our vision for ministry 2011

Looking Back, Looking ForwardOn February 28, 2010 I had the great privilege of being present at a birth – the birth of a new church! In the months since, we have wit-nessed God doing great things among us; He has drawn people into the community of his people at Trinity Mount Barker. He has fed us from his Word. He has brought

people from darkness into light.

A church has been born, and by God’s grace, this new church is growing. We’ve seen people from all walks of life join our community and find them-selves at home. Some have attended church previously, others have told me they’ve “never set foot in a church”. And yet people from these diverse backgrounds have one thing in common: They are being gathered together by God as the good news of Jesus is proclaimed and lived out.

Before the launch of Trinity Mount Barker I was convinced that church planting was one of the best ways, if not the best way for people to hear the good news of Jesus, to respond in faith and to grow as ma-ture disciples. A few months into the life of our new church I’m more convinced than ever! As we move towards our first anniversary and beyond, I pray that God will continue to work through us so that many more people might come to know God in Christ - We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be rec-onciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

We’ve also seen the good news of Jesus ring out much further from home, through our partnership with Nigel, Rose, Lucy and Sarah Klein, who are serving God in Tanzania. The Kleins landed in Tanza-nia at almost the exact time that our church started, so we have taken our first steps in ministry alongside the first steps of these very special friends.

There are many challenges still before us! Our fellowship in the gospel is expressed in part by our

financial partnership and these needs will increase as we seek to grow the ministry of our church. We hope that in the coming year, we will be able to add additional part-time staff to our team so we’re better able to “equip the saints for works of service” (Ephesians 4:12). We’re also moving from being a brand-new church in which every person knows every other person, to a more established church where not everyone has shared experiences and relationships, so we’ll all need to be especially deliberate in the way we welcome newcomers and care for our members.

I want to thank the Leadership Team for the superb way they have led us in these early days. I’m very thankful to God for each one of them; Kerry Watts, Wayman Chapman, Matt Pearce and Andrew Harris. They have served our community very well and laid good foundations for our future life together.

It’s appropriate also for me to give thanks to God for each member of our church, each person in the body of Christ, who has consistently put the preferences of others before their own, sought to meet the needs of other people, known and unknown, and worked to make Trinity a community where the great news of forgivness, hope and reconciliation with God rings out. It has been tremendously encouraging to see people thinking about how to bring the gospel of Jesus to bear not only on their own lives, but also on the lives of friends and loved ones.

As we look back and look forward, we pray the life and ministry of Trinity Mount Barker will commend the gospel of Jesus to people who don’t know him. It has been a privilege to be part of this new life together, and I look forward to what God has laid before us!

Clayton Fopp

Our Vision for Ministry, 2011

Trinity Mount Barker ~ Vision & Budget 2011 ~ page 2

By God’s sovereign power and grace, Trinity has experienced a dramatic ‘growth spurt’ during the past decade. Statistics don’t tell the real story of lives changed by the gospel; nevertheless, some of fol-lowing statistics are indicative of

the way God has been transforming people:

Trinity has grown from one to five centres.

We have seen four Sunday gatherings in 1998 multiply to 10 in 2010.

There are five times as many pre-school and primary-aged children attending Sunday school.

There are three times as many high school students attending youth programs.

Adult membership has doubled.

An outreach to city workers has been launched.

The university ministry has grown.

There has been a massive increase in ministry to internationals.

Trinity City, which has planted three churches, has grown by 20 per cent in the past 10 years.

In 2000, we were a large city church. Now in 2010, we are a growing network of churches.

During times of change, there are challenges – organisational, relational and financial. We are currently establishing a Network Leadership Group with representatives drawn from across the five centres. This group will support the existing centres and provide vision for planting more churches and ministries. The vision will stretch us relationally as we send brothers and sisters to start gospel work in new locations. It will stretch us financially, as we look for funds to plant new churches and start new ministries. Growth brings exciting challenges and opportunities.

What does the next decade hold for us? Like Paul the apostle, our desire is to give ourselves to the ‘rapid spread of the Word of the Lord’ (2 Thessalonians 3). There is no greater joy than to be used by God to draw people to Himself for His glory.

My hope is that God will continue to grow us as a generous network of churches that love to share resources and partner with other gospel-minded believers in Adelaide. Under the sovereign hand of God, we have seen four new churches planted in nine years! Please join me in praying that we see 20 more planted by 2020.

Indeed, much has changed in the past decade. Yet for all eternity, God has been unchanging in his character of love and mercy. The gospel of God’s grace in Christ Jesus is the only hope for the salvation of our world. May our commitment to God and this unchanging gospel be the fixed foundation on which our growing network of churches is founded.

Paul Harrington

Senior Pastor, Trinity Network

From Paul HarringtonA Growing Network


Bible Study GroupsWhen Trinity Mount Barker commenced, there were those who already knew each other and others “fresh off the streets” who knew hardly anyone else. In God’s kindness, one of the most significant ways that this divide has been bridged is through our network of Bible Study Groups (BSGs). These groups serve our church in many ways, especially in engaging people in study of the Bible, but they also foster the prayer life of our community. Praying together is not always easy, but being part of a smaller group has encouraged many among us to be more deliberate and other-person focussed in prayer. BSGs have also al-lowed relationships to develop at a level which isn’t always possible amidst the busyness of Sunday mornings.

The enthusiasm of those involved has been obvious. We have been blessed with six groups each with different leaders and hosts. The list of people eager to join a group has been growing too. Since their launch in Term 2, 2010, groups have served each other’s needs well when regular hosts and leaders have been unavailable. Groups have organised addi-tional prayer meetings on top of their weekly Bible study. It’s a sign of God’s work through his Word that several groups have already grown to capacity and we now need to create new groups to make enough room for newcomers. So the only question is – who else is willing to lead or join a Trinity Mount Barker Bible Study Group?

Andrew Harris

Ladies’ Bible Study GroupOur Ladies’ Bible Study meets Tuesday mornings in Littlehampton and has been a great source of Biblical teaching, encouragement and fellowship for the women involved. We have a supervised crèche provided so that pre-school children can play together while the mums enjoy reading the Bible and adult conversation. It is such a vital part of Christian growth to keep reading God’s Word together, particularly during the often tiring or dif-ficult years of child-raising. As sisters in Christ we’re able to encourage each other to keep serving our Heavenly Father, and grow in our godliness as we serve our families and the wider community.

Kathy Fopp

Music Ministry

We’re very thankful to God for the dedication of those who serve us through music each week, giving their time and effort to set up, rehearse, fix faulty sound equipment and lead us in praising God through music. The “Men at Work” team has enabled the musical and technical equipment to be ergonomically used and easily set up, packed up and stored dur-ing the week, which has made those tasks much more streamlined. In the coming months we look forward to being able to better store and share the sheet music we use, invite new people onto the team and be involved in the Trinity music conference planned for 2011.

Andy Buchan

Reflections on 2010


Toys & TuckerA number of members from Trinity Mount Barker were involved in the Toys & Tucker pilot project in the lead up to Christmas 2009. The aim of Toys & Tucker is to give people in our community the opportunity to support those who would otherwise be going without at Christmas time. We visited 200 homes in Littlehampton, letting residents know that we would return the following week, collecting food and toys for families who would have neither at Christmas.All the goods collected were distributed to families in need across the region through Anglican Community Care. We were also able to introduce our new church to several hundred residents of Littlehampton.

It was a great encouragement to see the generosity of those in our community. Due to the positive response our ‘trial run’ received, our team is hoping to perform the same appeal this year on a much larger scale across the region. Chanelle Jarrett

Growing Disciples and Growing the Gospel“All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing just as it has been doing among you” Colossians 1:6

Our “Making Disciples” event was held at Corner-stone College on Thursday July 1st 2010, led by pastor and author Colin Marshall. Colin shared with us les-sons learned from a lifetime of training Christian men and women for service in the church. The goal of the evening was to help us at Trinity Mount Barker think through how individuals and churches can multiply disciples and fellowship through the simple analogy of the “trellis and the vine”.

The tendency in Christian ministry is often to let the “trellis work” take over the “vine work”, when

the structures intended to support ministry actually crowd out the speaking and sharing of God’s Word with one another.

A highlight of the workshop was the reminder that the heart of Christian ministry is disciples making disciples. This is what we hear in Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28:18 – 20 “All author-ity in heaven and on earth has been given to me. There-fore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have com-manded you”.

All who took part in the workshop were greatly en-couraged to think about the opportunities they have to serve within our community. We look forward to seeing the fruit from this event!

Hannah Dridan

Office & Meeting SpaceAs our church grows, the need to support the variety of ministries represented in our community also in-creases. The Leadership Team have identified the im-mediate renting of office space and facilities for meet-ings during the week as one of the strategic steps for the continued growth of our church. This will enable a wider range of ministries to be supported, create opportunities for people to be involved in adminis-

tration and other important support work, as well as giving new and existing ministry groups an extra venue in which to meet.

Putting financial resources into bricks and mortar is not very exciting, especially considering some of the really exciting ministries outlined in this docu-ment. But we expect that this new space will help grow these other ministries, so that under God, more and more people will hear the good news of Jesus through our church.

Directions for 2011


Youth & Young Adults - 2010One of the pleasant surprises in our first year has been a terrific ministry among youth and young adults. Initially we weren’t sure how many younger people we would have around our church so we de-cided to run a combined program for the school to uni age group.

Our Youth and Young Adults group (YaYA) has been meeting every Friday night for dinner and Bible Study with anywhere between 8 and 16 people in atten-dance. A very large proportion of the young people

present on any one night are year 12s and some in their first couple of years at university, leading to very in-depth studies and serious discussion! These discus-sions often go over the intended timeframes as issues are pursued more and more in depth. The goal of YaYA is to provide a fun, safe environment in which to study the Bible together and learn about the Chris-tian faith and how to live it out. As we read God’s Word together, we’ve seen our youth and young adults develop strong and meaningful relationships. A few people who have been part of this group in 2010 have even made Trinity Mount Barker their church home!

Richard Austin

Trinity CityWe have much to thank God for in 2010 at Trinity City. The year began with the sending of a number of households in February to establish a new Trinity church in the North East. At the same time several from our community joined Trinity Mount Barker as this new centre was planted from Trinity Hills. Plant-ing churches has become our DNA, and we are prayerfully considering where our next congregation from Trinity City might be planted.

There are a number of Staff changes as we look to 2011- Marina Maddock and Faith Cowell will be leav-

ing the City Administration team around the end of December; and, Arthur & Minli Ang are looking to full-time theological study in 201.

In order to continue the significant work of the Angs amongst International Students, Bernie Leo, with his family, will be joining us in January. Bernie is currently serving in ministry in Dural, Sydney.

We are pleased to also welcome Matthew Lehmann and Ken Noakes, and their families, to take leader-ship roles in the city congregations. Matt is currently serving at Trinity North East, while Ken works at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney

Youth & Young Adults - 2011 and beyondOn a few occasions during our first 6 months, our Youth and Young Adults group has pushed the capacity of its venue and format to the maximum! In order for this vital and strategic ministry to grow, we will be ex-panding our youth and young adults ministry in 2011.

We also want to make sure we cater well for young-er high school students, who need a different kind of ministry and environment to the young adults at

YaYA. Our plan, under God, for 2011 is to run a fun, exciting, Bible-centred youth group on Friday nights for students in school years 7 – 11. Our Young Adults group will run Sunday evenings, and cater for those in year 12 and at university, TAFE, young workers, etc.

We’re very pleased that Andy Buchan has ac-cepted the challenge of developing our high school aged ministry in 2011! Andy and Taimi have many years experience ministering to students at Wir-raway Homestead Youth Centre, sharing the good news of Jesus and the love of God with thousands of high schoolers from across the state each year.

Trinity Network Updates


Trinity North EastTrinity North East is a new church that started on February 21, 2010 and the first twelve months have been very exciting! Since our launch, we have been thrilled to welcome about 200 people as members. We thank God for this rapid growth and the opportunity to start a new mission to people in the North-East. We have enjoyed seeing many peo-ple come to explore the Christian faith for the first time. Others have used the opportunity of a new church starting to re-engage with the gospel after a long period away from the Christian community.

For those sent from Trinity City there has been a great opportunity to engage in the local mission and invite friends, family, colleagues, school friends and others along to be part of our community.

We look to 2011 with great anticipation. While we will be very sad to farewell Matt Lehmann as our Minister in Training, we are excited about new staff who will join the team. More than that, we look forward to many more opportunities to share the great news of the gospel of Jesus to people in the North East.

Trinity Hills2010 has been a fantastic year for Trinity Hills. This doesn’t mean that it has always been easy, but we have seen the faithfulness of God in so many different ways.

There have been many changes. In January we wel-comed Kez Ashby, our new Youth Pastor, to the staff team. Then, in February, we commissioned Clayton Fopp and the Starter Group to plant Trinity Mount Barker. We rejoiced as this new congregation was established even though it brought about many chang-es in our life together.

As we know, mission has global scope and so we have established a link with TEAR Australia, and through them with the Wholistic Development Organisation in Cambodia, to complement our partnership with CMS in that needy country. Locally, mission has con-tinued with Carols in the Park drawing hundreds to Stirling to hear of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, our Mainly Music continues to grow reaching new people in our community, and August saw over sixty of our people being equipped to explain their hope.

We pray that 2011 will be a year of building on the great foundation that has been laid.

Trinity BayAll over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing… (Colossians 1:6 - 7)

2010 began with Trinity Bay transplanting from 5 PM to 10 AM. Give thanks for the mission minded people who saw a smooth transition and through whom God is growing the gospel as new families join us. We ran ‘Introducing God’ at 6 PM that saw more than 20 not-yet-Christian people hear the gospel. Mainly Music has flourished since its inception in February as has our music ministry, with Jamie Seyfang our first ‘Music Intern’.

Trinity Bay turns five on March 5, 2011. We will mark the occasion by planting a new gathering on Sundays at 6 PM on February 6, running Easter and Christmas in schools; an Easter Mission; an ‘Introducing God’ course in May; a God, Sex, Life Mission in September and Carols at the Bay.

Staff changes include bringing on someone to help lead Trinity Bay at 6 PM, a part time youth worker and part-time administrator. We also have an unprecedented number of people exploring vocational gospel ministry.

University Ministry2010 has been another great year for the tertiary ministry in which we partner AFES (Australian Fel-lowship of Evangelical Students). Across the three city campuses (Adelaide Uni, UniSA City West, UniSA City East) we’ve witnessed many young Christian men and women mature in their faith through faithful Bible teaching and through the proclamation of the gospel.

More importantly, we’ve seen a number of students become believers this year, and for that we are so very thankful to God. However this mission field is still far from “reached”! There are over 30,000 full-

time undergraduates on North Terrace, including thousands of international students who are open to the gospel while here in Australia in ways not possible “back home”.

And so to help us continue to harvest this plentiful field, in 2011 we welcome back Laura Maddock to the AFES staff team. Laura has a great passion and gift for evangelising and discipling younger women, hav-ing completed her Ministry Apprenticeship on cam-pus in 2005-6 before studying interstate from 2007-2010. Please do consider how you might partner with us both prayerfully and financially in this wonderful ministry!


Our budget isn’t primarily a measure of what it costs to run Trinity Mount Barker, but an expression of our ministry priorities. As a church we hold minimal financial reserves, which means that the ministry of the church depends on the continued support of the congregation through its prayers, time and money.

A budget increase in congregational giving of $57,625 is proposed for 2011 when compared to the forecast giving in 2010. We have been generously supported financially by the Trinity network in 2010 through donations from ‘Foundation for the Future,’ the fund established to support Trinity’s current and future church planting needs. A further donation of $50,000 from Foundation for the Future has been budgeted for 2011.

A summary of the key budget items for Trinity Mount Barker is as follows:

Staff costs compose 72% of our budgeted expenses.

Raising up the next generation is important for the growth of the gospel in Adelaide and beyond. For this reason we have budgeted for a Minister in Training position.

We have budgeted for a part-time administration position. This a key position to support the many and various ministry activities of our church.

The Leadership Team has spent considerable time this year discussing office requirements for the future. As a result money has been budgeted in 2011 towards obtaining office space in Mount Barker, which will include rooms for meetings, Bible Study Groups, etc.

Partners Together in New Gospel OpportunitiesMost of the increase in our budget for 2011 relates to two of the items above which we believe have potential to create significant gospel opportunities for us; the Minister in Training position, which will focus on developing our rapidly growing youth ministry and the securing of office space - both in the short-term and the long-term. Can we ask you, as partners in ministry, to prayerfully consider how you can respond to the opportunities before us? We would value your financial response and it would help us, as we plan for the future, to know whether you are able to increase your giving or if reductions are necessary.

There are two ways in particular that you can respond in financial partnership. You may be able to make a gift towards our “Ministry Building Fund” which will serve the property needs of our church community in the future as rental space becomes less suitable for our growing needs. Our goal is to raise $150,000 over the next two years.

The immediate costs of renting office space are accounted for in the 2011 budget and we’d ask you to consider this strategic opportunity, as well as the Minister in Training position and our other ministry priorities as you consider how you may be able to partner with us in 2011 and beyond.

In order to help our Leadership Team make the most informed decisions and plans for the future, we’d encourage you to give by direct debit if you’re able. Further information on how you can make regular contributions to support ministry is readily available from the Welcome Table on Sundays or on the website.

Trinity Mount Barker Budget 2011

Staff Costs

Property & Equipment(inc. rental)

Community, Equipping,Evangelism & Ministry

Administration

Trinity Mount BarkerExpense Breakdown 2011

Trinity Mount BarkerIncome Forecast & Budget

$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000

2010 Forecast 2011 Budget


Congregational Giving Other income

$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000





$0

$50,000

$100,000

$150,000

$200,000




Supporting the Work of the Gospel at Trinity and BeyondThere are many ways that you can support the work of Trinity in our mission to see people brought into God’s kingdom, build members towards Christian maturity and send believers into the world as Christ’s ser-vants, for the glory of God.

Pray The Bible promises that God uses faithful prayer from his people to grow his Kingdom both in size and maturity. We always value people’s prayers for our church.

ServeAll Christians should aim to serve the Lord Jesus with all of their lives. There are lots of dif-ferent opportunities to serve at Trinity depending on your interests, your experience and the current ministry opportunities. The best place to start would be to talk with a member of staff and discuss how you may best be involved.

Give Trinity can only continue to proclaim the gospel through the financial support of its mem-bers and supporters. The Bible encourages all Christians to give generously to support their church’s ministry:

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times; having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:7 - 8.

Further details on how you can partner financially with Trinity Mount Barker can be found at church on Sundays or on the website.

Trinity Network Growth FundOver the last decade God has done marvelous things in and through the developing Trinity Network with the establishment of four new churches. Our aim is to keep growing a healthy network of churches and ministries here in Adelaide with a desire to influence the spread of the gospel in our city and to the ends of the earth.

However, wouldn’t it be marvelous if we could see ten times as many planted in the next decade? Resolving the financial challenge of church planting will certainly help achieve this. As a result, we are in the process of establishing the Trinity Network Growth Fund with the aim partnering with financial gospel patrons who will provide seed funding to enable more rapid church planting to occur in the next ten years. In the coming years it would be good to grow this group of gospel patrons so that increasing gospel work can be done in our city.

If you would like to know more, please contact Andrew Severin, the Trinity Network Business Manager in the Trinity City office on 8213 7300.

PO Box 51Littlehampton

South Australia 525008 8398 2827

[email protected] :: www.trinitymountbarker.org.au :: www.facebook.com/TrinityMountBarker

our vision for ministry 2011

Documents

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brandnew church

established church

new church im

witnessed god

good news of jesus ring

gospel of jesus

great news of forgivness