2020 Annual Report

CO-PASTORS’ LETTERS

Pastor for Congregational Life

Hello friends,

Now that it’s 2021, we reflect soberly on the unusual year that was 2020. There was a convergence of crises that affected us all last year.

Most notably is the on-going pandemic caused by COVID-19. Many of us have lost loved ones, work, and time due to this crisis. Our world continues to face an extreme climate crisis. Last year was effectively tied for the hottest year ever recorded, which affects many things including our air quality, food supply, and many vulnerable populations (elderly, unsheltered, working class, children, etc.). Some of our sojourners whom we call friends have been affected.

A financial crisis laid bare the disparities between people with and without means to survive a recession. Without intervention, several systems failed to support society when it needed help most. There was a reckoning on racial justice in response to the deaths of many including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Across the globe we saw how one after another we collectively said, “enough”. Trenton has spoken up against gun violence and for police reform. Any one of these crises tests our faith, strength, and character to its limit.

Although these crises came together last year, none of them started last year. With this in mind we realize how our actions today affect those around us many years into the future. It is an understanding that we don’t live simply for ourselves nor just for today. As followers of Christ we place our trust in God as we navigate a path forward as a congregation. Our mission and ministry have to be focused on serving God’s people first and foremost.

First Presbyterian Church of Trenton has a place in history dating back to the 1700s. As we continue to add to that history, may we do so with the conviction that God’s grace depends on neither our success nor our failure. With intersecting crises and a congregation in transition, grace is what we all need more than ever. May God “grant us wisdom and courage for the facing of this hour.” May we have grace with ourselves and others. I look forward to serving in this new year with you.

In Christ,

Rev. Marcus C. Lambright

Pastor for Ministry Resources

Dear members and friends of FPCT,

It has been a privilege to serve you in 2020. I note below highlights of our activities and my work on the congregation's behalf in the year past.

In this new year, my work is focused on the future of the property. I look forward to supporting the congregation as it grapples with its large property footprint and its challenges.

Our work must be toward investing in the future of our city and those who live, work and visit here - an investment in our neighbors, an investment in the future. God has given the congregation of First Trenton great resources and a great heart, and is calling the congregation to act boldly.

The story of the multiplication of the loaves (John 6 and elsewhere) has been interpreted as a miracle in which, when one person was moved to share generously, God’s Spirit moved others so to give, to the end of overflowing abundance. It is my belief that First Trenton is called by God, out of its abundance, to begin such a chain reaction, to the benefit of our downtown neighborhood and greater community, out of our gratitude to God for all God’s gifts. May First Trenton be the boy who brought his two loaves and five fish to the Teacher, who took and made of them fullness and joy--for the boy himself, and for many, many more.

Respectfully submitted,

The Rev. Molly Dykstra