Trinity Lutheran Church

A Brief History of Trinity Lutheran Church

In 1956, forty-three Bethlehem Lutheran Church members decided to start a mission church in the West End of Richmond, VA. The first service was held on October 7 of that year at the Ridge School auditorium. Fifty-eight people attended the first worship service, with the first offering being $70.41. Twenty-one people were in Bible class and another twenty-one children and five teachers were in Sunday School. The church had a choir and Sunday School from the start. Choir practice, voters’ meetings, and committee meetings were held in members’ homes.

In June of 1957, the first Vacation Bible School (VBS) was held under a tent at 2503 Thompson Lane, the Crown’s property, with sixty attendees. The VBS closing was at the following Sunday service and was attended by 104 people (a record). That same year, the Ladies’ Guild was formed, and the first building committee was formed.  In November, the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League accepted Trinity as a major mission project and provided a $2,500.00 grant.

From 1958-1960, plans were drawn and construction was begun on the original structure (over 13,000 square feet) which included the current sanctuary and Sunday School/Preschool/Fellowship Hall wing. The building cost $159,568.00. The congregation underwrote a loan for $95,000.00 from State Planters Bank through George Nolde. Trinity members underwrote the entire loan with personally signed quantity notes. During its first three years, Trinity’s membership jumped from 43 to 127. 

Trinity’s youth group, called Trinity Teens, was formed in 1959; and in 1960, Trinity’s first kindergarten session began with thirteen students.  Trinity’s VBS in the early 1960’s was attended by over one hundred children, most of whom were not church members.  Also in 1960, a parsonage at 1404 Blue Jay Lane was purchased.

In 1961, Trinity dedicated its first pipe organ, given by Dr. Ernest Hermann. By 1962, Trinity began holding two worship services. The Special Needs Sunday School class began in 1972. In 1978, the mortgage notes for the original building were burned.

In the 1980’s, Trinity celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary (1982) and had a communicant membership of 430. It also constructed its second wing (10,250 square feet and eighty additional sanctuary seats) at a cost of $750,000.00 (1985-1986). In the mid-1980’s, Trinity also passed on the opportunity to purchase land which is currently the site of the office complex just south of the church.

In the 1990’s, Trinity celebrated its thirty-fifth anniversary with 640 confirmed members (1992) and its fortieth anniversary with 1,000 baptized members (1997). It also dedicated a new organ (1994), added a third worship service, began sending mission groups to Guatemala (1995), and started the Trinity Lutheran Church Preschool (1995). In 1999 Trinity committed to serving the people in the community where it began rather than relocating the congregation to Pump Road.

Since 2000, Trinity initiated a contemporary-styled worship service (2001), celebrated its forty-fifth and fiftieth anniversaries, hosted several “Riches in Richmond” youth servant events, and planned and completed its third building addition.