That dream of meeting people where they are, extends to their use of the two properties next to the church building. One is an old house that has been slowly and fully refurbished over the last eight to nine years thanks to volunteers’ time and skills. Saint Trinity also has a large, old school building. While the school closed in the 1970s, it remained in use over the decades as the church’s offices and as a food pantry on the lower floor. The large building, complete with an upstairs wooden floor gymnasium, has found another purpose during COVID-19. The large, previously unused spaces allows for people to gather for certain activities while remaining socially distant.

One great example of this is hosting virtual learning for high school students. Lewis explains, “We call it ‘remote learning doesn’t have to be lonely learning’.” They host students on Tuesdays from 7:15 a.m. until 3 p.m. with between two to eight students representing seven different schools. “These are all kids who have a relationship with our ministry. Some are technically members and some are active here and not necessarily members, but we consider them part of our church family,” says Lewis, “By the end of the summer we were just kind of aware of the mental health of everybody, Everybody was just struggling. And, we just felt that we had this blessing here with this big, empty building.” Response has been very positive and several other groups have contacted Saint Trinity about using their building, such as volleyball and basketball groups and a Girl Scout troop.

“Our ultimate goal is to use the space like a community center,” Lewis comments, “That’s our dream for this building, so that it would be a safe hub for our community where the light is shined and gives us an opportunity to have rich relationships that point to Jesus.”