The Church Building and Office are Closed

but Ministry Continues!

Following ELCA Synod guidelines regarding the Covid-19 virus, Trinity Lutheran Church facilities  will be closed until further notice. For pastoral care emergencies, please call the church and leave a message or contact Pastor Tim at revtimtlc@gmail.com or at (763) 439-9971

God bless, stay safe and be well.  

Outdoor Worship - Sundays at 9:30 am

Since this is rather new for us at Trinity, the Seeking to Keep Trinity Safe Task Force put together

a couple of sheets for you to read through so that you will know what to expect when you arrive. (Please read the important guidelines that are attached to our HOME page prior to attending outdoor worship.)

What happens if it RAINS? 

If it is raining, or looks like rain is imminent, we will cancel outdoor worship. We will put an announcement on our website by 8 am on Sunday. 

Ways to Give at Christmas

The Women of the ELCA will be doing the Christmas Giving Tree project again this year. They will sponsor children and their families with gifts, gift cards and help to provide food. They will be doing it a little differently this year because of the pandemic. The ornament gift tags will be available for you to pick up in the church porch area beginning Sunday, November 29, 2020.  The ornament (s) you choose may ask for:

1) a donation of money to be used to purchase food gift cards, 

2) a gift card from Wal-Mart, which a family can use to purchase a gift, or 

3) a request for a special gift that you will purchase.  Age, gender, size, or other pertinent information will be provided.  We ask that you wrap this gift and tape the ornament to it. The wrapped gift can be brought to the church during Outdoor Worship on Sunday mornings, or brought to the church office on or before Friday, December 11.  Please call the church office to be sure someone is available to take your gift.  

The pandemic is making it challenging for some of us, so we are trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone to participate.  If you don’t feel comfortable coming out to pick up an ornament tag, but would still like to purchase a gift for one of the children, you can make a monetary donation to the Trinity and put purchase Christmas gift on the check and we will choose a tag for you and purchase the gift, wrap it and bring it to the church.

In addition to the gifts for the 11 children from Chisholm, we also have people in our own congregation we would like to help and so we would like to raise an additional $600 to cover those families. Thank you for your generosity during the pandemic.

Please feel free to contact Pastor Tim or the church office to get the contact information if you have any questions with how to help.

Phase I Congregational Meeting

The Phase I meeting will be held following the Outdoor Worship service on Sunday, December 6 (at roughly 10:30 am). There will also be a Zoom connection for those who do not feel that it is safe to attend in person. They will be able to join us at this link:

Join Zoom Meeting via computer

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82721653919

Join Zoom Meeting via telephone

        1 646 558 8656

Meeting ID: 827 2165 3919

Changes to the Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions

At the October meeting the Council approved the changes to Trinity’s Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions. These changes gets this document up-to-date with the changes that were made at the ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly in 2019. The primary changes are: 1) The addition of a whole section regarding the call of deacons as rostered leaders in the ELCA, 2) The addition of allowing electronic means to conduct the business of the Church and our congregation, and 3) The addition of a whole section giving congregations the ability to form a parish with another local congregation. (Both changes numbers 1 and 3 above do not directly affect us at Trinity at this time but are required changes for all ELCA congregations.)

We are also making changes at the congregation level. We have some committees (which are closed groups whose members are stipulated in the bylaws) and ministry teams (which are open groups to all members and non-members). The only new committee that is being formed is the Pastor-Staff-Congregation Relations Committee. This is a merger of two previous committees - the Personnel Committee and the Pastor-Congregation Relations Committee.

If you have any questions regarding any of these changes do not hesitate to contact Pastor Tim.

A copy of the Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions draft are posted on our website (see sidebar listings – Phase 1 Meeting/Constitution, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions). If you would like a copy mailed to you, please leave a message with the church office.   Thank you.

Seeking to Keep Trinity Safe

A Task Force to Guide Us Through the Pandemic

The council established a task force who will "help the congregation, council, and staff discern when to re-open Trinity for worship, fellowship, meetings, and other related activities and to develop the procedures we will establish, review, and monitor to keep the members, friends, and visitors of Trinity safe, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.” Those serving on the task force are: Larry Muchow, council president; Raeann Purcell, at-large council member; Paula Losnes (oncology nurse); Larry Schaefer (nurse anesthetist, retired); and Christine Williams (physician with emphasis in public health and pediatrics, retired). We give God thanks that we have such knowledgeable servants of the gospel who are willing to lead us through this challenging time!

Online Giving

Thank you for your overwhelming response to the Online Giving option.   The program is new to all of us and we appreciate your questions.  Feel free to contact Phyllis at Trinity’s email address with your questions. trinitylutheran485@gmail.com.  

Prayer List

We record our worship services earlier in the week so that we have time to upload them, put them into this email, and get them sent out at the proper time. We have not been including members by name in the prayers largely to protect their privacy since once we put this on YouTube, we have no control as to where this goes or who sees it. Instead, we have been providing a pause during one of the petitions for you to name those people who weigh heavily on your heart and mind. But, rest assured that we are praying for you! If you have a prayer concern, do not hesitate to contact me and I will get that information out to our Prayer Chain leaders to distribute (with your permission, of course). revtimtlc@gmail.com or 763-439-9971 

Thank you for your generosity as we are developing new ways of doing ministry together!

God Bless, Stay Safe, Stay Well.