Trinity UM celebrating 150th anniversary

Editor’s note: This is the first of a series of two articles on the history and upcoming 150th anniversary of Trinity United Methodist Church.

Special to the Van Wert independent

It was 1863. Abraham Lincoln was the president. The Civil War was at its height, as evidenced by the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1-3. The Evangelical Community, a German denomination that had begun in Pennsylvania in 1803, established the Van Wert Mission, still speaking German, under the leadership of Rev. George Hertel. It met in the second story of a downtown Van Wert building and would continue to do so for the next nine years.

Several name changes and three buildings later, this Sunday, September 8, what is now known as Trinity United Methodist Church, corner of Walnut and Crawford streets in Van Wert, will mark that inauspicious beginning. A celebratory worship service will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Lunch will follow in the Fellowship Hall and The Gate. Special events for children will be held after the meal. The public is invited to attend worship and the other events on this special day.

The first building was constructed in 1872 and sat on the northeast corner of the Crawford and Walnut intersection. The pastor, J. Keiper, continued to preach in German, although English was becoming more prevalent among the growing congregation.

A photograph of that building shows a stone above the main door. Today, that stone is a part of one of the walls at Trinity. It reads: “Kirche der Evangelischen Gemeinschaft 1872” This translates into “Church of the Evangelistic Community.” Later, it seems, the name of the denomination evolved into “Church of the Evangelistic Association” and, still later, the “Evangelical Church.”

In 1872, the streets of Van Wert were dirt, except for a small section of Main Street that had been covered with stone. John Lambert’s new invention, the automobile, was still 19 years away. Staves, used in the manufacturing of barrels, were the town’s main product. Today’s county courthouse was built just four years later, in 1876.

In 1881 Pastor B. F. Dill reported that, “The old harassing language difficulty has been removed, and there is now English preaching every Sunday night.” We don’t know why he referred specifically only to “Sunday night” in this statement, but certainly English was becoming the primary language at the church.

The Great Van Wert Flood occurred in March of 1913 and almost certainly damaged the church building. This may or may not have been the reason for a new structure, which was begun that year. The new building, facing west (Walnut Street), was dedicated on January 11, 1914. It is still in use today, although not precisely for its original purpose. In 1914, the church was officially called the First Evangelical Church.

In 1956, a large educational unit was added, bringing with it much-needed classrooms, offices, a fellowship hall, and kitchen.

A new parsonage was completed at the present location (northeast corner of the Crawford/Cherry intersection) in 1964.

The Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren denominations combined in 1968 to form a new denomination — the United Methodist Church. The church at Crawford and Walnut became Trinity United Methodist Church. It was the third United Methodist church in Van Wert, the other two being Calvary and First.

Trinity got its first parking lot in 1975. Prior to that, all parking had been on the street. The present sanctuary was completed in 1991, and in 2006 the old (1914) sanctuary underwent extensive interior renovations and became “The Gate,” a multipurpose area used extensively by the youth of the church.

Under the leadership of Timothy Burden, the pastor from 2002 until 2011, Trinity adopted the mission statement: “Connecting to God with others in ministry for the lost” to specifically guide Trinity’s actions and goals toward four connections — to God, to one another, to a ministry, and to the lost.

The church has been mission minded for many years. Lowell Nelson, the pastor from 1972 to 1980, placed especially high emphasis on foreign missions. Through finances and prayer, the church and many individuals in the congregation support missionaries all over the world. Groups from Trinity — from middle school age on up — have taken the Great Commission to heart and traveled to Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Appalachia, Native American reservations in the West, and many other mission fields.

Trinity people have also taken leading roles in community ministries such as the Food Pantry, Pregnancy Life Center, Bread and Bowl, NeighborLink, Cross Over the Hill, Upward Soccer, and many others.