly killed myself, right? Kind of being
the one thinking like, you know, I've got to
lead the charge on all these things. So I really
love how we've identified right in the strategic
plan that this is going to be a shared leadership
approach for this. We're going to raise up the
very leaders we need. to live out this, this
plan. Yeah. Yeah. And in that way, I think a
lot of the pieces are really interconnected,
right? That like, we think of them as these five
signposts, but, but we can't do one without the
other, right? That we need to be able to grow
deep so that we can extend our reach, that we
can raise leaders, right? And that. in caring
for our community we're caring for youth and
young adults and we're caring for the people
that we haven't even met yet right yeah yeah
they're all they're all these bits that's right
they all do things work together and that's like
a god thing you know when that happens you kind
of feel like oh yeah god's been in this for sure
so um in some ways this is a new season for trinity
i think but it's not all brand new. I think it
really fits with the sort of DNA of who Trinity
is. So as you think about, you know, Trinity's
history and values, like how does this new plan
sort of mesh with those, do you think? Oh, I
mean, that's a good question. I mean, you know,
forever, Trinity has had this like mission statement
that we're a group of ordinary people learning
to follow Jesus in our own day. And I don't think
anything we've talked about today, anything that
we're doing in this new plan deviates from that
very basic and simple statement. It's all still,
you know, deeply rooted in that. And I should
say, like, it could be like we have a mission
statement. We also have this vision statement
of loving Jesus, living like Jesus, leading others
to Jesus. This is not a new. vision statement
we're coming up this is not a new mission statement
this is again it's kind of the plan it's it's
these are the the the road signs that get us
there it's the like how to the vision yes that's
right yeah yeah exactly so in that sense uh i
think it fits very nicely in with the existing
kind of um vision and mission of trinity yeah
yeah yeah what what would you sort of add to
that yeah i wouldn't Too much, actually. I would
just say that Trinity's had a long history of
really strong lay leaders. And in many ways,
the church has had strong pastoral leadership,
but then it's been this pillars of people who
are taking leadership on prayer, on outreach,
on alpha, on all these different ways in which
really very capable and faithful leaders have.
in the DNA of this church. And I think the challenge
and the promise is that the plan builds on that,
but it commits as more people come in to growing
new ones as well. I think there was a sense in
which many of those leaders, I just think they're
growing a little older right now. I can think
of names that are just growing a little older.
And if we are not intentional about developing
new younger people in that faithfulness, I think
that work will become shallower over time. For
sure, for sure. And going back to something you
said earlier, Jordana, I think that for so many
churches, when they come up with things like
strategic plans and all that, the why underneath
all of it is because we want to grow. We want
to grow the church. We want to grow the church.
And I think that that's what I love about this
plan is that actually we do talk about extending
our reach, but that is like the fifth sign. Sure.
It is down the road. And it really it starts
with, yeah, growing deep before growing wide.
It talks about caring. In fact. I was a little
bit uncertain how I felt about this because caring
has like an inwardness to it. Right. And I think
we think, no, we've always going to be going
outward, outward, outward. But no, there is a
sense in which we want to disciple our people,
want to care for our people. We want to raise
up from within, you know, leaders and young people.
And yeah, all that leads to growth by God's grace
that could happen. But that's not what's in the
driver's seat with this. Yeah, it's that sense
of like, we need to create a healthy space where
people are feeling cared for, where people are
feeling like growing in their connection to Christ,
growing in their connection to one another. And
I think that will naturally... people will become
curious about it i think it will naturally become
a welcoming space it already is trinity is a
super welcoming space right like lots of people
have said that right and so as we focus on caring
for the people who are already here i think i
believe that god will continue to to bless that
work yes yes that's right like a healthy church
is it's own best advertising in a sense, right?
It's a horrible way of saying it, but, but yeah,
just, there's a, there's a magnetic, uh, quality
to that, that when, uh, people in Christ are
caring for each other and the Holy spirit is
creating a vibrant, healthy community that has,
um, that, that it's has, there's a gravity to
that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So there's
all of these ways that this plan has sort of
built on who Trinity is, our DNA, what we value.
Um, Obviously, it's a new vision, so there are
new parts of this as well. Yeah, are there any
pieces of this that you feel like are sort of
new or uncharted territory for Trinity? Yeah,
what would you sort of say for that, Jordana?
Well, I do think that the young adult ministry
focus is new. There has been a sense in which
children have been taken care of. But as we move
into more young people coming in or some of the
children growing out of the children's ministry,
it matters how they are cared for and discipled.
And so that's new. What else? I think the sense
of outreach is new. And there are challenges,
too, as much as the word a word like discipleship
is so necessary. And we feel like that grounds
everything. How to live out that discipleship
for different ages and different ways and different
needs is going to be something that we need to
think through going forward. Right. So, yeah.
And I think I think like. Often, when you talk
to people who study church statistics and growth
and things like that, they'll talk about the
university age of the young adults as being the
place where there's often a gap. Right. Like
churches are really good at providing bridges
from kids ministry into youth ministry. And then,
you know, if they come back as adults with their
own kids, there's like bridges for that. But
like when someone goes off to university and
like they're sort of forced into independence
in some ways, like that's often a gap. And so
for Trinity to be like, we want to really intentionally
bridge that gap. We want to provide spaces for
care and community and discipleship. In the midst
of that, I think is really important. Yeah. And
it wasn't like it was even just something that
a bunch of people around a table decided this
would be a good idea. I think there was there
was an awareness that this was kind of happening
organically in our myths. It's like, you know,
you can plant all these seeds and then sometimes
something is starting to grow over here and you
never really planted that or you weren't really.
intending or aware that that was growing. And
I think what we discovered is there was this
young adult kind of ministry, this young adult
kind of hunger for going deeper that was kind
of appearing. And thankfully, people like Mia
and Ethan Brandon and others kind of jumped in
to provide some leadership to kind of create
some a life group around that. And. So, you know,
there's the old saying, right, that if you want
to know kind of where to go, like look for where
God is at work and then join in with what God
is already doing. And I really felt like that's
what was happening in our desire to support young
adult ministry is that we saw it. We're like,
oh, God is doing something here. Yeah. We need
to invest there, you know, go where God is going.
Yeah. Yeah. Are there any other bits that feel
like like new or uncharted territory? Well, a
couple maybe like we're starting to create more
of our own material and content and stuff like
that. So so developing this course, I mean, there's
great courses out there. Alpha is an amazing
course. We've used practicing the way material.
But throughout this process, I think there's
been this sense that. The better that we get
to know our own people in our own context, we
have the ability to kind of create our own material,
our own curriculum and stuff like that. So so
that is kind of new. We're going to be filming
this kind of. new discipleship curriculum over
the next month. And, um, I've never done that
before and I don't know how it'll go and if it'll
be worth it or not, but we definitely felt like,
yeah, this is something we need to do as a church.
And, and, and that's kind of new. Is that for
the whole church? Yeah, it would. Okay. Yes.
It's, I mean, what do you mean by that? Oh, I
was. Or whether it was just for discipleship
year students. No, no, no, no. So this is like
a teaching series that we did in Lent. Kind of
now being turned into, you know, like a video
series that would have like workbooks and stuff
like that to go with it. Kind of like a small
group curriculum type. Yeah. You know, years
ago, Harold Percy had a course here at Trinity
that he built called Christianity 101. Right.
Well, you know, what about Alpha? Wasn't Alpha
a Christianity 101? Well, yes, it was. But but,
you know, Harold felt like there was something
to be said about creating something that was,
you know. kind of homegrown. And, uh, I think
that's the same kind of a thing. There's not,
there's resources out there, but we've, we're
feeling the desire to create something that's
kind of homegrown. The other thing that is definitely
going to be new or a stretch is of course, all
this talk about, you know, whether God might
be calling Trinity to, to plant a church in the,
in not tomorrow or next year, but I'm actually
genuinely excited about that because the more
I think about it, the more I think that's actually
like, shouldn't be so strange. That should be
like a normal part of the life cycle of a church
to reproduce. Like I said this morning, this
church is here because a group of people at some
point said, hey, let's leave our places of worship
and start a new place of worship because we've
discerned there's a need here. Every church had
its beginnings. It was always planted by a group
of faithful people who went out and began a church
with God's. help. So, uh, I don't think it should
be that crazy or a strange of an idea. And so
I'm kind of glad that we're starting to talk
about it. We're starting to explore that. And
I really do think that when it comes to, um,
this, you know, churches growing and all that
stuff, you do start to see diminishing returns,
uh, like plateauing in your, in your growth.
You can keep putting the work and the energy
in, uh, but at some point, uh, it just, you know,
it's, it's, uh, it's, it's not. sustainable to
keep growing in the same building. Yes. And that
sort of thing you mean? Yeah. And so I think
you, you, and I mean, and all the research says
this, that you get, um, way more kind of impact.
You reach more people and especially young people
through starting a new community somewhere else
with some new leadership, obviously still connected
to Trinity, but there's just way more fruit that
gets born that way. And so I'm excited to explore
that. I've never done that before. Yeah. Yeah.
Very cool. Yeah. So, yeah, you've just said you're
excited about this. Jordana, when you think about
all of the pieces of this plan, is there a piece
that feels really exciting to you? I think discipleship.
Yeah. That's the thing that feels exciting for
me. And then as a mom of two boys, I think the
focus and the deepening in youth ministry. As
any parent, I think, does worry about their formation,
their grounding, their love for Jesus. I don't
want that to fade. and it's easy right now to
create spaces where we can talk about these things,
but they are growing into teenagers, and they
will have their own ideas, and there needs to
be a space outside of my voice to bring questions,
to have them answered thoughtfully, and to encourage
them in that walk. And so those two tend to be
like discipleship for me and for the children,
to be honest. I just don't think it's possible
to disciple kids without yourself being a disciple.
Sure. Yeah. But but that's space for deeper formation
for them. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. And
I liked that aspect that came out in the process
that it's discipleship for every age and stage.
And. That just excites me because this is something
we can work on in children's ministry. It's something
we can work on in youth ministry, with our adults,
with our DY students at camp. So it kind of gives
us, it gives all of our staff and all of our
leaders, like their marching orders, that this
piece actually pertains to you. It pertains to
your, you know, to life groups. Yes, it's you.
You know, youth ministry. Yes. Junior youth.
Yes. You know, children's ministry. Yeah. It
was really named. that it's not one particular
demographic that needs this attention. It's,
it has to be a lifelong journey of discipleship
before Jesus. And I just want to kind of say
one, like, I think that as well, Jordana, you
mentioned something that, you know, you have
this, this feeling that I think so many parents
feel that you so want your children to kind of
embrace the faith for themselves and make that
transition that you spoke about. It is often
so difficult when they start to get older. And,
um, I think that we all know people, and there
are many people here at this church who, yeah,
their children, for whatever reason, have maybe
not made that decision. And I think so. There
was a bit of pain, I think, sometimes, too, that
people named at times, maybe in conversations
with me about, you know, I don't know why that
happened for my kids. I don't know why they,
after all those years, why that happened, that
they ended up not continuing to grow in their
faith and not continuing to follow Jesus. Uh,
you know, we kind of feel that pain. We, we,
we want the, our children to have a lifelong
journey with Jesus. So, um, yeah. So I, I'm excited
about, about that investment. Yeah. Or Trinity
to like find ways to, yeah. Help heal some of
those wounds maybe. Yeah. Bridge some of those
gaps. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Um, okay. So all
of a sudden. Exciting. It also all sounds very
big and maybe challenging. So as you sort of
look ahead to this, Rob, are there any sort of
specific challenges that you sort of anticipate
facing? So, I mean, I think finding and building
the right leadership team to activate these ideas
is... probably one of the challenges that I see
is like the big one on my plate is to, yeah,
if we want to have amazing youth ministry, how
do we make sure we have amazing youth leaders,
right? If we want to have amazing young adult
ministry, we have to have leaders in those places.
If we want to, you know, like one of the ideas
that we floated out there was, hey, wouldn't
it be great if we had a staff person that could
focus just on equipping and raising up and celebrating
our, teams and our leaders and our volunteers,
I get really, really excited about that. But
then I'm like, yeah, but who is that person?
Who would that person be that has those skills,
that passion? And so, yeah, people resources,
as I said in the sermon, I think that is our,
that's our number one resource is the people.
Sure. Tied to that, and then I'll hand it over
to Jordana, I think there may also be some financial
resources that we need to find in order to make
some of this happen. Um, I don't, I don't think
that's a huge part of it. Um, but yeah, every,
uh, you know, ministry costs money. Yeah. Right.
And so, uh, if we, if we have a big vision. For
the future, one of the challenges will be making
sure that it continues to get funded through
the generosity of our congregation. For sure.
For sure. Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Jordan?
Are there any challenges you sort of anticipate?
Yeah, I think that the leadership bit is the
biggest one. I think one of the things that came
out of that is that if you're going to try and
raise leaders, you know, you need to do it from
within, from the congregation itself, people
who are already invested here in many ways, just
because. As you said, otherwise it ends up being
a sort of paid position at every level and every
stage, and then finances become an issue, whereas
there's much more organic sense of team building
when we talk about raising lay leaders, maybe.
I don't know, Rob, whether I'm getting it wrong
over here in terms of the interrelation between
financial and lay leaders. I was thinking much
more of lay leaders in terms of just... Those
who will just lead ministries that they have
a heart of and have that. Have a career somewhere
else. They may have a career somewhere else.
They may have some resources. And you actually
end up drawing on that in ways that are more
sustainable than always asking for money to have
a paid position. And, you know, in that case,
very often leaders like that end up working in
teams and naturally mentoring new leaders. But
that investment in those leaders, those sort
of. Leaders matter. I'm just thinking of one
story. Sorry, I know you want to get in. No,
I don't. We're coming out of time. Just that
one story where I heard of a missionary talk
about somewhere else where there was a question
about growth in churches abroad. And he said,
well, you know, Americans are very. and maybe
Canadians too, but Americans are very hung up
on numbers. We can have 10 ,000 people come to
Christ and never have any discipleship for them,
or we can raise up 10 Pauls, right? What matters
more? And so that investment in people who can
then have that impact means time and means patience.
Sure. But it also means sort of a kind of prioritization
of where do we put initial energy and then allow
that to grow. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think you're,
I mean, Trinity is, frankly, spoiled in the sense
that we have so many people already here who
in their work lives or some of them in their
ministry work have such amazing leadership gifts
and experiences to bring to the table. So we're,
I mean, that's amazing because it means that
this doesn't necessarily. cost this doesn't cost
a lot of money right like you're right you're
totally right on Jordana like this is a this
this is not a strategic plan that needs oodles
of money to make it work what we're what we really
need to do is activate the the the potential
in our congregation right now and and I think
that's definitely doable by the way and yeah
yeah yeah yeah okay so As we've sort of shared
all this and rolled all of it out, are there
any ways that you think our congregation can
be supporting and praying for this vision? Like
what what is the role of the people in all of
this? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, you you said
praying. And I really do think that is the number
one thing to be doing at this moment. The last
time I. felt like we just got to pray. We just
got to pray. Like in the same way was like I
shared, you know, about five years ago when there
was like, it was a brand new situation for me.
It was a brand new city for me, a church of full
of people that I never met. And because of the
pandemic would kind of take a long time to meet.
And I said, what do we do? What do we do here?
Do we need a strategic plan? Do we need like
a new program? And I think when the answer kind
of finally came to us, it was like, well, duh,
of course. Just pray. We need to pray. This is
a time to pray and to really lean into prayer
and to kind of turn our church into a house of
prayer. And so that was. the emphasis that was
what we discerned needed to happen in that moment.
And I think we're, we're kind of in a moment
like that again right now. Yeah. Right. As we,
as we launch out of this, one of the best things
people can do and people who are watching at
home or people who are here in person is just
to pray for your church, pray for the children,
pray for the staff and the leaders here. and
and pray that this this vision this strategic
plan really takes root one of my biggest fears
would be is that we've done all this work it
becomes a document and now it just goes and sits
on a shelf so so one thing they can do is pray
but the other thing they can do is try to figure
out what is my part in this right because because
like jeremiah said stand at the crossroads you
know look and ask but then once you see the good
way you must walk in it right there there so
so all of us will have some part to play in this
so sure so i would say to folks watching like
What is going to be that part for you? You know,
how are you going to walk in this good way that
God has given us? Are you going to, you know,
put your hand up when the call comes for leaders?
Are you going to, you know, be generous? Are
you going to pray regularly for the church? So,
yeah, we all got to walk in it. For sure. For
sure. Yeah. I will not add too much to that.
I just echo that, you know, pray and then have
a sense. Come alongside those leaders whose ministries
you have a heart for already. you know, say that
you'd like to support them or ask if you can
help. There was just a lot already going on that
touch on these five pillars. Yeah. And then like
just strengthen what is being done. Yeah. Yeah.
And I think like, I don't. My vision of a church
is always that it is the people that sort of
make up a church and like Rob, you're the sort
of head of it, of the local church anyway. Jesus
is the head of the church. Jesus is the head
of the actual church. You're sort of leading
the local church, but like we are all the church
together. Yeah. Right. And so this is not Rob's
strategic plan for Trinity. This is what we as
a community of people learning to follow Jesus
in our everyday lives are doing together. And
so like, yeah. Whatever piece of it like speaks
to you, I hope that you find some way to like
be part of that, whether that is in, you know,
serving through volunteering or financial support
or prayer support or just showing up and asking
questions, right? Like we need all of those people
to bring all of the pieces. I mean, the plan
emerged from the community. And so I think for
that reason, it'll be easier for people to get
on board and making it happen. If it had all
emerged from the mind of one person, then you
have to sell it to people. But we're not selling
anything here. We're just telling people what
you said. And I think that that'll be all they
need to hear to say, okay, that's exactly what
I was thinking. So let's get down to business.
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Well, thank you so much
for sitting down and chatting through this a
little bit. And thank you for tuning in to this
week's episode of Trinity Talks. If you are a
part of this Trinity family, I really want to
encourage you. Pray now. Think about what it
is that God is calling you to do as part of this
plan. And if you're not part of the Trinity family,
yeah, maybe also pray for us. We would love that.
Or yeah, find out what are the ways that God
might be calling you to grow deeper in the spaces
where you find yourself. And we will see you
again next week.