Our Church
Our Mission
Our mission is to be a Place of Grace, with a Call for All, to Continue the work of Jesus. Come find out what that means to us, and how you can help us to continue in that mission.
A Place of Grace
As Lutherans we whole heartedly echo the words of Paul in Ephesians 2:8 - 10, “For by Grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life: (NRSV). We affirm that Grace is what saves us and all people, in the broadest, fullest and deepest sense of what it means to be “saved.” In affirming that this is a “Place” of Grace, we are affirming that Grace is not just an idea or a teaching, but the very real and tangible power of God that changes and transforms lives. We affirm that Grace cannot be separated from Jesus the Christ who was and is, “full of Grace and Truth” (John 1:14). We envision Trinity Lutheran Church as a place where people will constantly encounter and experience God’s Grace when the people of Trinity gather for worship, for learning, for planning and for service. And our aim is that people will hear and experience God’s Grace in the preaching, the praying and especially in the gracious and welcoming people of this place we know as Trinity Lutheran Church.
With a Call for All
We envision all the people of God as being “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). God’s gracious gift of salvation is at one and the same time, a call to employ that gift in witness and loving service to all. The people of God at Trinity Lutheran Church are not to be divided up between a few who minister and many who consume ministry. All are “Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which god prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10). The goal of Trinity Lutheran Church is to help God’s people claim their calling into the ministry of Jesus Christ and equip them to carry out that ministry in all areas of their lives. We will strive to equip God’s people for ministry through discernment, learning, training, support and encouragement so that all can render the service to which they are called by God.
To continue the work of Jesus Christ.
We confess that the “call for all” is a call that ultimately comes from God and as such, is a very unique call. It is not just a call to maintain hallowed traditions, to attract new members or build the institution. We believe that we are called, very specifically, to continue the work of God in and by Jesus Christ the Messiah for the sake of the world. Early in His ministry, Jesus drew on the words of the Prophet Isaiah to sum up his calling when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). We believe that the ultimate authority and guide for us as individuals and a gathered people is not a list of rules and regulations, not a set of traditions, not an appointed leader and not even the will of the congregation expressed through a vote. The ultimate authority for how we order our lives as the people of God is the life, the words, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, in seeking to know what we must do, we will first and foremost, strive to know Jesus through diligent reading and study of the life of Jesus as told in the Gospels, foretold in the Old Testament writings, and applied to the life of the Church in the letters of the Apostles. Our life and ministry will grow out of an informed relationship with Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us to love, invite, welcome, forgive, heal, feed and give ourselves for the sake of all for whom Christ died.
Our Beliefs
We come together in common belief, and it is these beliefs that our ministry is based on.
We are a part of the one, holy and catholic church and a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Therefore, we confess the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior and that the Gospel is the power of God for Salvation to all who believe.
We confess that Jesus Christ is the Word of God that became flesh and lived among us, full of Grace and Truth (John 1:14). Jesus is the living word through whom everything was made and through whose death and resurrection God fashions a new creation.
We regard the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of our proclamation, faith and life. These Scriptures record and announce God’s revelation centered in Jesus Christ. Through them, God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain saving Faith, Hope and Love.
We accept the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed as true declarations of the faith of this congregation. We also accept the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel as well as the other confessional writings contained in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the formula of Concord.
We believe, teach and confess that the words of Jesus recorded in the twentieth chapter of John, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” are addressed to us just as surely as they were addressed to the followers of Jesus in his day. We believe that we are compelled by this Gospel to go forth and confess this Gospel for the sake of the people of the world for whom Christ died and rose again.
Our History
Starting in 1867, Trinity has been on a journey. Check out where we have been, and learn about where Christ is leading us.
In the beginning, Trinity Lutheran Church was considered an immigrant church. The grandfather of aviator Amelia Earhart, the Rev. David Earhart, tended the small flock before it even had a shepherd. The founders met around a table in the kitchen of J. G. and Martha Schmuker, whose stone house was on Rhode Island Street. He was a miller. The early believers went without new clothing in order to contribute mightily to a house of worship of their own, but before they could build a church, they met at Miler's Hall on Massachusetts Street south of the Eldridge Hotel.
The band of nineteen was organized on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1867, as the English Lutheran Church by a missionary who had returned from Africa, the Rev. Morris Officer. More than likely, they included the word "English" in the name of their church to distinguish themselves from another local church where German was used in the services. In the first decade of the 1900s, they changed their name to First Evangelical Lutheran church, but in 1910, they settled on Trinity Lutheran Church.
Resourceful, the early congregation engaged the services of John G. Haskell, an architect who is known for his work on the State Capitol in Topeka. Stone was quarried from the grounds of the University of Kansas, chartered in 1865, just two years prior to the establishment of the little church. Dr. Levi Sternberg gave the first sermon in that stone church in 1871.
Before long, the little stone church near the intersection of 11th and New Hampshire did not have enough room for all the worshipers and the children of the Sunday School, and a larger church was built in 1928. The congregation made the famous, cherished walk from the stone church to the brick church on September 16, 1928. Then, Trinity became known as "the churchly church." By 1930, WREN carried the services over the air; today, services are broadcast on KLWN. by the end of World War II, the little band of believers had grown to more than a thousand.
The first ordinand from Trinity was the Rev. Dr. Lloyd Eldon Sheneman who completed seminary in 1953; the second was the Rev. Richard I. Preis.
A distinctive feature of the house of worship today is a number of carvings from Oberammergau, Germany. The first carvings were of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Other carvings include the "Flight into Egypt" and two depictions of the Lord's Supper. During Advent and Christmas, a wooden creche with the Biblical figures on the Nativity becomes part of the worship setting.
There are five stained glass windows from the Von Gerichten firm, which was based in Ohio with offices in Munich. These windows include the Good Shepherd, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. The organ is a Reuter.
New Hampshire Street was closed between 12th and 13th Streets in order to allow for an addition completed in 1992. This space allows for a chapel, a large multi-purpose room with a kitchen, classrooms, and offices. In the main church, the communion rail was altered in 2003-2004.