Community Ministry Portfolio
The Office of Transition Ministry of the Episcopal Church maintains a nation-wide database where clergy and parishes in discernment can post portfolios sharing information and perspectives on church life and ministry. Along with other information, these portfolios - personal for the clergy members and community-based for the parish - address eleven key questions. The Search Committee will review each candidate’s responses to these questions, and the candidates will review our parish’s responses. The eleven questions, with Holy Trinity’s responses, appear below.
Describe a moment in your worshiping community’s recent ministry that you recognize as one of success and fulfillment.
Easter 2021 was a day of joy, success, and reconnection for Holy Trinity. For just under a year, to protect one another from COVID-19, the congregation had been gathering for outdoor worship only, some in lawn chairs (weather permitting) and others in their cars, watching the service and listening by FM transmission. We were all hungry to celebrate the resurrection together. Most members were ready to return to our nave for that celebration, but others were not. Families with children were ready for an egg hunt and easy fellowship; other parishioners were still cautious. To enable as many as possible to participate comfortably, we knew that we needed to provide many options. So we figured out how to use our indoor and outdoor spaces to conduct five Easter liturgies and an egg hunt, all within the space of four hours. At 8 am, we had an indoor liturgy in our nave. At 9, and again at 11, we held simultaneous indoor and outdoor services, each with choir and each led independently by its own priest. Dividing our event lawn allowed us to accommodate the altar and rows of seating that full services required, while reserving generous space for an egg hunt and family fellowship hour at 10. The day was clearly spirit-filled and full of joy. When we saw that more than 500 people had worshiped together, we felt a strong sense of success and fulfillment, knowing that our parish was weathering the pandemic and remained as strong as ever, if not stronger.
Describe your liturgical style & practice. If your community provides more than one type of worship service, please describe all.
Holy Trinity’s worship style is traditional, but we do not consider ourselves “high church.” Like most parishes, we use the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and the Hymnal 1982 in our worship. Our regular Sunday schedule includes a Rite I service at 8am, and Rite II services at 9am and 11am. The 8am service is spoken. Our 9am service is our most family-oriented service, with children’s chapel offered for children from pre-school through 5th grade; this service includes congregational singing, with organ and limited choral accompaniment. Our 11am service includes a full choir. For principal feasts like Christmas and Easter, our liturgy typically includes incense and a cantor. At times other than Sunday morning, we have experimented with guitar and band-led evening prayer, outdoor worship (during the pandemic), youth-led worship, and mid-week centering prayer services.
How do you practice incorporating others in ministry?
Holy Trinity is a program-sized parish with strong lay leadership. Primarily, we use committees to structure the ministries of the laity. Clergy, staff, vestry, and lay leaders work together to identify parishioners whose aptitude, interests, or background make them well suited to work on committees; to support ministries to youth, college students, the greater community, or those in need of pastoral care; or to use their gifts as catechists, choir members, grill cooks, or members of our altar and flower guilds. Parishioners work hard to create and maintain personal connections with other parishioners, particularly newcomers. To showcase opportunities and encourage participation, we offer an annual Ministry Fair with sign-up tables hosted by each ministry. We have a vestry member on duty each Sunday to connect with parishioners and help identify individuals and families who are looking for ways to become incorporated into the life of the parish. We also strategize with ministry leaders who are naturally gifted at garnering enthusiasm, asking them to reach out to people who haven’t yet found a place to serve and help those folks become more involved. Finally, in order to reach all members of the parish our printed monthly newsletters, weekly parish-wide emails, and frequent social media posts usually include ministry signup opportunities, with contact information for ministry leaders.
As a worshiping community, how do you care for your spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being?
Holy Trinity provides robust opportunities for people at every stage of life to enrich their well being. For infants and children, we provide nursery care and a fully developed Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. Our Day School provides pre-school enrichment for 4- and 5-year olds in the parish and community. There is an active EYC program for youth, and we are the principal provider of Episcopal college ministry for Auburn University students. Young adults and families with children—a large proportion of our parish membership—have opportunities for multigenerational worship and service. Members over 50 constitute our “Wise and Wonderful” group, with frequent fellowship opportunities. And Holy Trinity holds weekly worship services at a local assisted living facility for those who may no longer be able to come to services at the church. We offer Sunday school for all ages, clergy-led weekday Bible studies for adults, Bible study dinners during the academic year for college students, and a women’s Bible study. Because people find meaning and fulfillment in different ways, Holy Trinity fosters a large number of affinity groups—choirs for children and adults, Cursillo reunion groups, neighborhood-based fellowship groups, racial reconciliation study groups, men’s and women’s fellowship, and spiritual enrichment opportunities. We even participate in the local kickball league. We connect in deep relational mission with several organizations, which has enriched our parishioners’ emotional and spiritual desire to serve and form relationships with those in need. Finally, we have a rich history of fun and well-attended fellowship events, both parish wide events and more targeted events geared toward smaller groups such as newcomers, confirmands, young families, and empty nesters.
Describe your worshiping community’s involvement in either the wider Church or geographical region.
Many members of Holy Trinity are involved in councils and programs of the Diocese of Alabama. Currently, the parish is represented on the Standing Committee; the Diocesan Council; the Department of Development; the Department of Camp McDowell; the Department of Sawyerville; the Commission on Truth, Justice and Racial Reconciliation; and the DuBose Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians. For the past several years, members of our EYC group have been elected to the diocesan Youth Department, and several years ago, a member of Holy Trinity chaired the search for the eleventh diocesan bishop. In addition, Holy Trinity participates in the annual diocesan convention with a full complement of delegates.
When a tornado devastated nearby communities in 2019, Holy Trinity partnered with other churches in our convocation to provide support and relief to tornado victims in our local area through Episcopal Relief & Development’s MEND program. Within the city of Auburn, Holy Trinity enjoys a mutually supportive and beneficial relationship with St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, partnering with them to offer an annual Easter vigil and other occasional services for both congregations, as well as providing worship opportunities for college students and mutual support for the clergy of each parish.
How do you engage in pastoral care for those beyond your worshiping community?
Over the past several years Holy Trinity has developed rich mission partnerships, first in our local community but also reaching beyond to regional and worldwide missions. We strive to build mutual, pastoral and caring relationships with our mission partners, seeking to know and be known by our partners, not merely to engage in transactional outreach.
Our deepest relational mission partnership is with the largely Hispanic residents of King’s Mobile Home Park in Opelika, Alabama. That partnership is discussed in the next section. We also partner with Redeeming Grace Ministries, serving women transitioning out of incarceration; Mercy Medical Clinic, providing medical care for those who cannot afford healthcare; the Lee County Zaccheus Fund, a racial reconciliation partnership among local clergy; and our local Parish Nurse program. Holy Trinity parishioners are active in the Alabama Prison Birth Project and Sawyerville Day Camp, a program of the Diocese of Alabama for underprivileged children in the state’s Black Belt region. We are members of Alabama Arise, a statewide advocacy organization focused on the needs of state citizens marginalized by poverty. Abroad, we work with a missionary partner, Patrick Sseronjogi, in Namungo Village, Uganda. There, Holy Trinity has funded the drilling of three water wells, provided emergency food relief, and purchased seeds to plant gardens for food for the village. To maintain personal ties, the parish has hosted Patrick and his wife during state-side visits in the past few years, and will host them again this fall. In sum, Holy Trinity has a vision of pastoral outreach that stresses parishioner involvement and action, while also providing monetary support.
Tell us about a ministry that your worshiping community has initiated in the past 5 years. Who can be contacted about this?
We currently have a strong parish-wide mission partnership with the owners and residents of King’s Mobile Home Park, a local community home to several hundred underprivileged residents, many of whom are undocumented immigrants from Central America, primarily Guatemala. We began serving this community in 2018 in partnership with our local food bank. We make on-site food deliveries each month, as many of the residents do not have reliable transportation. Holy Trinity volunteers staff these distributions, setting up the on-site food distribution area; unloading, sorting, and distributing food; providing English/Spanish translation services; periodically offering simple medical assistance; and notifying residents ahead of each distribution date.
As this relationship has deepened, the parish has found opportunities that go beyond food distribution. Last year, we received a UTO Innovative Ministry Grant to provide COVID-19 vaccines to more than 20 residents of the mobile home park. In addition, each August our congregation provides new backpacks and school supplies for more than 100 children who live at King’s. In 2019 and 2020, we provided new and gently used winter coats, gloves, and scarves to the residents. This past February, we provided brand new shoes for over 150 children. Members of our congregation personally deliver these items to each mobile home, allowing for personal and pastoral connection. To learn more, contact parishioners Kelley Young or Sandra Clark-Lewis by calling or emailing the church office.
How are you preparing yourselves for the Church of the future?
Without discounting efforts to innovate in liturgy, technology, organization, or clergy preparation, at Holy Trinity we think we can best prepare for the Church of the future by intentionally developing the next generation of Christians. Over the past several years we have invested significant resources in our programming for young children, the centerpiece of which is our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Christian formation program. Our focus on ministry for children and young families has resulted in a significant increase in the number of young families in our parish and has helped re-energize older members, a number of whom are now trained Catechists and adult assistants who have developed relationships with the children in the church. In addition, we strive to create opportunities for intergenerational involvement, including parish-wide family-friendly activities that incorporate parishioners of all ages (Trunk or Treat, parish picnic, Lenten suppers, advent wreath and palm cross workshops, youth-led worship services, etc.). Today Holy Trinity provides a place of connection, joy, formation, and involvement for all ages, laying the foundation for a tomorrow of lifelong Christian development. Our goal is to prepare our children to be “parish-ready Christians” by the time they finish high school.
What is your practice of stewardship and how does it shape the life of your worshiping community?
Holy Trinity takes a holistic approach to stewardship. While we organize and conduct a typical annual stewardship campaign, we also incorporate stewardship thinking into the work of a number of committees and groups. This broader approach allows parishioners to understand the importance of caring for and enriching our church community. Our vestry, staff, and ministry leaders understand that when parishioners get involved, care for or beautify our physical space, build relationships, and come to love the church community, they are practicing stewardship. This involvement translates into a disposition to support the parish financially because parishioners feel ownership of the church’s ministries and spaces. The annual fund campaign each fall is led by vestry members and clergy. Holy Trinity has endowment funds and savings, but we tap these only for special projects or to seed new ministries that, if successful, become a part of the parish’s operating budget. Operating expenses are 100% funded through annual plate and pledge collections—a firm commitment throughout our parish history.
What is your worshiping community’s experience of conflict? And how have you addressed it?
At Holy Trinity, we consider ourselves fortunate not to have experienced significant conflict in our recent history. This does not mean that our worshiping community does not have differences in perspective and varying opinions. Holy Trinity is a diverse worshiping community of Episcopalians who hold views across the political spectrum. We strive to respect the viewpoints of both progressive and conservative members and are proud to be a place where everyone can feel comfortable as a part of the community, regardless of their political perspective. Where some church communities may experience this kind of diversity as a source of conflict, our community experiences it as a source of strength, helping us to bond as brothers and sisters in Christ and create our own unique identity. We strive to allow our differences -- political and otherwise -- to connect us rather than pull us apart.
A concrete example of a recent moment when we were able to use a potential area of conflict as an opportunity for unification and connection occurred in Spring of 2020. In 2018 we had formed a building committee to explore and plan for a major renovation and addition to our church campus. There was good cause. Our spaces for both children’s formation and nursery care were small and inadequate for the numbers of children we were serving; children’s formation had taken over both our chapel space and our library, and the nurseries felt crowded and uninviting. Our choir space was inadequate for the number of people participating in our music program. We had outgrown our administrative space with several staff members sharing cramped offices. Perhaps most importantly, our fellowship space could not accommodate the size of our congregation for parish-wide events and activities. In short, we were bursting at the seams.
The process began smoothly. We developed our program needs and engaged an architectural firm to create a master plan. In 2019 we launched a capital campaign for the project. The campaign was successful, and by late February 2020, we had identified a builder and gotten on the upcoming diocesan council agenda for approval to begin immediate construction. We were ready to sign the contract with the builder—and then came March 2020, when the COVID pandemic forced all parishes in the diocese to suspend in-person worship and shut down many operations. Suddenly, Holy Trinity was facing a hard decision, under circumstances of great uncertainty. Should we move forward with the building project or should we put the project on hold? The parish’s decision makers faced unprecedented questions about the economy, the financial and physical health of our parishioners, the feasibility and cost of construction under pandemic conditions, and the overall future of our parish. Not only did they have to decide between two reasonable options, they also had to communicate that decision to the parish in a way that garnered support for the project.
Such difficult decisions are recipes for conflict, so we prayed and held honest discussions among the finance committee and vestry in order to minimize any potential conflict. These parish leaders looked forthrightly at the risks we would be taking by beginning construction. Then we stepped out in faith, trusting that the Lord had brought us this far and that our project would be brought to completion. We had to determine whether to lean into fear or lean into faith. We chose faith. We received diocesan approval, we signed the construction contract, and church leaders communicated the decision to the parish. While some questioned the decision at first, the vast majority of Holy Trinity parishioners supported the decision and have fulfilled their building fund pledge commitments. It would have been easy to let our fear of the future dictate our decisions, but we have seen in the end that the decision to move forward was the right one. The parish has emerged out of the pandemic re-energized and excited about our new space and new ministry possibilities. Ironically, we were still worshiping outdoors as construction concluded, making it possible to address needed updates and renovations to our nave, beyond the original project scope, and allowing staff to relocate inside the building during construction rather than spending money on temporary office space. Had we postponed construction out of fear or to avoid conflict, the cost of our project would have nearly doubled and we would have had to wait another year to begin construction. Even those who were initially unsure about our decision to move forward have seen and acknowledged the benefits of this decision.
What is your experience leading/addressing change in the church? When has it gone well? When has it gone poorly? And what did you learn?
Holy Trinity is still addressing two significant changes in our church community, one traumatic and the other an occasion for happier emotions. In December 2021, one of the most beloved members and leaders in our church, who also was a member of the church staff, died after an extended illness. Our Youth Minister and Parish Life Coordinator was central to many of our ministries across different age groups, and she maintained her position up until her death. Within days of her death, the parish learned that our fifth rector had been appointed Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of Alabama and would be leaving the parish before New Year’s Day 2022. These simultaneous changes in the acknowledged leadership of our church family— suddenly so much sadder--meant that we as a congregation, vestry, and staff needed to guide each other through our grief rather than relying on the leadership of clergy. While we were able to shift parish life duties to another staff member and some volunteers, our youth ministry has suffered in the past several months, since the youth group lost their leader and mentor. Initially, grieving ourselves, we struggled to lead the youth and help them move through their grief. We are now getting our feet back under us to organize fellowship events and parish life activities, and we hope to have a stronger youth ministry program this fall. Through these losses, we’ve learned that we can rely on each other to move through unimaginable difficulties and that our congregation will support each other when we’re hurting. We’ve learned to give each other grace when we stumble and when ministries flounder. We’ve learned that we can recover from loss and unexpected changes and move forward together.
Please provide words describing the gifts and skills essential to the future leaders of your worshiping community.
Preaching, Pastoral Care, Teaching, Administration
