TCC Blog

Minnesota: A human trafficking battleground

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:10:54 +0000

Kare11 did a story on human trafficking in the Twin Cities. Watch the video below or read the story to understand more about this dark reality in our city.

Another local organization that combats human trafficking, which is not mentioned in the story above, is the Source Annex. Please check out their website for more information.

May TCC be a church that pushes back the darkness of human trafficking through the doing of justice and mercy.

Ash Wednesday and Lent 2012

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:35:34 +0000

Lent begins a week from today. We are having an Ash Wednesday Service to kick it off. It will be at TCC's church building on Wednesday, February 22nd at 7pm. Parents are encouraged to bring their kids to the service.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten Season. “Lent” is a term derived from Anglo-Saxon, meaning “long days” or “spring”. It dates from the 4th century and was a time of special discipline for those who were to be baptized on Easter. In time, it became a spring period of fasting and penitence for all, in preparation for Easter.

The distribution of ashes has a long history in Christianity and its roots in the Bible. The ashes indicated the utter helplessness of our power, and the need for radical dependence upon the merciful power of God.

The use of ashes, coupled often with the tearing of the clothing, could of course be abused. Abuse arose when people regarded the outward act as a good work by which they could turn God’s anger away. God tells the people through the prophet Joel, “Tear your hearts, not your clothing” (Joel 2:12-13). God wants our hearts emptied of all self-righteousness so that God may enter our lives by grace.

On Ash Wednesday, we participate in the imposition of ashes on our foreheads in the form of a small cross. The word of God to Adam is addressed to each individual, “You are dust and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19). This is an outward sign of the inward sorrow and repentance you have for sinning against God and man.

All the single women in Saint Paul

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:21:10 +0000

From the Pioneer Press:

If you wanted to know where the girls are, they're right here.

At least that's the story according to Men's Health magazine, which recently published a ranking of 100 large cities in the United States by where you're most likely to find an eligible woman.

St. Paul got into the top 10, along with hip, cosmopolitan burgs like Washington, D.C.; Boston; Seattle; New York; and San Francisco. At the bottom of the list were Buffalo, Cleveland, Fresno and Las Vegas.

And that fairly large city across the river? Only 17th place ...

But if you're an unmarried man on the make thinking about moving to the Saintly City, you should know this: While there appears to be a surplus of unattached women compared to men in all age groups, the greatest disparity in eligible men and women in St. Paul, and the bulk of the female surplus here, is among women 65 and older, where there are more than 6,000 extra single women - the equivalent of 276 unmarried women for every 100 men.

End of 2011 Newsletter

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Between Two Cities is the newsletter of Trinity City Church. This newsletter keeps our church community and outside supporters updated on what is going on at TCC. God has done so much through this local church this past year. Read the end of the year newsletter and celebrate with us!

If you are interested in supporting TCC, please pray for the requests listed in the newsletter. You can also find information on donating at www.trinitycitychurch.org/give.

Giving Church One More Chance

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:26:48 +0000

Andrew DeYoung is a journalist and Christian who wants to "give church one more chance. To find a way of being a Christian that I can live with." He writes about his journey to several churches in the Twin Cities in an article called "Giving Church One More Chance: The Evolving Christian Landscape of the Twin Cities." The article is published at Twin Cities Runoff.

One of the churches that DeYoung visited is Trinity City Church. Here is that portion of the article:

This commitment to leaving things up for grabs hasn’t endeared emergent churches to everybody. Trinity City Church, for instance, a new church in St. Paul (the city this time), bears many superficial resemblances to emergent communities—including a younger-than-average membership, worship style that appeals to young adults, emphasis on social justice in an urban context, and a vibrant church community. Church members even have their own social network, called The Table. In spite of these similarities, Pastor Bryan Lair is hesitant to claim the label of “emergent.”

“The main thing the emerging church has brought to the table is asking good questions about the Christian faith in light of a changing culture,” says Lair. “But although we ask many of the same questions as the emerging church, and also have similar critiques of evangelicalism, we have differences in theology. We are extremely cautious about challenging the broad historic consensus of Christian theology.”

For churchgoers who like the emerging church’s innovations in worship but don’t care for a conversational approach to truth and authority, Trinity City Church and other communities like it are appealing alternatives. Trinity’s website contains a long list of accepted doctrines, and its slogan—“New Church. Vintage Jesus.”—signals an approach that pushes the envelope without departing from old-time religion. As Lair puts it, “We are philosophically progressive and theologically conservative.”

DeYoung also wisely notices the risk of starting new churches. New churches that are thriving one day are "all just a few handfuls of people who decide to do something else with their Sundays away from closing their doors forever. But on this Sunday, with these people, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that this is the way it should be, that all those centuries of cultural dominance were just a fluke, and that true religion always thrives at the margins, on the brink of death or rebirth."

Our prayer is for God to bring rebirth to our church community and city. To glorify Jesus by igniting a movement of the gospel for the joy of our city and all nations.

We also pray for Andrew, and others like him, who have this spiritual yearning in the heart. We pray that Jesus would satisfy your hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Thank you Andrew for visiting Trinity City Church on this journey.

______________

One note of clarification. Trinity City Church does not own the social network The Table. We, like many other churches, are using this great tool to communicate and connect our church community. For more information about The Table, and those who have worked so hard to bring this resource to the local church, visit tableproject.org.

August Newsletter

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:36:04 +0000

God has graciously given TCC many outside supporters who pray and give to this church. One of the ways we keep them updated on what is going on at TCC is through a quarterly newsletter called Between Two Cities. You can take a look at the latest edition here.

If you are interested in supporting TCC, please pray for the requests listed in the newsletter. You can also find information on donating at www.trinitycitychurch.org/give.

Garrison Keillor on Saint Paul

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:06:23 +0000

Garrison Keillor, author and host of Prairie Home Companion, was asked to talk about Saint Paul for ABC News when our city hosted the Republican National Convention. He gives a good and creative description of our city. My favorite quote: "The thing that keeps Saint Paul, Saint Paul, I think is winter, which is not that cold here. But we have a reputation for cold, which keeps away slackers and Texans ..." Here is the entire video. Enjoy.

Has tale of Twin Cities become one?

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:00:12 +0000

The Star Tribune recently published a good article titled "Has tale of Twin Cities become one?" by Jeff Strickler. Here is the main point of the article:

Longtime arch rivals with distinct personalities, the Twin Cities are now showing signs that the walls dividing them are crumbling and that, as residents, we are increasingly seeing ourselves the way the rest of the world sees us: not as two individual cities but as a single metropolitan area.

Minnesota is Hip

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Fri, 13 May 2011 17:52:12 +0000

Buzzfeed.com is calling Minnesota the most hipster state in the union. (a hipster, according to the article, is "has been applied to both 'elitists' and 'poseurs,' those who strive to follow the latest fashion trends and those who buck trends in favor of unique eccentricity"). Yes - even hipper than New York and Oregon. Why are we so hip? Here are six reasons:

The Lumberjack Look
Live Theatre
Food Co-Ops and Farmers' Markets
Local Music (Bob Dylan, Prince, Soul Asylum, Husker Du, Atmosphere).
Bike Obession
Juno

The article concludes: "A hipster is just a Brooklynite who wishes they were from Minnesota because it's 'more real,' while genuine Minnesotans are exempt from the label."

Old, Diverse and Non-Traditional

bryan@trinitycitychurch.org (Bryan Lair) — Fri, 13 May 2011 17:34:05 +0000

Here are some interesting stats from a Pioneer Press article called "Minnesotans: Our hair is gayer, our skin darker, our homes fuller," by MaryJo Webster. Here are some quotes:

Minnesota and Wisconsin's populations are getting older, becoming more diverse and moving away from the traditional family structure - all trends that started decades ago. New census data also show effects from the housing crisis and recession, including an increase in young people living with their parents, an increase in people "doubling up" with other families and a decline in the home ownership rate for the first time in two decades ...

- The percentage of households made up of families with children has declined from a decade ago, from 33 percent to 30 percent in Minnesota and from 32 percent to 28 percent in Wisconsin. That's because more baby boomers are becoming empty nesters and young people are waiting longer to start families.

- Family households continue to move away from the traditional structure headed by a married couple, with increasing numbers of single-parent households. This is especially true in St. Paul, where 28 percent of the family households are headed by a single female and 9 percent are headed by a single male ...

- In the past decade in Minnesota, there was a 43 percent increase in the number of people living with partners to whom they are not married. Despite this increase, this group remains a relatively small proportion of the state's population, about 5 percent. The increase was similar in Wisconsin.