About this Guide

We developed this digital guide to introduce you to our church community. If you are new to Trinity Grace, we encourage you to explore this introductory guide to get to know our heart as a church family.

Last updated: April 1, 2022.

Introduction

Hello there. Welcome to Trinity Grace Church! We are genuinely glad you are here. Thanks for taking the first step and taking time to get to know us.

We want you to know that wherever you have come from or whatever your initial reason is for joining us, you are most welcome.

Something incredible happened when you walked through the door. We believe that every single person in the world bears the image of God and is a unique expression of that image. So just by being yourself, you give the world a chance to see a little more of the image of God. That means our church can see aspects of who God is through your life. We also believe that God is present among us, so you will have a chance to get to know God more while you are here. Those are two profound opportunities.

We really look forward to getting to know you! And to help you get to know us, we would like to share some of what is most important to us. That centers around three of our most important pursuits as a church:

Presence
to be with God

Formation
to become like Jesus

Love
to live by the Spirit

Thanks for joining us and letting us share our heart.

part 1: presence

The best thing you will get from this church is God. We really believe God is full of love for you.

We believe that you can experience God’s love and presence well before you can understand it and even before you might know to call it God. We gather as a community to seek, be in, and celebrate the presence of God.

Our church is called Trinity Grace because we believe God is unlike any other being in the universe and somehow contains an astonishing community of love.

In God’s very nature is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe this triune God can be known and that you can enjoy a deep a meaningful relationship with this God now and always. We believe this God loves to show up in gracious love.

Everything we do as a church we want to do it with the presence of God at the center of our life and practice. It is in God’s presence that we change and grow and live.

Anyone of us might experience God’s presence on our own (many often do) but as our God is relational in very nature, we find great significance in seeking God’s presence as a community.

We like to say, the Kingdom of God moves along relational lines. If you love God’s presence, or if you are merely curious, or even downright skeptical, we want you to know that you are welcome to seek God with our church.

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part 2: formation

All of us are being formed in our inner being. Spiritual formation happens to everyone not just those who claim faith or religious belief.

Through Jesus we can become family with God.  We go from mere image bearers (as wonderful as that is) to dear friends. Jesus invites his friends to follow him, to live a full life in his Kingdom, and that involves a process of formation.

In the person of Jesus, we see God alive as a human being. Jesus teaches and demonstrates what the Kingdom of God is like, but more than that, Jesus invites us in. As the culmination of centuries of promise, Jesus lived, died, and rose from the grave to offer us life and life to the full in relationship with this triune God.

In deep and rich relationship with God and others, we can be formed to live in the way of Jesus. Sustained life change rarely happens though a single effort of the will even if great desire to change is present.

We can certainly be changed by life altering events or experiences, but most often our positive changes must be supported by new habits of thought and behavior. Through Jesus in the Scriptures and his followers over the centuries (i.e., the church), we have learned regular practices of grace that connect us with God and our neighbor to shape our lives and character.

At Trinity Grace Church, we are seeking to live and invite others to live in the way of Jesus. This is our formation and each aspect is led by God’s grace. We don’t do this alone. We have one another and most importantly we have the Holy Spirit who fills our lives and empowers belief and action in this way of Jesus.

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part 3: love

God is love. In God’s very nature is loving relationship. Flowing from this reality we  believe the best and most full life is a life of love, with God and with others.

Jesus summed this up by saying: the most important things are to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.

As relational beings, we believe a life rooted only in the self and its concerns is too small and unsatisfying. It falls short of our created purpose and never seems to be enough.

We believe that as we come to know God, through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are being invited into a life of love. We get to love in large and small, seen and unseen ways all the time. If the Kingdom of God grows along relational lines, then it must be sustained by love.

Love is more than just kind or affectionate feelings. It can transcend mere agreement. Love seeks the very best for the other. It is the decision to trust God and bring God’s way into our relationships. It is something we can participate in by grace each day.

We seek to love God, our neighbor, our city, our world, even our enemy, in Jesus’ name. We begin in prayer and care, but our love must also find expression in our actions personally and as a community. In this way, we get to join God in the renewal of all things.

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Now what?

You probably have more questions and that’s understable. You may want to check out an upcoming offering of Intro to Trinity Grace, a short info session that gets into more details about our story as a church, what we believe, and how we live that out.

You are also free just to hang out. You will learn a lot about who we are from the people here. We worship together each week and we gather in small groups all over Brooklyn (and sometimes online).

We cannot recommend highly enough that you get connected to a group of people where you can know and be known. Our large gatherings on Sundays are wonderful (can we say that?) but the heartbeat of our church is living life and serving together. It is presence, formation, and love.

We are honored you would consider joining us. If you need anything or we can help you in any way please reach out to us.

Next Steps

Thanks for exploring this guide. Here are a few recommended next steps: