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Rev. Rob Bruendl was appointed as Pastor of
Trinity United Methodist Church effective July 1, 2010.

Originally from Flint Township, Michigan, Rev. Rob married his high school sweetheart, Claudia Darby in 1979.  He has an associates degree in computer applications and industrial electronics.










               Rev. Rob Bruendl

In Michigan, Rev. Rob was a member of Flushing UMC.  In 1992, Rev. Rob and Claudia moved to Utah where he worked in sales and marketing as well as Management in industrial and commercial electrical sales.

Rev. Rob got his call to Ministry in 2007.  At that time he went through local pastor licensing school, and acted as Lay Pastor to Johnson Memorial UMC in Delores, Colorado.  He received his license in late 2007, and was appointed as Pastor to JMUMC.

Rev. Rob is very active and enjoys distance running, mountain biking, flat water kayaking, hiking, swimming, scuba diving, cooking & eating and reading.



In July, 2012 we welcomed Rev. Sione Tukutau as
the new District Superintendent of the Utah/Western
Colorado District of the Rocky Mountain Conference.

Rev. Tukutau comes to the cabinet from First United
Methodist Church of Rock Springs, Wyoming, where
he earned the Denman Award for Evangelism in 2009, after leading a fresh surge of church outreach and growth. Sione is an Iliff alumnus.

He and his wife, Olympia, were born and raised in the Pacific island Kingdom of Tonga. They have two sons, Epeli, who attends the University of Wyoming, and Havea, who is in Middle School.

Sione brings to the cabinet his infectious faith, collegial spirit and facility with bridging cultures in the family of God.











       Rev. Sione Tukutau,
     District Superintendent



In 1955, residents in Kearns began worshipping at Kearns Community Hall and in November of that year Community Methodist Church was formed and a part-time minister was appointed.  In April 1957, the church was incorporated as Trinity United Methodist Church of Kearns and ground was broken for a new building.  There were 110 members.

During the early part of the 1970's, Trinity became self-supporting, including a full-time minister.  Also during this decade a fellowship hall, kitchen, offices and a library were added to the building.

1978 saw the addition of our Tongan membes and friends, as they began afternoon services each Sunday.  Since then, a Tongan Speaking Worship service has been added on Wednesday evenings as well.  The Tongan Choir still performs at the 11:00 a.m. Traditional service on the first Sunday of each month.

In the 1990's, Trinity continued to grow more than just in membership.  Trinity has become home to many groups in the community, including Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous to name a few.

Trinity's members contribute time and energy to a number of organizations within the church such as Choirs, United Methodist Men, Church Council, Education Work Area, Missions, Christian Caregiving and so many more.  There always seem to be people willing to give of themselves.

Today, with 270 members, Trinity reflects the global nature of the greater Kearns area.  With members from all corners of the globe we are rich in cultural diversity.  Trinity is truly a church for the community as we reach out to those in need.

Throughout the history of our church, the connectional system of the United Methodist Church has always provided support.  This congregation is a part of the Utah/Western Colorado District in the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Methodist Church.


What We Believe

United Methodists share a common heritage with all Christians.  According to our foundational statement of beliefs in The Book of Discipline, we share the following basic affirmations in common with all Christian communities:

     *    We hold in common with all Christians a faith in the mystery of salvation in and through Jesus Christ.
Because God truly loves us in spite of our willful sin, God judges us, summons us to repentance, pardons us, receives us by that grace 
given to us in Jesus Christ, and gives us hope of life eternal.
     *We share the Christian belief that God's redemptive love is 
realized in human life by activity of the Holy Spirit, both in 
personal experience and in the community of believers.
Through faith in Jesus Christ we are forgiven, reconciled to God,
and transformed as people of the new covenant.
     *We understand ourselves to be part of Christ's universal church 
when by adoration, proclamation, and service we become 
conformed to Christ.
We pray and work for the coming of God's realm and reign to the 
world and rejoice in the promise of everlasting life that overcomes 
death and the forces of evil.
     *With other Christians we recognize that the reign of God is both a 
present and future reality.
This expectation saves us from resignation and motivates our 
continuing witness and service.
     *We share with many Christian communions a recognition of the 
authority of Scripture in matters of faith, the confession that our 
justification as sinners is by grace through faith, and the sober 
realization that the church is in need of continual reformation and 
renewal.
We affirm the general ministry of all baptized Christians who share 
responsibility for building up the church and reaching out in the 
mission and service to the world.

John Wesley and the early Methodists placed primary emphasis on Christian living, on putting faith and love into action.  This emphasis on what Wesley referred to as "practical divinity" has continued to be a hallmark of United Methodism today.

The United Methodist Church is an 11-million strong global church that opens hearts, opens doors and opens minds through active engagement with our world.

History

The United Methodist Church was formed in 1968 with the union of The Methodist Church and the former Evangelical United Brethren Church.

The Methodist movement began in England in the early 1700's, under Anglican minister John Wesley and his followers.  Wesley and his brother Charles, brought the movement to the colony of Georgia, arriving in March 1736 as Church of England missionaries.  The U.S. Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1784.  The denomination grew rapidly and was known for its circuit rider ministers on the advancing frontiers.  A split in 1828 formed the Methodist Protestant Church, and in 1844, over the issue of slavery, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.  The North and South factions reunited in 1939 (as The Methodist Church), but retained racial segregation.  That separation ended in 1968 with the merger of the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren Churches.
     John Wesley

The Evangelical United Brethren Church, established in 1946, resulted from the union of two U.S.-born denominations: the Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.  These two churches originated among German-speaking people during the great spiritual awakening in the late 18th century.

Structure

The United Methodist Church's legislative branch is its General Conference; Judicial Council is its supreme court.  The United Methodist Church has no single general officer or executive, although the Council of Bishops elects a president each year.  General agencies are primarily accountable to the General Conference rather than to the Council of Bishops.  Boards of directors, who are lay and clergy elected jointly by General Conference and regional organizations, govern their staffs.

Each church in the United States and Puerto Rico is part of a district, an administrative and program grouping of 40-80 churches with a full-time superintendent.  Districts are grouped into annual conferences, regional bodies that meet yearly for legislative purposes.  Annual conferences approve programming and budget, elect delegates to General and Jurisdicitional conferences, and examine and recommend candidates for ministry.  Five geographic jurisdictions (divisions) in the United States include 8-13 annual conferences each.  Jursidictional conferences meet simultaneously every four years to elect and assign bishops and some members of general church agencies, and, in some cases, to develop jurisdictional programs.  Each local church is governed by a charge conference with an administrative board as the year-round supervisor.  A council on ministries coordinates the program of the congregation.  In smaller churches, the board and the council are combined.

Polity

No person or organization except the General Conference, which convenes every four years, has authority to speak officially for the denomination.  General Conference, the denomination's top policy-making body, has a maximum of 1,000 delegates, half clergy, half lay, from around the world.  The conference revises church law and the Social Principles (related to a wide range of social and economic concerns) and adopts resolutions on various current moral, social, public policy and economic issues.  It also approves plans and budgets for churchwide programs for the next four years.

Bishops

The United Methodist Church has 50 active bishops in the United States and 18 active bishops in Angola, Germany, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. 

Bishops are elected every four years and serve until retirement.  Each bishop supervises a specific geographical area of the church and annually appoints   all ordained ministers in that area. 

The Council of Bishops supervises and promotes the temporal and spiritual interests of the entire church.










   Bishop Elaine
 J.W. Stanovsky
  

Current bishops include 11 African-American men, three African-American women, two Hispanic-American men, one Asian-American man, 24 Euro-American men and eight Euro-American women.

Ecumenical Relationships

The United Methodist Church is a member of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America and of the World Council of Churches.  It also participates in Churches Uniting in Christ (formerly the Consultation on Church Union), where nine U.S. denominations are discussing steps to greater union.  Combined membership of CUIC churches is about 20 million in 82,000 congregations.

The United Methodist Church and three historically black Methodist denominations (the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches) have been exploring union since 1985.  All four churches share a common heritage in the Methodist movement, and have a combined membership of 12 million.

The 36-member Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Union continues negotiations related to the meaning of union in the context of the four churches. 

U.S. Data

     8,341,375 members
35,469 local congregations
26,236 pastoral charges
64 annual conferences
50 bishops/episcopal areas
5 jurisdictions

Data from Outside the United States

     1,512,704 membes
7,995 organized churches
55 conferences
18 bishops/episcopal areas in Angola, Germany, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Norway, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe

Mission

     The United Methodist Church is in mission in more than 100 countries.
1,329 mission personnel supported by the Board of Global Ministries
103,000 United Methodist Volunteers in Mission

Education

     8 two-year colleges
82 four-year colleges
10 universities
13 theological schools
1 professional school
10 precollegiate schools

 
     
 
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