Dear Friends:

 

Today marks 32 years of marriage for Catherine and me. I am grateful for the companion God has given me. I was pretty excited the day she said "YES" to my proposal; and one thing is for sure: my journey through this life is better because she is in it!

 

This weekend we will continue the message series Together: For the Sake of the World, a deep dive into the New Testament book of Ephesians. The title for Sunday's message is "Better Together," a refrain that certainly rings true for Catherine and myself in our marriage. It is also a common theme throughout the New Testament. Through Christ, God is doing a new thing, bringing together not only people who were already friends, but even people who were once hostile toward one another. I look forward to seeing you there as we consider where God might be calling us to be Better Together as the people called Trinity.

 

This idea of being Better Together has also emerged recently as a vision to be embraced within our denomination.

 

For the past two years, a group of 32 United Methodists from around the world have been working together as the Commission on a Way Forward. The task originally assigned to them by the UMC Council of Bishops was to address the long-standing divide within our denomination regarding the subject of human sexuality and prepare a proposal on how we would move forward as a church. The Commission recently completed its work, which was then submitted to the Council of Bishops. The Council has proposed the adoption of the One Church Plan, one of three possible proposals offered by the Commission. In February 2019, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will reconvene to entertain a motion regarding this proposal. Following the outcome of that gathering, every United Methodist congregation will have some decisions to make. In preparation, the leadership of Trinity United Methodist Church believes right now is an important time for us to be cultivating an atmosphere that is healthy, loving, and mutually respectful before the time comes to make any decisions.

 

One important step toward creating this atmosphere is providing the opportunity for every person who calls Trinity home to participate in a small group this summer reading the book Anatomy of Peace. Click  here  to watch a short video about this opportunity and sign up for a group.

 

To learn more about the work of the Commission on a Way Forward, go  here . 

 

You might also want to view this video from a segment of this year's Florida Annual Conference, which includes a conversation between two persons from very different perspectives who have served together on the Commission.