Each fall, the Annual Pledge Drive asks parishioners to prayerfully consider the abundance of God’s blessings in our lives, and to determine the weekly or monthly amount each of us as a family will give to the Church during the coming year.
The Vestry considers our pledges as they prepare a responsible Annual Operating Budget for the year to come. The pledges and plate offerings received each week help fulfill Christ’s ministry at Trinity: to provide wages and benefits for clergy and staff, to support our worship expenses, to keep our sanctuary open, and to sustain our Outreach Ministries.
When you make your online pledge, you are practicing good stewardship.
Trinity’s stewardship campaign for 2024 will begin on Sunday, September 24 and conclude on Sunday, November 5. As the symbols for our campaign, we have chosen parishioner David Wade’s evocative acrylic painting depicting a partial angled view of the front of our beautiful, venerable parish home. This reminds us of the Trinity congregation’s decades of faith in God and the teachings of Christ and of service to the community. The motto “Deepening Faith—Moving Forward” indicates that our commitment of faith intensifies as we pursue our missions in worship, education for children and adults, and outreach to the wider world. Our pledges of support to Trinity represent our faith in the goodness of a loving God and in the spirit of connection we all share as disciples of Christ. Please join us in pledging for 2024 in order to expand and enrich Trinity’s capacity for worship, education, and service as the parish continues to embody Christ’s love in our community, the nation, and the world.
–Robert Baldwin, Nancy Hoke, Nancy Hutchens,
Adriana Madiol, Fred Schultz, & Janet Stavropoulos
Please consider how YOU can be a part of this campaign. Join us with your pledge to Trinity and to the future.
STEWARDSHIP is honoring God by working to care for and improve God’s creation.
At Trinity, your stewardship supports a variety of ministries, including outreach, education, pastoral care, and music.
Stewardship is giving of ourselves—our time, but also our resources. Those resources help Trinity to care for parishioners and the community.
Perhaps these Bible passages can guide your meditation on Stewardship.
To the People of God at Trinity Episcopal Church,
Greetings in the name of Christ!
I have an archaeologist friend who studies the origins of money in India. Money is a strange thing we humans have created. On the one hand, it seems simple–it facilitates exchange of goods and labor. On the other hand, once it exists, it quickly takes on a life of its own. Money is a symbol, and it can symbolize more than just an amount of labor or goods. In our culture, I’d say it symbolizes social status, security, freedom, the government, and power.
Money is related to spirituality because it is connected to our trust in God, our desire to be generous, our call to be free of fear, and our relationships with one another. This year I suggest we all think about how money expresses relationships. One of the major goals of St. Paul in his peripatetic ministry around the Mediterranean was to raise money for the poor in the Christian community in Jerusalem (he mentions it in nearly all of his letters, see in particular 2 Corinthians:8, Galatians 2:10). For Paul, exchanging money was a way that the Christian community around the world was connected. Giving to the church united the church.
Here’s a concrete example. I pledge 10% of my church income right back to Trinity. Now, in a sense, this is a bit silly. I could just say, “pay me 10% less and call it good.” BUT, it is important for my spiritual growth to promise and then give. I express my commitment to God’s Reign by actually giving, I could choose to not do it. When I do give, then, I am saying “the mission of God in this parish is something I am committed to with ALL my heart, soul, mind, AND resources, including my hard-earned dough!” If I just took a 10% cut in pay, it would not be as meaningful to me, and it would not express the value I place on God’s mission, here. My money doesn’t only come from me, it comes from God, who has helped me throughout my life to gain the skills and resources I need to actually earn more than I need to survive. When I give back, I’m acknowledging God’s gift, becoming more generous, and losing fear.
And, moreover, it connects me to all Christians around the world. We send a portion of our income to the Diocese to support our common work here in Indiana. The Diocese sends 20% to the national church. The National Church sends money to the worldwide Anglican Communion. That money connects me to other Christians. It is like a sacrament, it is a visible and outward sign of an inward and visible truth. We are all connected, and we become Jesus’ body in the world by showing that in many ways, including by pledging! Please make a pledge so that we can continue to expand our relationships both inside Trinity Church and with the Christian community worldwide.
Grace and Peace,
The Rev. Dr. Matt Seddon, Rector
What does your Pledge to Trinity mean?
APledge is a solemn promise. Your pledge to Trinity is a promise to financially support the church and all of its ministries.
Each year, the wise members of the Trinity financial team develop a budget, projecting costs and income throughout the year. Your pledge is part of that budget. Your pledge contributes to the INCOME column of the budget proposal, and allows our Vestry to make critical decisions about how much money they can allocate to the wide range of ministries and programs that Trinity offers.
Only YOU and the bookkeeper/treasurer know your pledge amount.
You have complete control over how you want to distribute your pledge—maybe you like weekly envelopes. Maybe you prefer a monthly donation by check. Trinity can even help you set up an automatic withdrawal so you never forget!
Please consider how YOU can be a part of this campaign. Join us with your pledge to Trinity and to the future.
Generous and loving God, we come to you in thanksgiving, knowing that all we are and all that we have is a gift from you. In faith and love, help us to do your will. We are listening. Speak your words into the depth of our souls, that we may hear you clearly.
We offer to you this day all the facets of our lives, whether it be at home, at work, or at school. We seek to be patient, to be merciful, to be generous, to be holy. Give us the wisdom and insight to understand your will for us and the fervor to carry out our good intentions.
We offer our gifts of time, talent, and possessions to you as a true act of faith, to reflect our love for you and our neighbors. Help us reach out to others as you have reached out to us.
Amen.
Now it’s time to make your pledge!
You can complete the online pledge form, or download a paper copy.
Your printed copy can be mailed to Trinity Church at:
Trinity Episcopal Church
Attn: Lori Miller, Bookkeeper
111 S. Grant Street
Bloomington, IN 47408
OR scan your paper copy and email it to Lori at bookkeeper@trinitybloomington.org.
We’re on the corner of Grant and Kirkwood.
Join us for a service or stop by for a visit.
111 S. Grant Street, Bloomington, IN 47408
