Hi <<First Name>>, welcome to the Trellis Foundation story & prayer email list!
Like a trellis helps a grapevine get off the ground and grow, Trellis Foundation exists to be a catalyst of biblical, intentional and innovative discipleship among Canadian Covenant churches and camps. In the last two years, over $120,000 has been granted to discipleship endeavours throughout the ECCC.
In the coming months we’ll be sharing stories of several inspiring discipleship initiatives funded in part through grants from Trellis – like the short story below from Kensington Commons Church. Projects ranging from an innovative relational process for engaging in spiritual disciplines, the cultivation of a marriage-mentoring movement, or one youth group’s mission trip to Alaska to serve alongside and deepen friendship which began at CHIC 2015. (See the full list of grant recipients.)
 Trellis Foundation is supporting growth in God’s kingdom in amazingly fruitful ways, extending the legacy of Covenant Bible College. Leveraging funds from the sale of CBC properties after its closure in 2007, Trellis is helping Canadians today to be mastered by the Word of God, shaped by the love of God, and be partners in the work of God.
May we ask you to do four things right now?
1. Give thanks to God for the Canadian Covenant churches’ creative partnership in the gospel, for the assistance provided by Trellis Foundation in the last two years, and for the 66 years of discipleship through CBI/CBC from 1941-2007.
2. Ask God to do his good kingdom work in the discipleship initiatives currently in progress, and to guide those who are writing applications for new grants this fall. (Yes, the November 1 deadline is just under 6 weeks away – is there a disciple-deepening initiative brewing in your context that might benefit from a Trellis grant? Get the application here.)
3. Add our email address to your contacts and keep an eye out for news coming next month!
4. Consider asking people in your circles to join you in signing up for our mailing list. Send them this email!
Celebrate with us what God is doing and let Jesus spark your imagination for what he might like to do in your context. Sometimes all that is needed is getting an idea off the ground!
Find out more at trellisfoundation.ca, and like us on Facebook.
Grace and peace,
Kirsten Waldschmidt
Chair, Trellis Foundation
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Trellis Story: Kensington Commons Children’s Ministry Coordinator
In the fall of 2014, $1,500 was granted to Calgary’s Kensington Commons Church to help with the initial cost of hiring a children’s ministry coordinator. As a church plant/merger with much bigger start up numbers than anticipated and a large influx of young families, Kensington Commons needed to find new staffing solutions sooner than expected to disciple all the little ones in their midst.
Lead Pastor Jeremy Duncan says:
"We were incredibly blessed in the launch season of our new church. The merger of an existing community into the plant of a new church was fraught with potential pitfalls and yet the experience was not only smooth but filled with grace and peace on all sides. That grace has only extended out into our impact in the neighbourhood as far more people than expected have joined our community. We’re so grateful that the Trellis grant we received allowed us to keep pace with how God was moving in our community during that initial season, and it has helped us transition into a new permanent salaried role working with our growing kids programs."
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Who is Trellis Foundation?
Kirsten Waldschmidt, Chairperson, College Park Covenant Church, Saskatoon, SK
Audra Reinhardt, Treasurer & Secretary, Hope Community Covenant Church, Strathmore, AB
Shauna Jean-Jaques, Faith Covenant Church, Winnipeg, MB
Larry Peterson, Malmo Mission Covenant Church, Wetaskiwin, AB
Preston Pouteaux, Lake Ridge Community Church, Chestermere, AB
Lori Sebanc, Green Timbers Covenant Church, Surrey, BC
Jeff Anderson, Advisory Member, Faith Covenant Church, Winnipeg, MB
Julia Sandstrom, Advisory Member & Administrator, Holy Community Covenant Church, Winnipeg, MB
Stephen Waldschmidt, Campaign Manager, College Park Covenant Church, Saskatoon, SK
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[Jesus said,] “I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.
“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant."
John 15:1-5 (The Message)
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