Trinity United Church

The AOTS (As One That Serves) Club of Trinity United

Welcome to the brotherhood of the AOTS Club of Trinity United, Botwood. The aims of this club are to promote Christian fellowship, deeper spiritual life, and an opportunity for Christian service. The Objectives are:

To help men of the church and community to grow in knowledge and love of God, and in devotion to Christ and His way of life.
To increase their knowledge of, interest in, and loyalty to the church and it’s mission.
To Encourage and provide practical assistance to youth work in the church and community.
To participate actively in the church’s efforts to strengthen Christian family life.

The Structure of the AOTS nationally:

The structure of the AOTS follows the four levels of the United Church of Canada:

The Pastoral Charge level, ie: Botwood, Bishops Falls, there is a local club.
The Presbytery (District) level there is a District Council of Clubs- AOTS and other men’s fellowship organizations.
The Conference leve there is usually a Conference AOTS Council.
The National level there is the National Association of AOTS Clubs.

The supreme authority for each club is its local Pastoral Charge Session (or church council). District, Conference, and National Councils can make suggestions or adopt guidelines only.

So when a man joins the AOTS club at Trinity United, he becomes part of a much larger organization.

While the AOTS is a UCC organization, it welcomes all men of the church and community who are in sympathy with the aims and objectives of the National Asociation of United Church AOTS Clubs.

How it all began:

The AOTS dates it’s beginnings from the fall of 1922 when Dr. Herbert W. Riggs, born in Colbourne, Ontario, but living in Vancouver , BC, a graduate of Manitoba Medical College who did post-graduate work in Edinburgh, Baltimore, Germany and Austria, travelled from Vancouver to Toronto to attend a Kiwanis convention. The ideas for the formation of what whould become the AOTS were formulated on his journey to Toronto and back. Anyone wanting to know more should read, “As One That Serves, A Short History of AOTS Clubs- Their First Half Century,” by W.Jack Banks, published in 1974 by The Natioanal Association of United Church AOTS Men’s Clubs, Division of Mission in Canada, The United Church of Canada.

“The AOTS movement is one more demonstration of the influence of the Spirit of God on the lives of men and the response men make on that influence. It is marvelous to consider the diversity of institutions and movements through which the truth and love of Jesus Christ are manifest.” Don G. Smith, in the epilogue to Banks’ history.

Back to the local:

The AOTS Executive meets at Trinity the second Tuesday of each month at 10:00am, and the whole club holds a dinner meeting, catered by the Trinity’s UCW, on the fourth Monday of each month at 7:00pm, with devotions, entertainment, or sometimes a speaker (from other churches or for educational purposes from community organizations).

Trinity AOTS Executive 2010