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Trinity Episcopal Church * About Us * Christian Education * Day School * History * Liturgy, Mission, & Music * * Mission * Outreach * Parish Life*
Trinity Church began over one hundred and ninety years ago as a small "chapel of ease" for local farmers and residents of Long Green Valley in Baltimore County, Maryland. Our current membership continues to draw largely from a ten mile radius. While many of our members have been part of Trinity for more than fifteen years, new people find a church home at Trinity every year. We take pride in our Sunday worship, our adult and children's choirs, our fellowship and our outreach. Visitors and new members often comment as to the welcome they have felt. We care deeply about one another and believe that a wide variety of people will find Trinity to be a safe and inclusive church.
Special programs help the children explore their faith outside Sunday School.
Adult Christian Education takes place outside the Sunday morning time with special fall and Lent programs. Recent programs have included: The Gospel According to Mark; The "I Am" sayings of Jesus; Christianity and the Jews; and War and Peace in the Christian Tradition. Trinity Church Day School, established in 1952, is an extension of the educational, pastoral, and missionary ministries of Trinity Episcopal Church. The School is open to all children regardless of race, creed, or national origin. We strive to help children discover, develop, and grow in all ways, including their relationship to God and God's world. The school has a staff of about 16, an average enrollment of approximately 90 children, and serves children two years of age through kindergarten. Trinity Church Day School holds a certificate of approval from the Maryland State Department of Education and belongs to the Mid-Atlantic and National Episcopal Schools Associations. It also offers before and after school care, licensed by the Maryland Child Care Administration. The Day School is self-supporting and contributes to the church's annual budget. In November 2009, we completed a building expansion that added four classrooms and a multi-purpose room to the Day School's facilities. The charming white-stucco, Norman-style church along Manor Road-seemingly timeless and unchanging- actually has a long and interesting history and a rich tradition befitting an institution rapidly approaching its bicentennial.
For nearly a half-century Trinity was linked to St. James in Monkton, sharing a rector and being otherwise subordinate to the Monkton church which antedated it by some seventy years. Though Trinity petitioned for full autonomy in 1860, it was not recognized as an independent church until 1862, and only severed its last links with St. James in 1866.
Sundays begin at 8:00 a.m. with a spoken service for the early risers. Our main service starts at 10:00 a.m., with music playing an essential part. The Sunday School children join this service just before the Great Thanksgiving, as we share God's peace. Holy Eucharist, Rite II is normally used at both services. Most parishioners attend the 10:00 a.m. service, and join in fellowship in the parish hall afterwards. During Lent, additional mid-week services are held. Our special Christmas Eve services include a family service with a children's pageant, and a late evening service followed by a reception in the parish hall.
Our choir is a dynamic and indispensable part of our services at Trinity. We are fortunate to have a talented choirmaster, Edward McGee, who is also a very accomplished and gifted organist. Under his direction, the all-volunteer choir rehearses weekly and leads worship mid-September through Trinity Sunday. The last two years have seen the revival of a children's choir. Their gifts enhance our worship on feast days and Family Sundays throughout the year. Through the generosity of individual contributors, an Ahlborn-Galanti organ was purchased and installed in the church in September 2004 as a memorial to a longtime member and in celebration of Trinity's 185th anniversary. To unite ourselves in Christ's way by ministering to the spiritual and human needs of all people. In support of this statement, we set forth the following goals: (1) We will create a church climate that fosters acceptance of all people. (2) We will provide Christian education and other opportunities for fellowship and community service. (3) We will strive for worship services that nurture, uplift, and strengthen us to carry out our daily lives. (4) We will minister to those in need or any kind of trouble. (5) We will seek ways to improve communication and the open exchange of information among our members and the surrounding community. Outreach has long been important to the people of Trinity Church. We continue to work to strengthen and expand our ability to help those in need. Currently, there are two primary recipients of Trinity's time, talent and treasure.
As part of our global outreach, individuals and groups support children through Compassion International. This organization helps assure basic necessities and religious education for 700,000 poor children all over the world. Compassion's economic development projects help the families of these children rise out of poverty. Over the years, our dedicated Compassion representative has helped our Sunday school children, our Men's Breakfast Group members, and many of our members to sponsor twenty five children in twelve countries. In addition to providing financial aid, our members correspond with their sponsored children and some have been to visit with them in their home countries. We are blessed to be connected to the needs of our global village through this project. Other outreach efforts include seasonal donations of food, toys, and clothing to agency-identified families in need, and the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund. Over the last several years, the special Lenten offering of the church and Day School have purchased mosquito nets, goats, and playground equipment that doubles as water pumps through ER-D. In 2012, we will collect "Nickels for Nurses" to provide school nurses for Haiti.
Other fellowship opportunities include Sunday morning Coffee Hour after the 10:00 a.m. service, the monthly Men's Breakfast Group, Tuesday at Trinity, Lenten Soup Suppers, and gatherings at nearby Boordy Vineyards. Movie nights, held once a month from September through April, provide free family entertainment for church and Day School families and their friends. Tuesday at Trinity is a dedicated women's group who meet weekly for lunch and fellowship. They craft items for fundraising sales, knit prayer shawls and sew quilts for the less fortunate and homeless in our community. TAT has been in existence for over 60 years. Our Pastoral Care Team provides an extremely strong and essential part of our parish life. This ministry involves concerned and compassionate parishioners reaching out to others in times of sorrow, need, and celebration. | ||
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