CLARKS SUMMIT — It began as a congregation of 100 people in a hall led by a seminarian in 1926, which it quickly outgrew. Today, Trinity Lutheran Church continues to serve the needs of the community.
The church on West Grove Street is observing its 100th anniversary this year, and congregants will mark the occasion with a special service and catered lunch on Sunday.
Longtime members said this week they feel blessed the church reached the milestone.
“It’s amazing,” said Terry Bockelkamp, a member for 50 years who is also the church’s librarian. “I’m happy to be a part of it. To see it grow and to see it change through the years has been wonderful.”
Nelson Stauffer, a member for 46 years who is involved in the choir and was on the church council, has been a part of the church for almost half of its existence.
The church was founded in March 1926 and held its first service in the former Knights of Malta Hall, led by seminarian Cyrus Wallick, according to a booklet on the church’s history. Its first pastor was the Rev. Francis Allen Shearer.
The current building was constructed in 1929, and the congregation expanded it in 1960. A second addition was dedicated in 2012 and includes Sunday school classrooms, the library and the community room.
Its name was chosen as a sign of appreciation to the former Zion and Holy Trinity churches in Scranton, which merged in 1926 to become St. John’s Lutheran Church. That church gave the Clarks Summit church pews, hymnals and other supplies, and their Ladies Aid Society and Missionary Society donated a silver Communion set.
The most notable part of the church in the community, Trinity Lutheran Preschool, was formed in 1966. Today it has up to 60 children enrolled from ages 3 to 5, with two teachers and four aides.
The Rev. George J. Mathews, the church’s longtime pastor, retired in 2023, and the congregation is actively looking for a new pastor. Services are currently led by a Eucharistic minister, a layperson and other pastors.
Librarian Terry Bockelkamp pulls a book from a shelf at A Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
This photo from 1930 shows the early days of Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Stained glass adorns the library at Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
A wall of donors adorns the wall at Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Suzanna Bolig, left, Marilyn Striepeck, center, and Helen Gregosh show off a prayer quilt the woman made as part of Trinity Lutheran Church’s quilters club in Clarks Summit. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
The preschool staff gathers for a photo at Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. From left: Melinda Polen, Marcy Pentasuglio; Heather Klien, preschool director; Pamela Curry, Gena Gehris and Courtney Kocsis. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
Shown are quilts made by the quilters club at Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit. The quilts are donated to local charities and people in need. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
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Librarian Terry Bockelkamp pulls a book from a shelf at A Trinity Lutheran Church in Clarks Summit. The church is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special service Sunday. (CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
While there were, at one time, so many people attending church that additional chairs had to be added, today it has around 150 participating members. An average of 40 people attend church each Sunday.
Longtime churchgoers said they lost several members during the COVID-19 pandemic but several new families have joined recently.
“I think we’re still hanging in there, whereas many other churches are not,” Bockelkamp said.
Over the years, it has added programs to serve the community, including Meals on Wheels, which it has done for 40 years, a women’s quilting group that makes quilts for members and charitable groups, and Fun for Seniors, which includes exercise classes, arts and crafts, speakers and meals for the public free of charge.
Bockelkamp said Fun for Seniors was formed three years ago to make more people aware of the church.
In addition, the church offers Communion weekly, and a Eucharistic minister administers Communion at nursing homes. The church also has a pipe organ, and a carillon that chimes twice a day and can be heard for miles — a feature that people living around the church love, she said.
“We’ve actually had people from the community send a letter and sometimes a donation because they enjoy it so much,” Bockelkamp said.
The congregation also participates in community events like the yearly Clarks Summit Festival of Ice.
In 2019, the church changed its affiliation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to North American Lutheran Church, which Stauffer said better aligned with the church’s thinking and understanding of the Bible.
Maxine Gilligan, a member for 50 years, said the changes have been for the better and the church has become a welcoming place. Bockelkamp and Heather Klien, the church’s secretary, preschool director and director of youth ministries, are hopeful the church will continue to grow, particularly attracting more children, and get a new pastor.
Sunday’s celebration will include a special traditional Eucharist service at 10 a.m. led by Daniel Selbo, bishop of the North American Lutheran Church, with the luncheon at 11:45 a.m. It will include photographs and a barbershop quartet. Everyone is welcome, Klien said.