WHAT IS TRINITY COMMONS?

It is the biggest leap of faith yet for the parish, in its decades of commitment to and ministry in the Tree Street neighborhood of Lewiston.

During the closures of the pandemic, the congregation began to wonder how to assure the viability of its building and to continue and expand its mission as “A doorway to compassion and courage.” At the same time, The Jubilee Center, located in our lower level, was outgrowing the space, and decided to build a larger facility nearby that would be better suited to their services.The following plan is the resulting evolving collaboration between Trinity Church and our community.

Through a discernment process, that involved both parish members and local people and organizations, we committed to create Trinity Commons as a “third space” in and for the neighborhood as a much needed contribution to the local social infrastructure. The parish will still be able to worship there, as well as other small congregations that need a space. Income from outside use will provide income towards ongoing maintenance and management of the facility, assuring the long-term viability of the building as a valued city resource.

We are re-visioning ourselves as providing a welcoming, accessible, affordable, public community space that is multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-racial, in order to nurture community life especially through a focus on the arts. Two goals emerged:

Renovate the building, beginning with the upper level, in order to begin using the space creatively in new, flexible ways. Our beautiful 150 year old building is very dated, limiting its use. An architectural design is being created to bring the entire building up to code and expand it to meet future needs of all partners. As an initial step, pews and old carpets have been removed, and the floor refinished with the addition of a labyrinth. A fundraising campaign is in progress for some simple upgrades, and to purchase new movable, comfortable, beautiful, stackable seating that is sustainably and domestically made. Phase two will add more storage, expand bathrooms and upgrade ventilation, heat and cooling, and audio/visional/digital capacity. [FMI on the Labyrinth click HERE.]
Connect more deeply with the neighborhood to seek out the gifts that lie dormant in our midst, find ways to maximize their potential for the good of all, and to bring people together over common needs and dreams. Our hope is to become a sort of incubator or lab that can experiment with simple, creative ideasand local solutions to dreams or needs by harnessing and inspiring individual talents and will-power, with perhaps a tiny bit of seed money. We will begin with “Roving Listener” and “Free Listening” projects. The vision is inspired by the book Having Nothing, Possessing Everything, by Michael Mather and the Urban Confessional Movement. The start up is being supported by grants from the National Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Maine.

Building upon the decades of deep roots in and commitment to the neighborhood of downtown Lewiston by both the church and the Jubilee Center, Trinity Commons will continue not only to provide Episcopal worship and meet basic human needs, but will also be able to nurture creative, aesthetic, and spiritual needs more broadly, while maintaining the history and beauty of the building and ensuring its long-term sustainability.

“A doorway to compassion, courage and creativity.”

Imagine the events, programs and meetings that could happen here… concerts, theater or dance performances, film showings, music lessons, rehearsals, drum and singing circles, concerts, poetry readings, various church services, weddings, conferences, social events, warming center, artist residencies, multicultural gatherings… Energy and interest are building with local organizations already requesting use of the upper level in the summer of 2023.