Last Sunday we attended our church review to discuss where we felt the church ought to be going. It was good to look back over the last 5 years and see where we have grown as a church (although some of the things that were brought up as growth were really status quo). However, we spent far too much time looking back than we should have done looking forward. Consequently we found ourselves in the ridiculous position of not having time to discuss the most fundamental question on the review paper: “What is the church’s vision for the next 5 years?”

We’re increasingly becoming disillusioned with what is going on at Trinity and the lack of any conviction of what we should be doing in our community. I wonder if this is true across most churches? I read a lot about what churches feel they should be doing globally but a lot less about what individual churches can be doing in their community. Clearly there are some noticable exceptions, such as many of the inner-city projects that are being run by churches; but for your average urban church, what are they doing in the community?

In one discussion someone suggested that our community needs to be broadened to encompass the places from which we draw our congregation. Personally I don’t accept this since the community in which we live is served ably by another church, whereas the immediate community of Trinity should be being addressed by Trinity. I think part of the difficulty comes from the fact that Trinity sits in a predominantly Asian community. To my mind that suggests that we, as a church, can be doing work to promote racial tolerance and cultural education and integration. I’m not saying that we’re not doing that, but perhaps that can become part of our focus, part of our vision, working with the community in which we find ourselves.