Lima Trinity United Methodist Church's vision for
carrying out this mission is to develop ministries that help people
get To Know Christ, To Grow In Christ, and To Sow For Christ.
We affirm 
the
Biblical witness that all Christians are ministers. To that end
we earnestly seek ways to help persons deepen their understanding
and personal awareness of Christ in their lives, their gifts and
the call of God to serve in Christian love. We believe people are
on a Journey of Faith and are in need of different experiences appropriate
to where they believe themselves to be on the journey. Recently,
we have developed a series of courses to provide persons with the
basics for the journey of faith. These courses are designed to help
participants discern what it is they further need to learn and what
it is God would have them do in ministry in order to continue their
faith journeys. We call these basic courses our Core Curriculum.
Following are the courses included in our Core Curriculum and how
they relate to our vision:
Knowing Christ Courses:
- An Overview of the Bible
- Overview of Christian Beliefs
- Overview of United Methodist Beliefs
- Overview of the Church
Growing In Christ Courses:
- Your God is Too Small
- What's So Amazing About Grace
- Among Friends, Overview of Spiritual Disciplines
- Experiences in Spiritual Disciplines
Sowing For Christ Courses:
- Cry Pain
- Cry Hope
- Overview of Spiritual Gifts/Inventory
- Practicing Discipleship/Orientation about other opportunities
for living out the journey of faith.
Related material:
The fulfillment of God's reign and realm in the world is the vision
Scripture holds before us. The United Methodist Church affirms that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and the
Lord of all. We respect persons of all religious faiths and we defend
religious freedom for all persons. Jesus' words in Matthew 28:19-20
provide the Church with our mission: 'Go therefore 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
that I have commanded you.'"
"This mission is our grace-filled response to the Reign of God in
the world announced by Jesus. God's grace is active everywhere,
at all times, carrying out this purpose as revealed in the Bible.
It is expressed in God's covenant with Abraham and Sarah, in the
Exodus of Israel from Egypt, and in the ministry of the prophets.
It is fully embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. It is experienced in the ongoing creation of a new people
by the Holy Spirit."
"John Wesley, Phillip Otterbein, Jacob Albright, and our other spiritual
forebears understood this mission in this way. Whenever United Methodism
has had a clear sense of mission, God has used our Church to save
persons, heal relationships, transform social structures, and spread
scriptural holiness, thereby changing the world. In order to be
truly alive, we embrace Jesus' mandate to make disciples of all
peoples."
The mission of the Church, as stated in the 2000
Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, is "to make disciples
of Jesus Christ by proclaiming the good news of God's grace and
thus seeking the fulfillment of God's reign and realm in the world."
(For more information about the United Methodist Church's mission
see related information)